Holy Water

Looking at the ads that google so thoughtfully serves up for this site, I have often wondered about the "hydrogen-powered car" ideas. These are NOT about future fuel-cell vehicles, but about retrofitting your gasoline engine to "run on water." I went to a couple of the advertised sites and found very little to indicate credibility. The sites themselves neither look nor feel professional, the rough sketches they offer of the theory behind their miraculous invention are uninformative and offer no real evidence of success. I've been planning to write about it for ages, but planning is no substitute for action. Thankfully, Adam Stein at Terrapass has had a go at these scheisters.

Mythbusters did a segment on hydrogen powered cars as well, proving that it didn't work. The only info I could find on that episode is in the forums. It's mostly telling them that they did it wrong or overgeneralized their conclusions.

Don't buy this stuff. These people are preying on your desperate desire to save money at the pump. If you want to use less gas, drive less. Buy a bicycle. Walk.

Enjoy.

Lifestyles

Mark Morford has a great column in todays sfgate. In it he speculates about our near future of petroleum deprivation. How will people react to 8 dollars per gallon? It seems that even though the price of crude is dropping (today anyway) the price at the pump is not expected to go down any time soon. CNNmoney offers Six Fixes for High Gasoline Prices. These fixes are rife with short-sightedness and are largely supply-side oriented. Most would be likely to have little impact at the pump, while some could have dramatic environmental impact. The article ends on a sage note:

The fact that these proposals have so many caveats, and would likely bring prices down only moderately or not at all, leaves some analysts saying there's not much the government can do to lower prices.

High gas prices are here to stay, and consumers are just going to have to bear the burden until they figure out how to use less fuel, they say.

""Like the president said, it's an addiction," said Lee Schipper, a visiting scholar at University of California Berkeley's Transportation Center. "There's going to be a time when going cold turkey hurts."

Moreover, even if the government could lower prices, it might not be in everyone's long-term interest.

"It's only when the price is high that people actually do things" to conserve, said Schipper. "Gas at $2 a gallon underprices the real cost to the environment and the nation."

Morford's speculation is entertaining, but here's what's happening NOW: People are driving less, driving more efficiently, and making better decisions about how to live. Hell, maybe we'll even get our rail and streetcar systems back.

JetBlue goes Green

CSRwire reported this morning that JetBlue has announced a green initiative. The press release from carbonfund.org addresses several steps that JetBlue is taking to clean up their act. They will be making operational changes (read: increasing efficiency), working in conjunction with Airbus, Honeywell Aerospace and International Aero Engines to develop a sustainable jet-bio-fuel, and offering carbon offsets to their customers through carbonfund.org.

This move to help customers purchase carbon offsets for their flying is one that I have been expecting for a while. It seems natural. PG&E has an offset program that goes right on your monthly gas bill (I wrote about it here).

I have been wondering why car dealerships aren't offering Terrapass offsets right from the salesperson. They could even offer offsets as an incentive.

conventional green

This popped up on CNN about a week ago. Convention and conference organizers are finally leaning green in response to their corporate clients. Big Business is starting to care:

But lately, greener practices have become a priority for businesses. Of the two-thirds of the world's top 500 companies that publish corporate social responsibility reports, 87 percent address climate change and 65 percent have a specific portion on climate change issues. Seventy-eight percent publish quantitative emissions data, according to CorportateRegister.com.

These types of corporate social responsibility mandates -- combined with some managers' genuine concern for the issue and a public demand that companies do their part -- has led to the growth of green meetings.

And here's a good reason:

Many companies and meeting planners have been pleasantly surprised that producing green meetings can be cost effective.

Some elements do cost more, but the increase in efficiency can offset the expense, Makower said.

For example, he said, using pitchers of water instead of individual bottles might cancel out the cost of organic food.

McKinley said a meeting client recently saved money by switching from plastic disposable service ware to compostable serving pieces, because the high price of petroleum increased the cost of plastic.

Again we see that green is good from both an economic and an environmental perspective. For those who are still skeptical about climate change, I'll say this: Take advantage while you can! It's a trend right? So no one can actually accuse you of caring about the climate (how embarrassing!). If they do, you can explain how you're taking advantage of the ignorant masses by using their desire for all things green to save you money!

Enertia Creeps

I have a little Kymco People 50cc scooter that I use whenever I can. It uses less gas and is much easier to park than my normal car. I've always liked the idea of an electric scooter, but I haven't been impressed with the ones I've seen. The Vectrix is a little bulky for me (and expensive). The Zapino comes close, but I need a little more speed to feel safer. Others, like the X-Treme XB-500 don't have near the power or speed to drive safely in traffic. And that's important, because in my experience, if people see you on a scooter (at all) they expect you to be part of normal traffic, not off to the side. Denying people's expectations when you're at such an extreme disadvantage is not safe.

The Brammo Enertia looks pretty exciting. CNN Money/Fortune tells the story of how the Enertia came to be, and has pictures of some of the top contenders in the field. It's slightly more expensive than the Vectrix, but much better looking. Of course, for me, there's still the problem of where to plug it in...


Update (May 22): Terrapass wrote about the Enertia last year and it caused quite a stir, mostly people complaining that it was ugly, expensive, and slow.

Also, The Scooter Scoop has some good stuff on electric scooters/motorcycles.

Auntie Em Goes Green

A small, tornado ravaged town in Kansas is realizing the benefits of going green. On May 4, 2007, Greensburg Kansas was virtually wiped off the map. Now the town is rebuilding with an eye towards renewable energy and energy efficiency and finding green isn't just for hippies anymore.

The local John Deere dealership lost nearly everything in the disaster, but is taking the opportunity to get LEED Platinum certified. This is not about taking the moral high ground though. From the Article:

Although "green" may be viewed as trendy and new by some, Mike Estes {owner of the John Deere dealership] knows that it is not for show.

"We're looking at saving money here; truthfully, we are. We're running a business. If we can't make this make sense, why would we do it?" he asked.

And he says the non-political approach of the city in encouraging energy efficiency has helped.

"I don't think it's red or blue to be green; I think green is green, and green makes sense. And green saves you green!" he said with a laugh.

He's right too. It's a wonderful thing to be able to run a business in accordance with your values, but it's not always possible. More often than not, economics force our hand. In the end, a business has to make money or it won't survive no matter what your values are. What needs to be recognized is that capital investment in energy efficiency can save a tremendous amount of money in the long term. And when it comes to the balance sheet, saving money is the same as making money.

Dirty Secret

Tesla Roadster
Originally uploaded by jfraser

My dirty little secret is that I'm really into exotic cars. I have a particular soft spot for Aston Martins. For the last few years though, every time I see an exotic the initial drool is immediately followed by pangs of guilt and the knowledge that they are off limits to me forever because there is no way I can justify buying a car that drinks that much gas. If you look at this list of the most vs. least efficient cars, you'll see that eight out of the ten least efficient vehicles are exotics. My dream is tainted. Even if I had the money, I just wouldn't be able to justify the consumption. (even offsetting the carbon doesn't replace what you've consumed.)

In any case, my dream is alive once more! I've been eagerly awaiting the arrival of the Tesla Roadster since I first heard of it a couple years ago. And now the wait is over. The first Tesla store is opening next week in Hollywood, with another coming to San Carlos shortly thereafter. Now I just need 100 grand to buy it, and another 180 grand so I can add a garage to my house in order to have a place to plug it in.

Well, at least I can dream again.