Bit by bit, for the past 40 years, the city of Copenhagen has done something revolutionary: The Danish capital has reduced its parking supply. Cutting the total number of parking spaces by a small percentage each year stands in stark contrast to the more common pattern of cities adding more and more parking to accommodate private cars. Continue reading
Category Archives: Policy
To Curb Driving, Cities Cut Down on Car Parking
Posted in Transportation, Urban Planning
Tagged Livable Streets, National Geographic, Parking, Trend
Why a Company Would Ditch a DOE Loan Guarantee
What would lead a company to walk away from negotiations for a coveted federal loan guarantee, as solar company Suniva did recently? As I learned while reporting this article for Earth2Tech, it has to do with the terms of the government deals, the time it takes to obtain one, and the recovery of private markets. Continue reading
Wanted: Fair Costs for Electric Car Home Charger Installations
As a new generation of plug-in vehicles rolls off the assembly line, a new cadre of consumers has entered the market for home charging equipment. Federal and state incentives are designed to help offset installation costs, which can range from hundreds to thousands of dollars. But some customers and electric vehicle advocates worry that the very programs meant to help lower costs for charger installations in practice have set the stage for price gouging. This post for PluginCars.com explains options for home charging equipment and the real cost of free chargers.
China’s Move Toward Greener Transit
How can more than a billion people travel to and fro, around and through some of the world’s most populous and fastest growing cities—without creating epic traffic jams, tapping imported oil or exacerbating noxious air pollution? That’s the challenge facing China as it develops a transportation system for its increasingly urban, car-buying population. Continue reading
Posted in Auto, Policy, Transportation
Tagged China, Electric cars, High-Speed Rail, National Geographic, Smart Growth, Urban Planning
Is Magnesium the Key to Higher Fuel Economy?
U.S. Magnesium Superfund Site in Tooele County, Utah (credit: EPA)
Carbon fiber often occupies the limelight as a light weight material that could take some of the heft out of our cars, and thus improve fuel efficiency — if only it cost less. But alloys of magnesium, the lightest structural metal, have a history in automotive components tracing back to the 1930s. Now the U.S. government is hoping to jump-start innovative production of the material for use in cars. Continue reading
Tagged AOL Autos, Department of Energy, Fuel Economy, Magnesium, Materials
DOE Loan Chief on Solyndra, Tax Grants & 2011
Just about one year into his role heading up the Department of Energy’s loan program office, former venture capitalist Jonathan Silver believes the agency has come a long way from it’s first few years of neglect and delays.
For this piece published by GigaOM’s Earth2Tech, I sat down with Silver in San Francisco and got his take on Solyndra’s shuttered factory; a leaked memo from White House officials expressing concern about the DOE loan guarantee program; and the importance of the 1603 tax-grant program for big renewable energy projects (just extended), among other topics. He also offered some hints about what lies ahead for the green car loan program in 2011.
Smarter Parking: New Ways to Feed the Meter
After circling block upon block in search of a rare vacant parking space, or scrounging for quarters at a blinking meter, many drivers may arrive at a common thought: There’s got to be a better way of doing this. UCLA professor Donald Shoup, an authority on parking management and author of “The High Cost of Free Parking,” agrees. “We have neglected parking as a policy issue for far too long,” he says. Continue reading
Posted in Policy, Transportation, Urban Planning
Tagged AOL Autos, Livable Streets, Trend
Electric Vehicle 101: Know Your Warranty
When it comes to warranties, it’s helpful to think of plug-in vehicles in two general categories: all-electric models with zero tailpipe emissions (such as the Tesla Roadster and Nissan LEAF), and hybrid models that use electricity but also have an internal combustion engine (as in General Motors’ Chevy Volt and Fisker Automotive’s Karma).
For this Earth2Tech article, I’ve explained how California emissions regulations factor into green car makers’ warranty decisions, and reported the scoop that General Motors aims to get what’s called enhanced AT-PZEV designation for the 2013 model of the Volt. The first-generation model of the car won’t carry that status (which can open the door for certain purchase incentives), partly due to the battery warranty.
Posted in Auto, Energy Storage, Policy
Tagged Batteries, CARB, Chevy Volt, Earth2Tech, Electric cars, General Motors, Hybrid Cars, Nissan LEAF, Tesla Roadster
EPA Still Betting on Cello Energy to Meet Next-Gen Biofuel Target
Khosla Ventures-backed Cello Energy, a startup run by Alabama’s former ethics chairman that has been beset by production delays and fraud allegations, ranks among companies that the EPA believes is most likely to help meet federal targets for cellulosic biofuel production in 2011.
Over on Earth2Tech, I’ve detailed some of the major hurdles ahead for Cello to reach the EPA’s preliminary estimate that the startup could produce up to 5 million gallons of cellulosic diesel in 2011.
After DOE Nod, a Long Road Ahead for Green Car Startups
At a time when dozens of vehicle and components makers are gunning for government funding, it might seem that a fat federal loan is the end-all-be-all of green car manufacturing. But as I’ve explained in this Earth2Tech post, when the Department of Energy makes a conditional loan commitment under its Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing program, it represents just one of many milestones for companies racing to bring greener cars to the mass market.
