GreenTech World Week in Review

This week, activity in the green transportation sector picked up momentum—with new funding, infrastructure, auto models, public transportation, research, and more. Also (to toot our own horn!) two companies were awarded the eponymously named 2010 Green Technology World Leadership Award.

Ontario-based Aloe Systems, Inc., and Texas-based Waste Management, Inc., accepted the 2010 Green Technology World Leadership Award from TMC, a global, integrated media group based in Norwalk, Connecticut (and Green Technology World ‘s parent company).The goal of the awards is to recognize the best green technology products brought to market in 2010. "I am pleased to honor these companies, which have shown commitment to innovation and to the advancement of eco-friendly technologies," stated Erik Linask (News - Alert), group editorial director, TMC . Specifically, Aloe Systems received recognition for its MVTS II, a VoIP traffic management system; and Waste Management was honored for its data center facility and information technology green initiatives.

In next-generation transportation, a number of initiatives got green-lighted or hit the market. On July 21, the California Air Resources announced from Sacramento that it had approved up to $40 million for the third year of funding to promote the purchase of clean cars, trucks, and off-road equipment.  California state residents will be able to use vouchers or rebates on a first-come, first-served basis toward the purchase of zero-emission or plug-in hybrid cars, and zero-emission or hybrid trucks and buses. 

Planet Green, a Discovery company, revealed that it is partnering with General Motors to present a television event, “Detroit in Overdrive,” which chronicles the story of a diverse citizenry from Detroit working together to overcome tremendous odds to rebuild their cherished Motor City —and create a 21st Century Detroit. "In addition to doing everything we can to support the city of Detroit, we also need to support the efforts to communicate the city's progress and positive stories," said Joel Ewanick, General Motors chief marketing officer.

General Motors and its wholly owned subsidiary OnStar announced that they will launch the first real-world pilot of smart grid solutions for electric vehicles (EVs) this year. As part of the pilot project, employees of regional utilities will drive leased Chevrolet Volts as their everyday vehicles starting this quarter. “Through this pilot we will see real-time results on how intelligent energy management can maximize EV charging efficiency and minimize the electric bill for EV drivers,” said Nick Pudar, vice president of Planning and Business Development, OnStar.

Irvine, California-based Fisker Automotive disclosed that it will deliver its first 2011 Karma plug-in electric sports sedan later this month. The sought-after set of wheels will go to a man who is arguably best-known for his affinity for large (even, Titanic) ships: actor and environmental activist Leonardo DiCaprio. To give the actor his due, he kicked off the whole hybrids-for-Hollywood-stars trend, by showing up at the Academy Awards several years ago, not in a limousine, but driving his own unpretentious Toyota Prius And DiCaprio is in excellent company. He’s at the head of a list of 3,000 prospective Fisker buyers—including former U.S. Vice President Al Gore and General Colin Powell. We hope they’re not impatient. Early production at the Valmet plant in Finland is now just five cars a week, but that will rise to 300 cars each week once the assembly line is running at full speed.

Also this month, Nissan North America will roll out the 2012 model of its LEAF with enhanced standard equipment – including quick-charging capability; as well as such cold-weather features as a battery warmer, heated steering wheel, and heated seats in both the front and rear. On July 25, Nissan will begin processing existing reservations for the LEAF in Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington, D.C. A week later, on August 4, Nissan on will accept orders from the general public, both in abovementioned new markets, as well as in sales territories where the Nissan LEAF already has been offered (including the states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas and Washington). Drivers can expect delivery of their 2012 models in the fall.

Campbell, California-based Coulomb Technologies plans to partner with Amsterdam-based TomTom (News - Alert) to enable EV drivers to find the next convenient charging station on the road, no matter where they are headed. In addition to deploying EV charging stations worldwide, Coulomb offers the ChargePoint Network— an online website that EV drivers can consult to locate the next unoccupied charging stations on their routes. When TomTom’s navigation technology is combined with ChargePoint station data, drivers will be able to use the GPS on their dashboard to get directions to the closest charging station and reserve a time to use it. In addition, TomTom will provide technical information about the charging station, including power, connector type, availability, and pricing. 

Elster, one of the world's largest electricity, gas and water measurement and control providers, has developed a Smart Grid solution that provides sub-metering for an EV infrastructure. Company officials said that they have integrated distribution automation systems with advanced metering infrastructure to offer utilities monitoring and remote control of the power system. This grid visibility is a critical component for integrating EVs into the electric infrastructure.

The Institute for Materials Research, based at the Ohio State University campus in Columbus, has received a $400,000 grant from the Alcoa Foundation to create lighter, more environmentally friendly vehicle structures. The grant is one of ten announced in mid-June by the Pittsburgh-based Alcoa Foundation, as part of its two-year, $4 million initiative, Advancing Sustainability Research: Innovative Partnerships for Actionable Solutions.

Avego – a global provider of software, hardware and professional services – is “ revolutionizing the daily commute,” Paul Steinberg, director of Americas for Avego, told TMCnet. “We provide real-time information to match up commuters with a viable way of commuting – whether it’s carpooling, buses, or even vans.” With the applications, customers can see where busses are in real time and determine when the next transportation service is coming at a particular location. Moreover, users can book car rides online using any Web-enabled mobile phone by entering a start and destination location. Avego will then automatically match you with any driver on that route with a spare seat.

According to a June 15 SEC filing, innovative electric automaker Tesla Motors of Palo Alto (News - Alert), California, has closed a $100 million supply deal with Toyota Motor Corp., to produce an electric version of Toyota’s RAV-4. Under the current deal, Toyota explained, “Tesla is responsible for supplying the power train and related components according to Toyota engineering specifications while [we work] to seamlessly integrate the power train.”

In other Toyota news, the Japan-based company will donate emergency power systems for Prius hybrid cars to prefectures (states) in northeast Japan that were ravaged by the March 11 earthquake, and ensuing tsunami and nuclear crises. About 40 of Toyota's Prius HEVs immediately will be fitted with emergency power units for the aid effort. In addition, the automaker plans to: consolidate and increase its manufacturing and R&D operations in the disaster area, launch programs to recruit and train new Toyota employees, contribute $3.8 million to the education of children who have suffered personal losses and whose lives have been seriously disrupted during the past few months, and provide $38,000 to support the arts in Tohuku.

What’s more, Toyota  said that positive reviews for its Estima hybrid minivan – which comes with conventional electrical outlets that enable users to plug in and run household appliances for up to two days – are prompting the company to make the same stopgap power source available as an option for the Prius within a year.

And at Toyota Spain, a system based on AuraPortal’s BPM suite will help improve environmental practices throughout the automaker’s nationwide dealer network. Called Gea-Toyota, the computing tool “has enabled us to centralize much of the work and maintain the same criteria between different dealers located throughout the Spanish Territory,” said Karl Van Dijck, Corporate Affairs director at Toyota Spain.

California Street Cable Car Line is back climbing the famous San Francisco hills—and one of its stops is at the Renaissance Stanford Court in Nob Hill, a boutique San Francisco Hotel. To commemorate the completion of the Line, the hotel is offering the ultimate sip, savor, and see experience to riders. Those who proffer their Cable Car ticket at Aurea, the on-site restaurant at the hotel , can enjoy complimentary Summer Thyme cocktail, house-made potato chips served with two dips-one savory and one sweet-and a San Francisco City Navigator tailored to the California Line. This offer is available throughout the month of July.

To offer a vision for a global space community —and to identify the usage of space technology in conserving energy, environmental, water, and mineral resources—Intersil Corporation has opened  a new Palm Bay, Florida,  ELDRS testing facility. According to a press release, the facility will perform low dose rate total ionizing dose (TID) acceptance testing for all Intersil radiation hardened products -- regardless of process technology -- on a wafer by wafer basis and these tests will be conducted in accordance with government performance specifications MIL-PRF-38535 (QML) and MIL-STD-883, and will provide Intersil customers with assured low dose rate performance.

And speaking of space, It may seem counterintuitive, but all of those hot sulfur particles heaved high into the Earth’s atmosphere by volcanic eruptions in the past few years may actually have reduced the amount of global warming expected during the 2000s, according to the findings of a new study. The research, conducted by the National Oceanic (News - Alert) and Atmospheric Administration in Boulder, Colorado, determined that a recent increase in the abundance of particles high in the sky has offset about one-third of the current-climate warming impact of carbon dioxide (CO2) during the past decade.

There are some 16 million lightning storms in the world every year, according to the U.S. National Weather Service, and the average peak power output of a single lightning stroke is about one trillion watts – or one terawatt. That’s pretty impressive, until you compare it to the heat at the core of our planet, which scientists recently have estimated to be some 44 terawatts (44 trillion watts), flowing continually from Earth’s interior into space. Using 20,000 boreholes across the globe, researchers from the Department of Energy’s California-based Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab) in collaboration with Japan’s KamLAND team are trying to determine exactly what causes our planet to produce such high temperatures.

Despite the fear of consequences, one in six major UK-based business energy users still does not have a policy in place to manage energy risk, according to a new white paper—Energy Risk Management for UK Business—commissioned by Swindon-based npower, a leading integrated energy company, and conducted by the London School of Economics. Compare that to the 91 percent that report they do have a policy in place for health and safety, a more ‘traditional” business exposure.

Meeting in New York City on June 20, the 15-member United Nations Security Council bounced the issue of climate change back to other U.N. entities traditionally charged with sustainable development matters—including the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the General Assembly, and the Economic and Social Council. To no avail, U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) Executive Director Achim Steiner had asserted that climate change was a “threat multiplier,” that would have fundamental implications for weather, settlements, infrastructure, food insecurity, livelihoods, and development.  Competition over scarce water and land, exacerbated by regional changes in climate, he said, already had been a key factor in local conflicts in Darfur, the Central African Republic, northern Kenya, and Chad. In frustration, U.S. Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice characterized the body’s lack of action.“This is more than disappointing.  It’s pathetic,” she said. “[It’s] a dereliction of duty.

 “In the 21st century, bits and bytes can be as threatening as bullets and bombs,” U.S. Deputy Defense Secretary William J. Lynn III told an audience of military and civilian officials in Washington, D.C., on July 14, as he introduced the DOD’S first unified strategy for operating in cyberspace. The existence of tools that disrupt or destroy critical networks—including military, utility, transportation, and financial platforms—or alter the performance of key systems, marks a strategic shift in the evolving cyber threat, Lynn said.“As a result of this threat,” he added, “keystrokes originating in one country can impact the other side of the globe in the blink of an eye.” An important element of the new strategic plan is to deny or minimize an attack, Lynn said. “If we can minimize the impact of attacks on our operations and attribute them quickly and definitively, we may be able to change the decision calculus of an attacker.”

Finally, Yellow Pages Goes Green, an online business directory owned by Yellow Pages Directory, Inc., has joined hands with Green Chamber of Commerce to initiate a call to action aimed at promoting conservation and reducing waste in the production and distribution of printed yellow pages books. The organizations are urging government leaders to passing local legislation that mandates publishers of printed yellow directories to adhere to opt-in or opt-out requirements. Under the opt-in model, scheduled to commence on May 1, 2012, delivery of printed yellow directories will be restricted to those parties who have either made a prior request or who personally agree to be present at the time of delivery.