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Port of LA and Long Beach Shows How Traffic Control is Key to Reducing Air Pollution
Posted on 05. Oct, 2011 by Ben Upham.
Twenty percent of the nation’s greenhouse gases come from automobiles. So it should come as no surprise that traffic reduction strategies can help reduce the amount of CO2 cars inject into the atmosphere: the less time spent driving a car, the less pollution it emits.
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Volt vs. Leaf: Dueling Ads Reveal Different Marketing Approaches
Posted on 21. Jul, 2010 by Ben Upham.
By BC Upham
One has Lance Armstrong, the other has…silence. Following on the heels of the Tour d’France commercial for the Nissan all-electric Leaf, Chevrolet has begun running advertisements for its forthcoming range-extended electric car, the Volt, in select markets. (compare both after the jump)
The Chevy Volt ad does not actually show the car, which may be to its advantage, since the Volt, on sale in November, is probably not the sexiest model in GM’s line-up (most hybrids are pretty ugly). Instead all one sees is the onrushing open road — the future, one might say — and what one hears is, well, not much.
And that’s the idea: there’s no noise since there is no internal combustion engine. These cars make just a whirring sound, “the sound of the status quo crumbling,” according to text that flashes on the screen. Although the Volt is technically a hybrid, because it uses both electric and gasoline fuel, an electric motor is what makes it go (and thus makes it so relatively quiet).
The Voltertisement stands in contrast to that for the Leaf, on sale in December, which, in terms of tone, could be an ad for any car. It features cute, swiftly-cut visuals of cars and their tailpipes and a celebrity endorsement from Armstrong, who announces that now there is finally a car he can ride his bike behind that doesn’t spew exhaust fumes in his face.
That Chevy chose to go epic with its Volt ad is revealing: the company is essentially proclaiming, “pay attention — this is a big deal.” And it is, especially for GM, which has a lot riding on the success of the Volt.
The two approaches really represent the split personality of the electric car market as it is now. Ultimately, EVs will have to be considered run-of-the-mill to move from the TV set to the garage en-mass. But right now they are still exotic, still perhaps worthy of a “drum-roll, please…”
So what do you think? Which approach is more successful? Nissan’s friendly, “here we are!” or Chevy’s build-the-suspense campaign?
Read the original article: http://www.triplepundit.com/2010/07/volt-versus-leaf-on-tv-dueling-electric-car-ads-reveal-different-marketing-approaches/#ixzz0uM199i2F
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Politics Puts Solar Feed-in Tariff in the Shade
Posted on 09. Apr, 2010 by Ben Upham.
The Los Angeles Business Council (LABC) could not have chosen a worse time to introduce a feasibility study (PDF) of a solar feed-in tariff for Los Angeles. The study, a joint project with the UCLA Luskin Center for Innovation, shows how LA could add 500 megawatts of solar power over the next ten years by paying utility customers who install solar panels for any unused electricity the panels generate.
The problem is where to get the money to pay for it; typically it comes from rate payers in the form of higher energy bills. But Angelenos are already up in arms over rate hikes proposed last month by the Department of Water & Power. The city council sharply reduced the hikes, prompting DWP to withhold $80 million or so the city was counting on to help shore up a $200 budget deficit.
(Ironically, those hikes were meant in part to pay for the Mayor’s ambitious renewable energy goals, including 150 MW of solar power.)
As a result, the political loggerheads surrounding the hikes overshadowed LABC’s release of the FiT study, and, along with similar battles at the state level, helped cast doubt over the future of renewable energy initiatives across California.
“Pushing forward and falling back.”
Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and City Comptroller Wendy Gruel, who are in the thick of things at city hall, both spoke at the summit today.
Gruel emphasized how badly the city needs the DWP cash, or any cash at all. But she also called talk of reneging on renewable energy and greenhouse gas reduction commitments “disturbing.”
On the state level, both Republican candidates for governor, Meg Whitman and Steve Poizner, have called for postponing state law AB 32, which requires California to lower its emissions of greenhouses to 1990 levels by 2020. Poizner has also backed an astroturf campaign to get the law postponed until unemployment stays at or below 5.5 percent for a year.
Attorney General and Democratic candidate for governor Jerry Brown, who was at the Sustainability Summit today, danced around the issue of postponing AB 32, but called for the state to work within the limits of what it can do financially.
Brown, a veteran of California politics, made one of several memorable statements, calling governance a process of “pushing forward and falling back.” Given the state of things in California, I would say we are definitely in “fall back” mode, and any plan to bring a FiT to Los Angeles in the near-term is just that: a plan.
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Green Patents Jump to the Front of the Line Under New Government Program
Posted on 14. Dec, 2009 by Ben Upham.
The United States Patents and Trademark Office (USPTO) announced this week that pending patent applications for certain “green” technologies will get an accelerated examination by the Office, with the goal of shaving off years from the time the patents are pending.
The pilot program, effective immediately, is intended to spur the approval, and thus commercialization, of patents relating to “environmental quality, energy conservation, development of renewable energy, or greenhouse gas emission reduction,” according to the published guidelines (PDF).
The first 3,000 qualifying applications that submit to the program will get to essentially jump to the front of patent-pending line, which should reduce pendency from about 40 months to 12. Should the program prove successful, the Patent Office hopes to increase the number of eligible applications. Currently about 25,000 applications qualify, according to Greenwire.
“Every day an important green tech innovation is hindered from coming to market is another day we harm our planet and another day lost in creating green businesses and green jobs,” said David Kappos, under secretary of commerce for intellectual property and director of the USPTO .
The Patent and Trademark Office’s budget is $200 million in the red this year, and thus won’t be able to hire additional employees for the green patent program. But the the Office said that “cleantech proposals make up such a small percentage of the overall volume it receives that the program shouldn’t delay non-green applications,” according to GreenBeat. There are about 770,000 patents pending.
The official press release is here.
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Chevy Volt: Where’s My Test Drive?
Posted on 06. Dec, 2009 by Ben Upham.
I would like to announce a major scandal surrounding the highly anticipated Chevrolet Volt “extended range” electric car: there is only one car available for test drives.
This blogger showed up early for a minor press junket on the sidelines of the LA Auto Show in hopes of getting a spot on the test drive list, only to find out there were no spots available — despite the fact that the Volt was sitting undriven in a parking lot across the street the entire time. Apparently, the vehicle was saving itself for a pair of B-list eco-friendly celebrities who were running late.
David Darovitz, communications for the Volt, said that demand for test drives far outstrips supply. Which is not surprising, given the intense media saturation the Volt has received. GM actually has made 80 of the cars, most of which are running various automotive testing regimens around the country — Pike’s Peak, Death Valley, the 405 during rush hour, etc. — with another 20 or so smashed up in crash tests.
Anyway, Dave promised me a drive in March, when the Volt roadshow will be back in Los Angeles, and the company will have more cars to play with.
Test Press Conference, Not Test Drive
In the meantime, OppGreen had to be satisfied with a dinged-up fiber glass version of the car that looked like it had seen one too many PR events like this one, whose purpose appeared to be to wow a small batch of bloggers with the vehicle, as well as provide real-world media training for the Volt design and marketing team, which outnumbered the media in attendance.
Also there, like the pretty girl’s plain friend you feel like you have to talk to: the Chevy Cruze, GM’s latest attempt to compete with Corolla and Civic (their last attempt was the mercifully discontinued Cobalt). According to Chevy, the Cruze can get 40 miles to the gallon, and Car & Driver called it “well-designed and -built and doesn’t drive like an afterthought, as small domestics traditionally have.” The Cruze will be available in the US next year.
But enough about the Cruze.
At the PR event, OG learned that car-happy California will be the one of the first markets to get the Volt, when it begins mass-production in November of 2010.
Chevy is also partnering with three California utilities and the Electric Power Research Institute (EPRI) “as part of an extended, real-world demonstration and research program to introduce customers to electric vehicles, advance vehicle electrification and establish vehicle charging programs to pave the way for consumers,” according to a press release.
The Volt’s price has still not been announced, although $40,000 has been floating around.
Oh, and one more thing, from the release:
Chevrolet will also introduce a new Volt song designed to educate and entertain consumers during the auto show’s public days.
(emphasis added)
As soon as we have audio for the Volt Song, we promise we will make it available on the Opportunity Green website.
LA to Expand EV Charging Network
The Chevy release happily coincides with announcement from Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa of a new partnership to beef up the LA region’s network of electric vehicle charging stations. From the Los Angeles Times:
Along with a network of partners, the city plans to update 400 existing charging stations around the region while adding 100, Villaraigosa said. Electric vehicle owners also probably would receive tax rebates to construct home chargers and would have access to high-occupancy-vehicle lanes and preferential or free parking.
Once funding sources have been finalized (a big if, given California’s budget situation), the Mayor hopes to have incentives of as much as $2,000 go to the first 5,000 residential customers to install a home EV charging station. Villaraigosa also hopes to add EVs to the city’s fleet of vehicles.
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GHG Institute’s Tim Stumhofer: Professionalizing Emissions Experts
Posted on 10. Nov, 2009 by Ben Upham.
Tim Stumhofer is a Program Associate at the Green House Gas Management Institute, which provides professional training in greenhouse gas emissions accounting and verification – the first organization in the world to do so comprehensively. Tim talked with Opportunity Green about why a lack of trained GHG management experts is a serious problem, how the US lags the rest of the world in this area, and why GHG accounting “is not rocket science.”
Opportunity Green: Tell us a little bit about the Green House Gas Institute.
Tim Stumhofer: The institute was launched in 2007 to support the evolution and professionalization of the industry. Our bread and butter are courses in GHG accounting, but we’ve moved into verification as well. We draw on a pool of world-wide experts for our instruction. Instruction is mainly online, but we also provide workshops.
We’re also actively involved in developing a certification standard [for GHG professionals], something we’re trying to build some interest and excitement in. While there is certification for institutions, we believe certifying at the individual level has a lot of benefits, and also serves to professionalize the industry. It’s the same process that other fields have gone through – accounting, law, and more recently the CFA [certified financial analyst]. We’re trying to move ourselves into the space of a professional society.
OG: In a recent article (PDF), you warned that a lack of qualified GHG professionals is a major problem internationally. Why?
TS: Climate policy, the design elements, the glad handing and working between industries, the hammering out of climate regulation – that is all an incredibly overwhelming task; the largest global collective action we’ll ever see. At the same time, however, it makes a lot of assumptions that ignores the human capital element of this. Policies and programs are great, but there’s no obvious way to implement them [because] there are only a handful of people on the global scale that have robust GHG expertise.
There’s also a massive opportunity for fraud, for things to slip between the cracks. When incentives to cheat appear, people are offered a moral quandary; they may take the wrong road out of greed, or just negligence. The result is people could lose faith in these programs – and if people lose their faith in the programs they may disappear. Professionalization adds a layer of accountability, but also provides some step-based program to build human capital.
OG: For the layman, how does GHG accounting work, in a nutshell?
TS: GHG accounting is on the one hand, pulling together lots of different information sources, mainly from the consumption side (as opposed to the emissions side, like measuring output from a smokestack). It’s about establishing what you have consumed, and establishing ownership. For instance, understanding who owns particular emissions. And it’s about learning how to go about gathering that information.
OG: The GHG institute was only founded in 2007. Where do you see the institute five years from now?
TS: Outside our curriculum, which is progressing quickly, our real vision right now is in our membership program. I really do think that in five years we will see ourselves as something of a professional society, similar to the AICPA [for accountants] or an engineering guild, an organization that will provide professional certification. Along side this is fostering a community for what, right now, is pretty globally stretched group of people.
Let me put it this way: It’s about ushering in a professional class.
OG: If there currently is no “professional class” of GHG experts, how did you come to the field?
TS: Everyone has their own story. While I was studying at the London School of Economics, the UK government was starting to think there might be some room for regulatory oversight of voluntary carbon offsetting, and I got involved with that process. When I returned to the US, I thought I would get involved in those issues here, only to realize the US has a real limited knowledge of GHG accounting. Even now, there’s quite a gap.
What brought me to the institute was realizing there’s this real, intense need for capacity building if we’re going to make this [carbon] market work as designed.
OG: Talking about your curriculum, who are your students? Is there a certain degree of technical knowledge necessary to do the course work?
TS: One way to look at who our students are is who organizations actually send to take the program: it seems to vary quite a bit, maybe because it’s such a new field. Sometimes organizations send us people from the compliance department, sometimes legal, marketing, or operations.
In terms of career background, they breakdown roughly into thirds: a third is working in consulting in some capacity. Some are carbon consultants, some engineering, oil and gas, waste, or marketing. Opportunity Green deals with sustainability consultants – many are getting into GHG accounting. Another third is people working for large companies. The other third is from governments and NGOs. The NGOs are anything under the sun. Governments include national, state, regional – super-national agencies down to townships.
As for the work itself, it’s not rocket science. There are certainly elements of science, engineering, accounting, but really it’s a matter of coordinating sources of information. Our classes are open to anyone…it’s not terribly complicated.
We’ve had about 500 students so far.
OG: How did you find out about Opportunity Green?
TS: I found out about Opportunity Green through your website. We’re trying to get out of our bubble, and Opportunity Green was one place that popped up – a general sustainability conference with a bit more emphasis on marketing, rather than the painfully wonky stuff of monitoring.
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Live Blogging OG09: Wired and the X Prize on the Future of Green Tech
Posted on 08. Nov, 2009 by Ben Upham.
At the one of the first breakout sessions of Day Two, Alexis Madrigal demonstrated how technology and society shape each other, and how what is and isn’t inevitable isn’t inevitable, and never was.
Examples of technology from 1857, 1907 and 1957 illuminated Madrigal’s thesis, including solar power stations from 1907. The examples highlighted his final conclusion: that clean technology and clean energy can develop inevitability without, for example, immediate price competitiveness with dirtier technologies. Why? Because of other factors, especially the interest in technologies among society as a whole.
X Prize
Representing those factors, in particular, the X-factor, Keith Kegley from the X Prize Foundation explained how prizes and contests inspire innovation. Keith harked back to Charles Lindbergh, who flew across the Atlantic in part to win the $25,000 Orteig prize. The year he flew, 6,000 people bought airplane tickets. The following year, 180,000 did.
The foundation is inspiring similar economic transformations. The original $10 million X-Prize, for a vehicle that could bring 3 people up into orbit and back twice in two weeks, was won in 2004. Today, there is a $1 billion private spaceflight industry.
Check out Opp Green’s interview with the X Prize chairman, Peter Diamandis.
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Live Blogging OG09: OG 25 Contest Rocks the Room
Posted on 08. Nov, 2009 by Ben Upham.
The OG25 start-up contest culminated in a whirlwind on-stage presentation by 13 of the finalists at Opportunity Green this morning. The crowd was definitely along for the ride, clapping and cheering for every presenter, and the energy level in the room got pretty high as presenters raced to finish their pitch in under a minute.
Cheers erupted when the Green Box guy started tearing apart their signature pizza box, turning it into plates and a serving wedge. How many people have wrestled with trying to fit a pizza box into their recycling bin? Hello!
Kopali snacks, which came last came up with a tried-but-true method for gaining crowd support: throwing free samples into the audience. BTTR ventures talked about their tiny mushroom growing start-up, while Balqon corporation talked about their electric trucks.
Recycle Match talked about matching creators of waste with those who can use that waste, and making money in the process. Powerzoa warned us all about “vampire power” waste.
The presentations were all great, inspiring and really fun to watch. There’s no doubt that the OG 25, introduced this year, is going to be a key feature of Opportunity Green going forward.
