Last night Better Place broadcasted a live video feed of their first battery “switch station.” As promised, the station does appear to switch a spent EV battery for a new one in just a couple minutes - it’s quite impressive:
I remember the first time I saw a picture of the Cadillac Escalade hybrid online - I laughed. What an obvious piece of greenwashing, I thought, that’s like a “light” cigarette. Looking at the vehicle through our typical MPG (miles per gallon) lens, the hybrid’s value is dubious, and the laughter is understandable. However, adopt a GPM (gallons per mile) view, and the picture changes a bit.
As autobloggreen writes, when looking at the amount of fuel consumed to travel 10,000 miles, “a jump from 10 MPG to 11 MPG gives the same savings as going from 33 MPG to 50 MPG. In each case, you’ve reduced your consumption by about 100 gallons.” The idea started gaining notoriety in June when two professors from Duke University conducted research which showed that the GPM metric more accurately conveys fuel economy to consumers. Recently, the New York Times named GPM as part of its “Year in Ideas 2008.”
The two professors, Richard Larrick and Jack Soll, now have a website, The MPG Illusion. The site has a really cool tool - the GPM calculator - which you can use to compare the fuel economy of vehicles.
We need more wind power - that’s why we should electrify the transportation sector, not power it off natural gas.
T. Boone Pickens and the national energy plan he’s evangelizing are receiving significant media attention. His plan contains two main proposals – the expansion of wind power throughout the US, and the use of natural gas as a transportation fuel. Despite the wonderful media story this oil-turned-wind baron represents, the truth of the matter is his plan is well-intentioned but misguided. Wind power capacity should surely be expanded, but increasing natural gas demand is the last thing we need. Pickens is overlooking a clear alternative, and one that will help deploy even more wind-powered generation – the electrification of the transportation sector.
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