Dec 04 2009

The Green Seen

Posted by: Leonard Anderson

Several items relating to the business and technology of clean energy and the environment caught our attention this week:

General Motors will launch the Chevrolet Volt "extended range" electric car in California next year with some of the vehicles going to utility fleets in two-year demonstration projects at PG&E, Southern California Edison, Sacramento Municipal Utility District and also the Electric Power Research Institute. The demonstration project also aims to set up 500 charging stations. The Volt is designed to drive 40 miles on electricity; when the lithium-ion battery runs low an engine/generator extends driving range to more than 300 miles.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa will set up an electric vehicle infrastructure to lure battery and charging station manufacturers, create green jobs and become "the capital of the electric car." The city and partners plan to update 400 existing charging stations and add 100 more around the region to be ready by fall 2010. Partners include Southern California Edison, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Southern California Power Authority, automakers and other cities.

Hybrid garbage trucks soon may be lumbering down your street. New York and a few other cities are testing diesel-electric hybrids, with companies like Freightliner, Navistar, Mack, Crane Carrier and Peterbilt joining with electric motor developers Azure Dynamics and Eaton. New York is testing a 36-ton garbage collector built by Mack Trucks and three other hybrids from Crane Carrier. After a year of testing, the city's sanitation department will pick a winner and begin buying 300 trucks a year with fuel consumption cut by about 30 percent.

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