The Bay Area plans on spending $1 billion to build the nation’s first electric vehicle network that includes service stations to recharge batteries and garages to swap batteries. The electric vehicle charging stations are provided by Palo Alto based company, Better Place and should be rolled out all over the Bay Area by 2012. The electric outlets will start appearing on public buildings next year in San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland.
This will be a good advancement for the Bay Area to take the lead in promoting greener cars. By making it easier to operate and charge electric cars, it will make people more likely to purchase them in the Bay Area. As more car companies release new models of electric cars, it will be exciting to see where the auto industry will go in the next five years. Looking at how the economy and recession is hitting the American automakers, it will also be interesting to see whether GM, Ford, and Chrysler will still be around. Hopefully the economy will be better by 2010, which is when there should be a lot of new Hybrid and electric car models coming out.
Verdiem released a free energy monitoring application called Edison that allows you to actively control your PC’s energy consumption and CO2 emission. You can set your schedule and the hours you use your PC to manage the power settings. You can then see how much power and CO2 you actually save. Currently the tool is for Windows PC and Microsoft encourages its Windows users to use the Edison software. Verdiem and Microsoft are both members of the Climate Savers Computing Initiative, a nonprofit group of eco-conscious consumers, businessess, and organizations committed to reducing the power consumption of PCs and servers.
EDISON Features
Edison offers a simple solution for the individual PC user. The software features include:
Scheduling – allows users to identify work and non-work schedules to optimise power schemes based on when the PC is in use or on standby.
Settings – provides several options of desired power savings and settings. Simply choose the most appropriate and it applies 24×7x365.
Estimated Savings Reports – offers information that correlates PC power settings to money, kWh and CO2 savings.
Intuitive User Interface – easy to use sliding bars help consumers choose settings and instantly see the power and monetary savings. Clearly marked tabs help users navigate through the interface.
Verdiem is a network energy management company that was founded in 2001 in Seattle and provides a enterprise software to reduce energy consumption.
The San Francisco 7th Annual Green Festival is here Nov 14, 15, 16th at the Concourse Exhibition Center. The event will feature 125 renowned authors, leaders, and educators, 350 eco-friendly businesses, workshops, and more. If you want to be involved or learn more about being green, this is a good place to start. The Green Festival is a joint project by Global Exchange and Co-op America.
A car that runs on air sounds pretty cool. The technology exists for a car that runs on compressed air. Indian car maker Tata has bought the rights to the technology but has no plans on producing it in the US. The car can only run 35 mph for 60 miles on a tank of compressed air so it would need an alternate source of energy such as a motor that compresses outside air to make it run 800 miles. I dont really think that this technology will really pick up anytime soon since there is already so much research and development on the other hybrid and alternative fuel cars. It is nice, however, to know that there are different alternatives out there.
