Creative Greenius

Greenius For The People

Mon, 18 Aug 2008 09:08:10 -0700

Writing about green issues is one thing, but venturing out into the great wide open and getting in touch with my inner Ed Begley Jr. enviro-angelist self by interacting with my neighbors and fellow citizens of the South Bay beach communities of Southern California is where the rubber meets the road. Or where the Greenius meets the people who never read this blog and aren’t looking for my brand of creative.

I’m just some middle-aged moke in a Hawaiian shirt to them and they don’t really give a good cahoot whether I’m worried about climate change tipping points or how many parts per million of CO2 are in the atmosphere. Most of the time they just want to know if I’m going to help carry the boxes to and from the car.

Working by my myself in the Mr. Joe’s Really Productions studio day after day I find it essential to disconnect from the Matrix and get out of my own protective bubble on a regular basis.

For me, it’s a given that I need to volunteer my time for the causes and organizations I believe in on an on-going basis. I understand I have a responsibility to give something back for the blessings I enjoy and I know from experience that every time I do give back I enjoy more blessings - which is a hell of deal if you think about it.

Many times I even get a free lunch and bottle of water.

I like to volunteer at the Madronna Marsh here in Torrance. I especially dig - pun intended - doing plant restoration on my knees with my hands in the dirt. It makes me feel like I’m working in politics.

Last time I was there I was planting purple needle grass and California poppies. It’s a very small thing I do, but it makes me feel a sense of ownership and pride in the Marsh and I feel connected to that place every time I pass by or even read its name in the newspaper.

I tried volunteering in a few different capacities with my local Sierra Club chapter, but I didn’t groove on their insular preaching-to-the-already-converted tone and I didn’t respond well to the strident, old-guard style of communication and relating to people I encountered.

That’s a common problem with environmental and cause-related groups where everyone has drunk the Kool Aid so long ago that they’ve lost touch with the mainstream and don’t know how to communicate with average consumers or voters. They’re great at rallying the troops, but they’re not so great at recruiting fresh troops or making new folks feel welcome or necessary. It’s a people skills deficit.

But hey, the South Bay/Palos Verdes Chapter of the Sierra Club does a lot of terrific work and I’m awfully proud to be a dues paying member. Just don’t ask me to the next macrobiotic pot luck dinner, that’s all I’m saying. Peace be upon you my vegetarian brothers and sisters, but I like me some baby back ribs and beans with bacon too. I also like to laugh out loud and relate to contemporary popular culture - which doesn’t seem to jibe with many legacy club members.

There is one local group that I absolutely love volunteering for and I like the people there just fine - even though they have no idea who I am, what I do, or why I’m there. But that’s okay with me, because the South Bay Environmental Services Center (SBESC) does the kind of no spin, on-the-ground work I want to be part of. Its work that makes a real difference because it’s all about giving our local citizens free products and services that save them electricity or water. It’s that simple and it’s that effective.

I first met the folks at the SBESC office last November when I went to their office to exchange two strings of my old old fashioned 20th century Christmas lights for two strings of new LED energy efficient Christmas lights. I had been meaning to do this exchange a full year earlier when I first heard about it, but I flaked and never made it over there - proving that I am NOT a seamless Greenius.

I had been seeing the SBESC ads in my local newspaper for a while and knew they could help you with rebates on energy star appliances but I didn’t really have any idea who they were or what their deal was. Turns out they’re funded by our local electric, gas and water utilities with money we consumers pay in our monthly bills.

Once I dedicated myself to becoming the Creative Greenius I realized I needed to work with these people so I told them I wanted to volunteer and I also wanted to attend their Green Task Force meetings - - more about that later.

So on Saturday I spent five hours doing volunteer “outreach” as one of the SBESC table-people at the Del Amo Community Health and Safety Fair giving out free compact fluorescent light bulbs, signing people up for free low flow shower heads and passing out information on saving energy and water. I enjoyed every moment

This was a smaller event put on by a terrific grassroots neighborhood group, the Del Amo Action Committee representing about 400 working class homes and fighting for their environmental justice. I met a lot of good people from the neighborhood and they were more appreciative than most to get the light-bulbs.

I talked to one of the organizers of the event who told me about the Superfund site on the other side of the fence behind our booth. The things you discover when you leave your own property…

Likewise I had an enlightening conversation with the guy from the EPA doing outreach at their booth right next to ours. I started off by busting his chops about his agency’s recent abandonment of its role to protect the environment in favor for its new role as a lackey for the Bush Cheney anti-science pro-carbon agenda on behalf of the biggest greenhouse gas producers in America. But the guy was good natured about it and then politely set me straight about a couple things I hadn’t thought about before.

First off, he told me, unlike the IRS or several other government agencies, the people like him who come to work for the EPA, do so with a passion for the agency’s real mission to protect our environment. Most of them got their degrees in environmental studies in order to make their careers about doing the right thing. So it kills them to have their agency politicized and kept from doing its job. Secondly, he told me, he worked for the Superfund site group and no one is accusing them of shirking their responsibility or ignoring the important work they have on their table - like the group that works in the emissions area.

Talking to this guy gave me some hope and a much more realistic perspective. It was a good reminder - which I apparently need on a regular basis - to not judge everyone within a agency or group by the actions of the people at the top. Many of them are gnashing their teeth and counting the days till a change in administrations. Realizing all the nuances about the situation isn’t as much fun as demonizing the whole EPA team, but it’s a lot more cognitive way of thinking - and it’s hard to be a creative greenius without that superpower.

I had a great time a few weeks back when I did similar outreach at the El Segundo Environmental Expo with a whole different demographic and a few weeks before that at the Palos Verdes Street Fair with its very upscale demographic. Three very different neighborhoods and types of crowds.

But regardless of the socioeconomic makeup of the people we’re outreaching too, they all share one thing in common. They don’t want to hear about climate change consequences or ending the carbon-based economy or renewable energy options and the smart-grid.

People are generally overwhelmed and tired. They’re completely immersed in their daily lives and the never-ending, inescapable challenges of raising their families, making ends meet, earning a living, dealing with health issues and trying to have a little fun and forget about their responsibilities every once in a while.

Sometimes a free light bulb, a smile and a compliment on their goofy-looking hat is all that it takes.

DRILLING US TO DEATH: "Welcome To The Gas Chamber" says The Man Who Knows

Thu, 14 Aug 2008 11:14:27 -0700

"When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."
-- Hunter S. Thompson

Times have never been weirder here in the land of your Creative Greenius where even the 99 Cent Stores cannot buck the psychological impacts of this virtual recession being experienced by avatars everywhere. Earthquakes, fires, budget deficits and Real Estate that isn't quite so "real" anymore and no longer feels like any kind of "estate" has harshed our mellow here in the Golden State.

It's times like these when I invite The Man Who Knows over for a visit. I don't really want to see him when everything is copacetic because part of what makes the good times so good is not having The Man Who Knows around telling you what you don't want to hear.

But today's weirdness calls for some simple truths and The Man Who Knows wasted no time in laying them on me as he lay on my couch.

"Greenius Dude," he said, "You shouldn't need me to tell you that CO2 levels and greenhouse gasses are already dangerously high and causing climate change today.

In case you haven't been paying attention, climate change is already bringing more fires, more floods, more drought, more erratic weather and the spread of more diseases around the world. Not to mention the spread of poison ivy which is pissing me off," he muttered as he started exploring the candy dishes on the coffee table.

"All of this bad shit will only continue to get worse until you stop burning the fossil fuels that cause this bad shit - right now," he warned me, like it was my fault personally. He pointed his well-manicured finger at my heart, "By right now," he declared," I don't mean down the line, I'm not saying in the future, do not hear me saying tomorrow, but understand that I mean right now - TODAY. You grok me, pilgrim?" he asked.

"Well that's just not going to happen," I told The Man Who Knows. "We're not looking to cut back, we're looking to drill for more oil offshore and in Alaska and in anybody's backyard where we can sniff some out. A majority of Americans agree and both candidates running for President have endorsed it," I clued him in, "Even though that offshore oil is ten years or more away, we want it."

He laughed like some kind of tormented hyena as he found the candy bowl filled with the good stuff. "Drilling for more oil now is like applying anti-itch powder for a skin cancer rash," said The Man Who Knows as he generously helped himself to some of my dark chocolate covered almonds from Trader Joe's.

His mouth filled with crunchy-creamy deliciousness he cackled as he chewed, but still sounded ominous, "Dude, I'm telling you that if you are still using oil in ten years the way you do today..." he paused to swallow and then filled his mouth with another full load, before continuing,

"Then you will have sentenced yourselves to the gas chamber that now surrounds the earth. And it will be a classic example of choosing to punish yourself. You don't actually need a crystal ball to see it coming.

Instead of marching into the gas chamber you'll make it more modern and convenient by offering the drive-through option with your choice of iPod playlist."

"That's crazy," I told him. "It's that kind of extreme environmentalist attitude that's a big part of the problem," I explained to The Man Who Knows.

"No, Greenius-man you're wrong," sang out The Man Who Knows. But he was just getting started. Just warming up as the chocolate and antioxidents gave him renewed energy and vigor.

“What is 'crazy' is to pump more and more greenhouse gasses into the air with each day while the world's top scientists all agree that you are already screwing the pooch and dooming your own children and grandchildren," he preached, starting to get uncomfortably loud.

"What is truly Loony Toons," he declared in a Foghorn Leghorn baritone, "is to keep delaying and voting against the solar, wind and geothermal renewable solutions that already exist and can save you! But there ain't nothing 'extreme' about replacing the poison gasses that come from the burning of carbon based fuels with clean, non-polluting air.

Yet there is something very whacky and ultra-radical about the Republican candidate voting against renewable energy the last eight times it's come up while leading a "Drill here, drill now, drill, drill drill!" cheer for the product that causes the climate change he has vowed to stop." The Man Who Knows shook his head in disapproval.

"Just as moronic," he continued, "is the so-called liberal Democratic candidate playing the same charade and folding like a cheap umbrella under political pressure instead of standing up and telling the truth. What could be more retarded than trumpeting change but still beating the big base drum of more of the same?" He raised a single eyebrow more archingly than the Rock ever dared dream of.

"I'll tell you what's dumber than a bag of hammers and more extreme than the X Games," he offered, waiting for me to take the bait by looking his way - which I did. "And that is to care more about the cost of gasoline today than the far higher costs to every single person you claim to care about and love," he answered, smugly adding, "Those costs will be paid before that off-shore oil ever fills anybody's gas tank."

“And the really goofball thing is, you don't even have to search or explore for solar or wind energy and you don't have to wait a decade to start using it. It's there waiting for you to use it today. It's there waiting for you to spend all that money you would have spent on drilling for oil on building a solar and wind energy infrastructure instead."

The Man Who Knows sat straight up and winced before saying, "Ten years from now your kids are going to want to suffocate you in your sleep for being so selfish and stupid when you still had the chance to save them." He forced a crooked smile through a mouth ringed by chocolatey powder. "How crazy will THAT be?" he asked.

"Well that just goes to show how much YOU really know," I triumphantly declared to The Man Who Knows. "I don't even HAVE any kids."

"Well then, my friend, you've got nothing to worry about, do you?"

And with that The Man Who Knows finished off the last of my chocolate covered almonds, and said, "Speaking of gas, man, these puppies are creating some serious biomass action for me right now, he said as he shuffled off in the direction of my bathroom.

"Later, Greenius," he called out from the hallway.

Later indeed.

Funniest. Candidate. Ever! John McCain IS the Merry Maverick

Wed, 6 Aug 2008 13:43:50 -0700

If you know the Creative Greenius then you know how much I like to laugh and how I crave a clever comedy.

From The Daily Show to 30 Rock to The Simpsons to anything Albert or James L. Brooks do, I like me some laughs.

In fact I need me some laughs - especially when so much of what I learn every day about climate change and how much worse it gets with each passing 24 hours adds up to us being as doomed as doomed can be.

But thank God for John Maverick McCain, who refuses to be worried about the serious facts and goes for the funny bone every chance he gets.

In a world of bad news and inconvenient truths the good old Straight Talk Express is still chugging along like a coal-fired comedy choo-choo making us all laugh out loud.

So many humorless Democrats and others don't get Joking John's best bits because they insist on taking him seriously and trying to make sober sense of his routines.

But no critic faults Larry the Cable Guy or Cedric the Entertainer or Will Farrell for using absurdity, frat-boy humor and Bizzaro World backwards opposites comedy to make us laugh.

Why the unfair double standard when it comes to McCain the McComedian?

If you don't see the obvious satire in calling for more drilling to help lower today's high gasoline prices then you're not getting how funny that premise is in light of how long it would take to ever see any of that oil and gas produced.

And considering the worldwide supply-and-demand and how totally meaningless the minimal amount of oil pumped out would be, the whole concept of breaking the current laws so an addict with a high fever can get a desperation fix for a momentary high - instead of getting the junkie off the dope and into rehab. - is classic comedy in the Cheech & Chong, Harold & Kumar & Superbad/Knocked Up/Pineapple Express vein.

Only McCain is brilliant enough to mock and diss the nerdy egghead idea of saving as much oil as you'd get from off shore drilling.

Everyone knows that checking the air in your tires is something only someone like Urkle or Goober at the gas station is supposed to do - which makes that idea hysterically worthy of derision.

Can't you just picture Steve Martin as The Jerk all bent over trying to read that pop-up gauge through his thick four eyes glasses? How stupid would that look?

I mean just by checking the pressure you lose a little air, making things worse than if you had done nothing to begin with! Well excuuuuuse me! I'm a wild and crazy guy!

When McCain talks about how successful the surge has been, you have to be comedy savvy enough to get that he means the surge of your tax dollars to Iraq to help rebuild all the stuff we blew up in order to get Chevron, Exxon/Mobile and Shell Oil the no bid contracts that let them pump Iraq's oil.

You want an even easier example of his comedy superiority that starts out funny and just gets bigger and bigger laughs as it builds?

How about McCain telling people he's going to build 45 nuclear plants by the time he turns 94 in 2030 even though the Dept of Energy says it's only possible to get half that many built? You get it? It's a two for one joke.

It’s even funnier when you see McNuke’s Oprah Winfrey show satire in which he jumps up and down and jabs his finger at different members of the studio audience as he yells “You get a nuke, and YOU get a nuke, and YOU get a nuke!!!”

And while that's got you chuckling he just keeps going with his routine touting Yucca Mountains for waste disposal… just as long as none of the waste goes through his state of Arizona which has banned it for health and safety reasons… Hey, want not, waste not. And just as long as you double the size of Yucca Mountain's waste bins since we'll need twice as much at twice the cost for all those imaginary nuclear plants.

An expert jokemeister like McCain knows how to milk the laughs like a top pro, so just when your sides are aching from just how funny the word "Yucca" really is he hits you with how we don't have to worry about the dangers of nuclear plants because - wait for it -

The French have shown us how to do it right!

But he's not done… here it comes - also because the Navy uses nuclear powered ships and subs and has never had an accident. Not a one! They have a perfect record. They’re better than Tiger Woods...

McCain doesn't just offer this bit backed only by his very funny Jack-O-Lantern frozen grin, but he says it while a big screen projects pictures and news footage of July's leak at the French nuclear complex near Avigon that contaminated about 100 workers...

...And also the story of how just four days ago the Navy warned the country of Japan that one of our US Navy nuclear submarines may have had radioactive leaks during recent port calls in Japan's south, the Japanese Foreign Ministry reported Saturday.

This leakage radioactive news comes just weeks before the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS George Washington is due to arrive in Yokosuka, just south of Tokyo. That nuclear powered carrier was originally supposed to arrive in Japan this month but suffered a fire aboard the vessel in May.

Do you have milk snorting out your nose yet over how funny this is? Or are you just one of those reality-based blowhards who are going to quote facts and government studies like the Navy's 50 year history of nuclear incidents and accidents that showed a total of over 1000 accidents and incidents. How boring YOU must be at parties.

You can bet a stick in the mud like Thomas Friedman isn't releasing any of the endorphins McCain's comedy lovers are enjoying. Not when he's writing such unfunny stuff like today's column, which includes:
And my trip with Denmark’s minister of climate and energy, Connie Hedegaard, to see the effects of climate change on Greenland’s ice sheet leaves me with a very strong opinion: Our kids are going to be so angry with us one day.
We’ve charged their future on our Visa cards. We’ve added so many greenhouse gases to the atmosphere, for our generation’s growth, that our kids are likely going to spend a good part of their adulthood, maybe all of it, just dealing with the climate implications of our profligacy. And now our leaders are telling them the way out is “offshore drilling” for more climate-changing fossil fuels.

Madness. Sheer madness.

Most people assume that the effects of climate change are going to be felt through another big disaster, like Katrina. Not necessarily, says Minik Thorleif Rosing, a top geologist at Denmark’s National History Museum and one of my traveling companions. “Most people will actually feel climate change delivered to them by the postman,” he explains. It will come in the form of higher water bills, because of increased droughts in some areas; higher energy bills, because the use of fossil fuels becomes prohibitive; and higher insurance and mortgage rates, because of much more violently unpredictable weather.

Friedman probably doesn't even laugh out loud during, SouthPark, Two and a Half Men or Jackass II.

He probably didn't even find Andy Kaufmann funny when he lip synced to Mighty Mouse.

So you can bet your bippy as Rowan and Martin used to say that fussy Friedman isn't finding McCain's solar routine as rip-snorting, hurt your stomach funny as the rest of us.

But how can you deny the hilarity of the idea that the candidate from sunny Arizona is the one who killed the solar energy tax credit - which needed only his vote to pass - by refusing to come to Washington DC to vote.

Why?

Because he was mad at the sun for giving him skin cancer! Get it?

No?

Maybe you just need to lighten up - but hey, don't forget to put on your sunscreen and wear a hat!

If I haven't helped you see the light by now, then you sure as hell don't appreciate the absolute comedy genius of McCain's long-running tribute to the George Costanza character on Seinfeld.

Besides the obvious physical similarities to Jason Alexander, you'd have to be blind not to see how Johnny Joke Jockey is paying homage to Costanza in his whole "The Exact Opposite of Reality is How I See The World" routine.

Allow me to break down the comedy nuts and bolts of this laugh-laden bit by looking at the "My Opponent Is An Elitist & Out Of Touch With Regular Folks" angle McCain so boldly employs.

As the ultra-privileged son of an admiral who got a free pass to the Naval Academy and then proceeded to goof off on his way to the bottom of the class; then got shot down and was held prisoner for the entire war, then was rewarded with a cushy job as an liquor supplying aide to alcoholic Senator John Tower; as the filthy rich guy who today owns nine different houses, regularly sports $500 designer shoes; the guy who dumped his middle class wife (who waited for him while he was in prison) for a multi-millionaire trophy 20 years younger than him…

For THIS beyond-audacious guy to call the black man who was raised by a single parent and who had to take out loans to go to college and then had to work for living to pay back his loans…

For THIS in-your-face damn-the-torpedos comedy commando to then claim that the OTHER guy was the elitist and too high-hat for the hoi polli - well that's just frickin' off the hook, isn't it? How could you NOT laugh your ass off over that?! How could you possibly be more Borat than that?

And how could you not just be taken over the edge when you listen to him talk about how the tax cuts for the rich must be made permanent to keep our economy humming along like the well-oiled machine it is? You should see him do that joke with actual money raining down upon him from the heavens above. He does it with all $100 bills because he likes how old Ben Franklin looks on them.

Let's face it, serious guys like climate scientist Joseph Romm, who criticize McCain for not making any sense and not telling the truth about global climate change or energy costs just don't get it.

Despite his pleasant grin and even though he has a humor section on his ClimateProgress.org web site, Romm really don't know that much about what makes great comedy.

How funny is a guy in a lab coat taking the climate's temperature and trying to make us all worried about it? Not so much…

See, when McCain tells you he's a maverick, he means the kind James Garner played in the movie with Mel Gibson and Jodie Foster.

He means the kind of maverick who cheats at cards, pulls brazen scams and con jobs, romances the pretty young ladies and always winds up with lots of your money in his pocket -
But not without entertaining you and providing plenty of hearty guffaws and outright laughing jags.

And remember, if you’re not laughing at John McCain and all the truly priceless humor he’s dropping on us right and left then you’ve got a “serious” problem.

If you’re just going to be all serious about the whole thing and refuse to judge McCain on his merits, talent and skill as a world class comedian then there’s really no hope for you, is there? No hope at all.

But one thing’s for sure - if you’re not laughing along with the rest of us, you’re just not paying enough attention to John McCain.

Top Ten Things I Learned @ Plug-In 2008

Thu, 31 Jul 2008 21:08:33 -0700

Now that I’m back from walkable and likeable San Jose and the first ever Plug-In car conference, my head has been swimming with everything I heard and tried to grok while I was there. Here’s what the San Jose Mercury newspaper said,
“After all, the number of conference participants - 600 - exceeded expectations. Nearly 1,000 paying customers came to the show's only public event. Top-notch industry speakers and panelists took center stage. Here, many of them opined, is a technology that will change the world.”
Of course the SJ Merc went on to dump a bucket of cold water on any real enthusiasm we Plug-In supporters may have fired up at the conference and they were highly diligent in quoting key participants saying things about how tough it will be and how great the odds are against any of this succeeding.

They had clearly copped a tude before they ever hit the convention center or talked with anyone and that tude was that plug-ins are not the answer.

But your Creative Greenius says the truth is otherwise. I say Plug-Ins WILL succeed as the next generation of private transportation because they make more sense in more ways than any other option by far.

The smartest people I know and the smartest people I read and listen to all agree on this subject. And the people who are the most skeptical, cynical and downright resistant to this idea are most typically the very people whose gravy train depends on oil, gas and coal continuing to be used - at any costs.

Lets face it, I’m a neophyte when it comes to plug-in cars and all the issues associated with them, but I already know a lot more than the average person and after immersing myself in last week’s Plug-In 2008 conference I’ve learned a few more things. In fact it wasn’t real hard for me to come up with my Top Ten Things I Learned @ Plug-In 2008 and now here they are:

People Either Know Nothing Or What They Know Is Wrong
Even though I was among over 600 people who had all gathered to spend three days talking and learning about plug-in cars, most folks don’t know jack about plug-in cars. Most people don’t even know the phrase “plug-in” cars or what it means. It’s not their fault. So far no one is spending any real money advertising, promoting or beating the drum about them. So far there’s a lot of preaching to the converted going on. But that’s where evangelists come from and evangelists are absolutely necessary for plug-ins to get their due.

The few members of the general public who do know and understand the phrase “plug-in” have doubts and lots of questions about the cars - like whether they won’t be more polluting than gas powered cars because part of our electricity comes from coal. (Answer: No, they will not. Even with 50% of electricity coming from coal it would still be cleaner)They worry about the batteries themselves becoming an environmental hazard when they need to be replaced. They can’t imagine having a car that can only go 40, 60, 90 or even 120 miles on a charge - what happens when they want to drive to San Francisco today? Or cross country to New York? They don’t understand how charging your car from electricity can be cheaper than gasoline. They don’t understand how little driving the average American actually does. They don’t know how many hours the average American car just sits somewhere.

Batteries Are The Key, They’re Ready & Getting Better
Batteries are everything when it comes to the success of Plug-Ins both plug-in hybrids and plug-in electric vehicles.

Skeptics and nay-sayers will always shake their heads and act like we have to wait for the Messiah of batteries to arrive that allows plug-in cars to go 800 miles on a charge and be able to be recharged in 15 minutes at the same rest stop you pull into to give the kids a bathroom break.

But all they’re really doing is trying to stall. There’s a ton of support for the good old status quo by the same people who fight the higher CAFE standards and fight every good idea for cars California has ever proposed. So a lot of what you hear about batteries is from people who want you to worry about them enough to just keep driving your gasoline burning car.

The truth about the batteries is they’re fine right now. For some people plain old lead acid batteries will work just swell - especially for the millions of existing cars that can be converted to electric or plug-in hybrid. For all those RAV4 EVs and Ford Rangers the NiMH batteries that were state of the art in the 90s seem to be doing fine more than ten years later.
And now you’ve got Tesla ganging 6,831 little lithium ion cell batteries for their new electric dreammobile and Nissan has got a whole new advanced flat lithium ion battery they’re getting ready to put in their all electric cars.

It’s got twice the power and twice the energy of conventional Li-on batteries and dissipates heat far either and quicker too.

The folks at Mitsubishi weren’t complaining about the state of battery technology when discussing their new MiEV cars either.

Maybe it’s the American auto industry Phil Gramm was talking about when he was pointing the fingers at whiners recently.

And there’s plenty of great work being done today on making the best of today’s batteries a whole lot better. The best thing I’ve ever read on batteries for Plug-In cars is by Daniel Simpson in a piece he calls, “In Search Of The Flux Capacitor.” I highly recommend it.

Electricity is Sticky / Oil Flows To the Highest Bidder
Your Creative Greenius learned this from Andy Grove during his address to the Plug-In conference and it’s a great framing of the energy debate.
(That’s one of Andy’s slides on the left)

Whereas oil is pumped wherever it is found and then transported by big tanker ships to wherever the highest bidders live - and keep in mind that bidders who aren’t trying to buy with weakened US dollars are more attractive buyers these days - electricity is sticky. It stays on the continent. It’s home grown and remains domestic. And in so being it’s a whole lot more patriotic and it’s a whole lot more reliable. We can make as much of it as we want to and if we use renewable energy to produce our electricity then we’ve got a never-ending supply of clean power to run our cars on. And there’s nothing anyone in the Middle East can do to influence or impact one watt of it. They can in essence take their oil and shove it and then go pound sand as my redneck friends might opine.
Or as Andy Grove says,
“Because electricity is the stickiest form of energy, and because it is multi-sourced, it will give us the greatest degree of energy resilience. Our nation will be best served if we dedicate ourselves to increasing the amount of our energy that we use in the form of electricity.

Detroit Still Doesn’t Get It
Man, was this obvious when I saw what GM, Ford and the invisible Chrysler have to offer. The truth is companies like GM would much rather sell you a Hummer, which they made $15,000 profit per unit on, then they would the still mythical Volt plug-in.

The truth is that the mindset of Detroit finds hybrid cars “geeky” according to Walter McManus, head of the Automotive Analysis Division at the University of Michigan’s Transportation Research Institute and a former GM forecaster and researcher.

McManus gave a great presentation at the Plug-In conference where he shared his insider’s insights and plenty of earthy humor that was greatly appreciated by the audience. He said that he has had, “a psychotic break with the industry.”

He confirmed that Detroit has always been more about fashion and the look of the car than its function, efficiency or reliability. Your Creative Greenius says consumers have long been willing to pay a premium for a fashion item, and trendy consumables go out of style on a seasonal basis which is why their manufacturers and sellers love them.

There are thousands of truly talented and visionary employees at GM and Ford and maybe even what’s left of Chrysler - but none of those people are in top management or have much in the way of any decision-making power. None of them have ever had any impact on Detroit’s favored business model. Unfortunately during the era of cheap gas they did have an impact on Toyota, and Nissan as they too went after the truck and SUV markets here in the US and are now suffering accordingly as they forgot where they came from.

The car industry as a whole has had their opportunities over the years to follow the lead of people like Professor Andy Frank. They instead chose a different path.

The cold hard truth is that Ford and GM in particular both suffer from a terminal case of Not Invented Here Syndrome. They’ve been myopic for decades now about any technology or innovation that comes from the outside and they’d rather plod along having their lunch eaten by the Asian car companies and upstarts like Tesla, AC Propulsion and mavericks like Felix Kramer then embrace collaboration and technological innovation.

Even today, GM would rather come out with half-assed hybrids like the Saturn Vue and Ford would rather drag what’s left of their feet and admit that they’re at least five years away from producing much of anything then they would license Andy Frank’s Efficient Drive Train technology and start making plug-in hybrids that will blow the competition away.

In fact, if any of the car companies had followed Professor Frank’s lead they could then stop their cowardly fighting of better milage standards as well as California’s emission standards for automobiles and they could instead start to act in the best interests of their customers and our mutual futures. Most have instead chosen a different course and it tells you everything you need to know about the character of their leadership and the ethics of their mission.

If you’d like to know what kind of no risk, status quo, don’t rock the boat thinking that’s driving companies like Ford into the ground check out this quote from Nancy Gioia, Ford's director of sustainable mobility technologies and hybrid vehicle programs, and one of the conference speakers:
"If you build your plug-in hybrid and the battery only lasts five years, how much is your vehicle worth? Nothing," Gioia said. "The battery replacement costs will exceed the residual value of the vehicle. We don't think that's an acceptable pathway forward."

Nobody is asking Ford to build plug-ins with batteries that last only five years so she’s just resorting to strawman arguments, but even at that she loses to the strawman because the car would NOT be worth “nothing.” Ford knows all about what isn’t the acceptable pathway forward - they just don’t seem to know too much about what IS. Just contrast they’re corporate wide “can’t-do” attitude with what Nissan and Mitsubishi, Tesla and AC Propulsion and EDI are doing today.

The Electric Companies Hold The Real Power

In the coming post-carbon energy world the electric companies and utilities will become the new energy giants and I’m feeling pretty good about that based on the people I heard and met from PG&E, Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) Hydro-Quebec and especially Southern California’s own, SCE.

Tons of innovation, action and vision are coming from the electric companies and they were everywhere you turned at the conference. In point of fact the major sponsors of the event included PG&E, SDG&E and SCE. They were represented by a very smart lot overall, but with none of the self-important corporate attitude or corpse-odor mustiness of the Detroit bunch.

These guys and gals are driving the future and they’re backing plug-in cars, the technology behind them and the widespread use of renewable energy with passion and enthusiasm, in addition to tremendous expertise. I sense a chomping-at-the-bit by people who know what the problems are, have the solutions at their fingertips and can’t wait to be given the go-ahead to fix things.

Ed Kjaer, SCE’s Director of Electric Transportation gave a very enlightened presentation that actually looked at consumers as energy partners and allies instead of clueless chumps who they want to gain more “wallet-share” from - as my friends in Washington Mutual’s executive suite were so fond of targeting.

Dean Taylor, SCE’s
Senior Program Manager/Scientist in the Electric Transportation Division, is another impressive executive who communicates clearly and effectively and makes nothing but sense when he speaks. His presentation on SCE’s role in policy and incentives provided a real education on just how progressive and prescient California and our publicly owned electric companies have been. I learned an awful lot about the Energy Independence and Security Act (the EISA) of 2007 which contains all kinds of interesting provisions to promote plug-ins.

SCE’s James Kelly was especially inspiring as he spoke on the final day of the conference. He declared, “When I think of tipping points I think of the moon landing, the fall of the Soviet Union... And now on this day, in this place, we are witnessing a tipping point. A convergence that will change the world forever.” He sounded like he meant it.

Kelly is no pie-in-the-sky touchy-feely type. He’s the guy who leads the organization responsible for planning, engineering and designing SCE's electric transmission, substation and distribution system; substation and powerline craft training; environmental and safety services; research and development and strategic asset management. If there’s going to be a smart grid, this smart guy is going to make it happen. And when you listen to him you come away absolutely convinced that there will be not only a smart grid but a bright, green energy future to come along with it.

He also predicted that “Within a decade, battery storage of electricity in your garage will be as common as water heaters are today.”

The battery storage he’s talking about will be inside your Plug-In vehicle. And the way SCE and the other electric companies will tap into that storage is through V2G - Vehicle to Grid connection.

V2G is to Renewable Energy As MP3 is to Music
Vehicle to Grid (V2G) is a simple to understand concept that makes sense the minute you hear it. You plug your Plug-In Hybrid or all Electric vehicle into an outlet in your garage to charge your car’s battery after you get home from work. The average car in America is parked for 23 hours a day. When the electrical power grid needs energy it can draw from the power stored in all the car batteries plugged into it. When the cars need energy to have a full charge to drive on the energy flows from the grid to the car.

During peak energy-need hours while the cars are plugged-in while parked for 8 hours at work, the grid can respond by drawing from all that battery storage.

That same battery storage gives the electric companies one huge thing they don’t have today - the ability to store inventory. They can’t do that with the electricity they generate today. It’s a use it or lose it situation.

And it’s that same ability to store energy that makes clean solar and wind a much more viable and reliable solution. Right now these renewable forms of energy are considered intermittent - the sun doesn’t shine at night and the wind doesn’t always blow. But if you store the solar power in batteries for use at night when the sun isn’t shining and if you could capture and store the wind energy for use when the wind isn’t blowing... well then you’ve got power available 24/7 ready when you need it. That works especially well if you’ve got your own solar panels on the roof.

And as a bonus, that stored energy in your plug-in’s battery winds up serving as a great back up power supply for your home in the event of an earthquake, hurricane or other black out situation. Are you digging the V2G scene as much as I am?

And I haven’t even told you about William Kempton, the senior scientist in the Center for Energy and Environmental Policy at the University of Delaware who believes we may each be able to make up to $4,000 a year in energy provider income from the electric companies.

So now if you’re following me you’re seeing that plug-in cars not only solve our problems of dependence on carbon-laden, climate-changing oil as the fuel that drives them but they can also provide the missing link that makes widespread use of solar and wind energy possible. I learned both of those things at this conference.

But I also learned that they can’t do that on the existing, very old and pretty dumb electric grid we’re still using.

We Need A Smart Grid
Like I said, right now our electric grid isn’t very smart. It’s a one-way grid system put on line in 1896 and designed for a whole lot less people who used electricity a whole different expendable way. That day is done and those people don’t live here any more.

I learned that a Smart Grid will involve an upgrade of the current grid to a more robust two-way communications system featuring advanced sensors in consumers’ cars and electrical appliances, and distributed computers to improve the efficiency, reliability and safety of power delivery. The Smart Grid will essentially bring the power of the Internet to the transmission, distribution and use of electricity - it should save consumers money and reduce CO2 emissions.

The big brains at EPRI are leading the way with planning and technology for the Smart Grid but getting it built won’t be easy. There are environmental impact concerns and the usual NIMBY neighborhood feelings. We need lots of new transmission lines to carry the electricity to where it needs to go but no one wants those new electric lines in their backyard or neighborhoods. Fortunately advances like superconducting cables will allow for buried lines.

But the smart grid we need must be able to transmit wind power generated in the Dakotas and solar power from the California, Arizona and New Mexico deserts and distribute that clean renewable energy to all the places on the grid that need it

One key step towards getting the Smart Grid off the ground is the replacement of today’s dumb electric meters to the new smart meters.

As an SCE customer here in Southern California we’ve already been told to expect our old meter to be replaced with one of the new Smart Connect meters over the next several months. Personally I can’t wait.

That’s one of the new digital beauties to the right.

We Need Plugs Everywhere
To get plug-in cars widely accepted and give consumers the sense of security they need to buy cars that use electricity instead of gasoline as fuel there will need to be plugs - electrical outlets - everywhere. Supermarket and shopping center parking lots, employee parking lots and parking structures, at parking meters and public parking lots - and everywhere else that people park their cars.

The Cit of San Jose announced during the Plug-In conference that they would be installing Coulomb Technologies Smartlet Chargepoint stations around the city attached to new LED street lights.

San Jose isn’t the only city getting the jump on putting in the plugs.

As your Creative Greenius reported back on July 13:
PGE predicts Surge in hybrid vehicles, plans more plug ins
Demonstration - The utility will build 12 charging stations in Portland and Salem
Saturday, July 05, 2008
LIBBY TUCKER -The Associated Press
Portland General Electric has begun leading the charge for mass adoption of plug-in hybrid-electric cars in Oregon. The utility plans to install 12 electric-vehicle charging stations in Portland and Salem by September as part of a demonstration project to develop the transportation infrastructure needed to support electric vehicles.

The project will also help the utility anticipate the demand plug-in cars might place on the region's electric grid and design smart grid systems to help even out variability in wind and solar resources.

They’ve now got the first of the new cool looking charging stations installed and you can check out their fact sheet by clicking on this link.

Plug-In Hybrids Can Change Things Right Now
Everyone I heard from at every general session and every breakout session convinced me that plug-in hybrids are ready right now to deliver twice the mpgs of today’s best hybrids.

Professor Andy Franks knows the best way to convert existing cars to go from using 700 gallons of gas a year to 70 gallons. He can convert just about any car using a team of students to rip out the internal combustion engine (ICE) and the transmission and replace them with an electric motor, an ICE of just 1/3 the size and a simple CVT, a continuously variable transmission.

If you’ve already got a Prius you can chose from more than half a dozen different companies who will convert it into a plug in. The folks at Google’s ReChargeIT program can show you how well their PHEV fleet is doing in real world use.

Check out what Andy Grove had to say in this video shot of his keynote at the conference:

The Missing Link Is The Marketing
So far as your Creative Greenius can see, everything is aligned for the future of Plug-in cars to become a huge game-changing success. The product development and testing is right where it should be, the state of the art is already exciting and improving every day and consumers will soon have their initial opportunities to buy their first plug-ins.

The one thing I didn’t see at the Plug-In 2008 conference were any of the equally exciting marketing elements. Granted, it’s early in the game but I saw no great graphics, no irresistible hooky positioning lines, no iconic images, no stop-you-in your-tracks messaging or brand logos.

It will be crucial to build awareness, interest, appeal, buzz and desirability by producing the same highly effective creative imagery and brand experience that the conventional car industry has employed for years.

But that should only be the jumping-off place for campaigns that leverage the superior features and benefits of plug-ins the same way Apple has successfully positioned both the iPod’s and the iPhone’s superiority in their product categories.

One key hook is getting people to hands-on experience the cars and how they work. I recommend ride-and-drive opportunities at disruptive locations where existing events draw large numbers of people. To drive these cars is to love these cars. To see how simple it is to plug them in is to see how easy and clean it is. How cool it is? Very cool is the answer.

A big budget educational/experiential road tour featuring a mobile interactive science and technology “museum” that explains the plug-in technology and its advantages and makes it accessible and appealing, should tour
across the United States. The tour transportation should ideally be plug-in hybrid powered.

The tour should visit every county fair, every jazz festival, every major college football game and wherever the Nascar tour draws people.
Toyota employed a similar strategy when launching the first Prius and it was a huge success.

I’d expand the target audience so that it encompasses not only all driving-age consumers, but also junior high school and high school kids. The tour should feature a variety of hands on exhibits that entertain as they teach the benefits and features of the new cars.

In addition, I’d launch a curriculum-based live show for younger school kids to capture their imaginations, and more importantly - secure their endorsements and motivate them to influence their parents buying decisions. Do not underestimate the power of guilt-driven purchasing.

This is also a great opportunity to launch innovative, attention-getting viral and street marketing campaign, including of course, the always effective viral videos. There is every reason to follow a disruptive approach that breaks every convention and expectation possible.

In fact the street - as well as the freeway - is exactly the right venue to present the breakframe messages that plug-in cars alone can deliver on.

Even before the car manufacturers are ready to roll with their own branded, product-specific marketing and advertising campaigns, it’s not too soon for groups like the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA) or the investor-owned utilities themselves to start working on the broader campaign that needs to happen first.

It’s exactly this kind of work that your friendly and famous Creative Greenius has long specialized in. I’m just saying...

Professor Franks Has Given Birth - Day Three at Plug-In 2008

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:40:54 -0700

In an earlier Plug-In 2008 Greenius post I called Professor Andrew Frank of UC Davis the Godfather of Plug-In Hybrid vehicles, not only was I probably inadvertently quoting Sherry Boschert from the PIA website, but as you can see in the above photo of him I wasn’t giving him nearly enough credit for he truly is the Father of PHEVs not merely the godfather.

Professor Franks gave the keynote address at today’s lunch session at the conference and he was brilliant. His topic was the Impact of the PHEV on Society and he had the audience hanging on his every word.
Not only did Professor Frank give a superb overview of the history of PHEVs - easy enough to do because he himself was part of all of it from the beginning - but he also had one of the best produced PowerPoint presentations of any of the conference guest speakers. His slides not only look great, they had compelling content and messaging.

Everything about this man impresses the hell out of me. Not the least of which is the fact he’s attending this conference with a broken foot and a walking boot cast. He claimed he suffered the injury from kicking his students one time too many.

Professor Frank believes that Plug-In Hybrid vehicles are our most viable solution to reducing oil consumption and his reasoning is sound and convincing. He’s been building his own hybrids since 1993 and he’s built them better than anything GM, Ford or Chrysler has built or is planning on building soon. Here’s why PHEVs are his vehicle of choice:

The gas stations and the electric outlets are already in place to fuel PHEVs, unlike pure Electric vehicles, BEVs which need a high power charge . Using direct wind and/or solar renewable energy is an option and because of the gas engine, range is not a problem. And the cost of the zero C02 substitute for the global warming gas is less than any other proposed solution. Frankly speaking it’s a no brainer.

So Professor Frank has no problem sharing Andy Grove’s vision of trying to get 10 million plug-ins on the road in four years. But he knows we can’t get there from new car sales because the 15 million new cars sold annually isn’t a large enough pool to draw from. Once the high volume manufacturers like Toyota, GM, Nissan, Ford and others DO start PHEVs they won’t be able to capture enough of that new car market in their first decade to get to 10 million.

So he says, we need to modify existing vehicles at the rate of 10-15% a year. someone needs to help with the cost to make it possible until oil goes up enough to justify the expense out of pocket. One way to pull that along he suggests is to start installing outlets at every parking spot and I agree.
Once the public sees the abundance of potential charging outlets everywhere they park in public, the sense of being able to charge up wherever you go will will become part of the mainstream consciousness.

How hard could this be? After all, as Dr Frank pointed out, Canada has already done this. They use the outlets to power the block heaters so many of our friends in the great white north carry throughout the cold weather months. And as another speaker in one of my breakout sessions enlightened us, there is already electricity going to most parking meters in the United States, so the idea of adding an outlet or two per meter is a practical one.

Besides being the hands-on guru at UC Davis, Professor Frank is also in business as Efficient Drivetrains Inc (EI) and is doing everything in his power to accelerate PHEV development including collaborating with vehicle companies to develop PHEVs and supplying drivetrains and systems components as well as licensing existing technology solutions.
EI can provide a huge savings in R&D fundings and more importantly in time to market.
If any of the American car companies had a man like Andrew Franks at the top or close to the top he could teach them the same thing he’s been teaching his students for the past 15 years and they’d be pumping out PHEVs with the same energy and passion they do the Hummers that used to get them $15,000 in profits for every car sold. But I got the impression from listening to Professor Frank today that he doesn’t think too much of the efforts being made by GM, Ford and Chrysler and that he’s not putting great odds on any of them catching plug-in fever in a big way anytime too soon.

One last note before I hit the hay tonight. At this evening’s big conference gala at the San Jose Tech Museum I was lucky enough to be checking out the Baker electric car from the late 1890s when Professor Frank came by with a few colleagues to discuss the car. I got to listen to him talk about the history of the car and how it had been turned into a hybrid with the addition of a gas engine after the intro of the Model A by Ford. I joined in the impromptu discussion and got the tiniest taste of what a joy it must be to study with Professor Frank. Wow.

And it gave me renewed confidence, knowing how many of Professor Franks former students are now the key players and leaders in this quickly growing new industry. It’s a good thing they’re all here. We’re going to need them.

Electrifying Day At Plug-In 2008

Wed, 23 Jul 2008 06:21:48 -0700

That’s Mark Duvall of the Electric Power Research Institute, EPRI. He’s the program manager of Electric Transportation and he’s been working with plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles for 16 years since his days as a student at UC Davis. There are few people who know more about Plug-In cars than Duvall and few who are more impressive when presenting or answering questions.

Tuesday’s session started with “The Potential and Challenges of PHEVs to Reduce Petroleum Consumption and Greenhouse Gas Emissions” and I wasn’t nearly as impressed with Mark’s boss, Steve Specker who seemed cautious and short of vision to me. His presentation was weak at best.

The same can’t be said of Peter Schwartz, the co-founder and chairman of the Global Business Network. He spoke about climate change and didn’t pull any punches.

The one statement he made that will stay with me a long time is that you can already kiss Bangladesh goodbye. “Bangladesh is over,” is the way Schwartz put it.

He said there will be 150 million refugees that India and China would have to assimilate.

Nothing Schwartz said gave me a single ounce of hope that climate change is being treated with the sense of urgency it needs to be reckoned with. He might as well have said you can kiss your current way of life goodbye. “The good time is over,” is what I heard.

Increasing climate change is what we are headed for...

One of the worst presentations I’ve ever seen by a corporate exec was given by the monotone and soul-free Jonathan Lackner, a GM VP.

He was there to talk about the Volt and the Saturn plug-in hybrid SUV and after listening to his lackluster and detached read of his poorly prepared remarks I came away thinking that GM will never deliver on their promise.
A small but telling note about Jonathan, he sported a Hitler style mustache that only served to add to his lack of credibility. Any corporate exec at his level that doesn’t even understand the optics of his own face and the message it sends with his choice of stash style doesn’t understand the American public, what they want and what they don’t trust. The fact that this is the guy GM sent to the premier plug-in event speaks volumes about where Detroit is still coming from.

I was equally unimpressed with Nancy Gioia from Ford. In fact, after hearing both these American car company employees talking about their plug-in offerings, I don’t give either one of them much of a chance in succeeding. I don’t think Ford or GM get it and frankly I don’t believe their spokesman. I believe both Ford and GM and Chrysler as well are the problem, not the solution. I hope I’m wrong, but I would bet against both of them and put my money on the Japanese and the entrepreneurs.

Fortunately there were many speakers and presentations that hit home runs and gave me great hope for the plug-in future. Ed Kjaer, the Director of Electric Transportation for So. Cal Edison was superb. His expertise and enthusiasm for his work were inspiring.

When it came to providing real inspiration Andy Grove, Intel’s former Chairman and CEO was right on the money. He gave the keynote speech at lunch and his vision was as sharp as his remarks.

Grove called for a World War II level effort to convert 10 million pickups, SUVs and minivans - the low hanging fruit of bad milage, big vehicles - to plug-in hybrids within four years.

Grove wants to see an inter-industry task force made up of the utilities, vehicle manufacturers, high tech companies and academia to put together the plan to make it happen. Grove said only disruptive action on this scale can curtail greenhouse gas emissions sufficiently and cut our use of gasoline in half. While nay-sayers whine about how soon it can be done, Grove has been there before when an industry went from zero to sixty as fast as a Tesla.

Maybe we should just turn the entire job over to UC Davis. Before this conference I had no idea just how influential and significant the work done at Davis has been. But now it’s clear that UC Davis is to plug-ins as UCLA has been to NBA basketball. So many stars of this new industry have come out of Davis or are part of Davis now.

The godfather of plug-in vehicles, Dr. Andrew Frank is here and must be proud of what his work has fostered. I’ll write more about Dr. Frank in future posts.

I sat next to Professor Frank in the PHEV Conversions breakout session moderated by Felix Kramer of CalCars.org and I was pretty much spellbound by the panel that included Sanjeev Choudhary of A123Systems/Hymotion and Alec Proudfoot of the Google RechargeIT.

This session made it clear that plug-in hybrids are ready right now to deliver close to 100 mpg for American drivers. It is only through the efforts of the people on this panel and those working with them that the auto companies are making plug-in hybrids at all. These plug in pioneers pushed the car companies kicking and screaming all along the way to the brink of production they’re on today. That’s not what any of them said, but that’s what the Creative Greenius is telling you is true fact.

The day ended with the public night in the exhibition hall and over 700 members of the public came to see the cars they’ll be driving next. The enthusiasm and passion of the public was a welcome vibe by the exhibitors and plug-in supporters attending the conference and a big boost for all.

The evening wrapped up with a 90 minute panel session featuring a tremendous panel of well spoken, exceptionally smart plug-in experts. UC Davis Director of their PHEV Research Center, Tom Turrentine moderated the panel featuring Mark Duvall, Dan Reicher, the director of Climate Change and Energy Initiatives for Google.org and Chelesa Sexton, former GM EV1 Specialist.

The session had to end at 9pm, but if the public had their way we’d still be there talking about Plug-ins and asking and answering more questions.

Two bits of good news came out of the conference. GM is now working with 37 different states and their electric companies to speed bringing plug-in cars to market.

And Google announced two new investments in the plug-in development field.

$2.75 million went to Aptera, the three wheel BEV and PHEV vehicle that looks like a flying car; and to ActaCell the lithium-ion battery maker.

I’d write more, but I have to get back to the conference.

Welcome To Plug-In 2008

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 06:40:31 -0700

I attended the Welcome Reception for Plug-In 2008 last night and got my first look at the Exhibition Hall. Here’s some of what I saw:
That’s the Plug-In Hybrid from the Sacramento Muni Utility District...

AC Propulsion’s Ebox all electric car...

Consider this my visual sneak preview. Tonight I’ll be blogging about who is here and what they’re showing.

In the meantime, let me leave you with two important items. This from Plug-In America co-founder, Paul Scott, who reports that Japanese plug-in car makers have reached an important agreement to standardize batteries:
Toyota Motor Corp, Nissan Motor Co, Matsushita Electric Industrial Co and other Japanese companies will work together to set up common standards for lithium-ion batteries being developed to power next-generation cars, the Nikkei business daily said on Saturday.

And this great article from Stefano Paris on his UC Davis professor, and the man I consider the Godfather of Plug-In Hybrids, Professor Andrew Frank.

Greetings From Plugged-In San Jose

Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:24:33 -0700

That’s CalCars Founder and Plug-In Hybrid visionary, Felix Kramer with his now legendary Plug-In Prius outside of the San Jose Convention center this afternoon. Kramer and several other plug-in hybrid heavyweights held a well-attended press event in advance of today’s plug-in battery workshop.

I hope to get some news from the battery workshop when I attend tonight’s Welcome Reception sponsored by PG&E.

But one big piece of charging news comes courtesy of Plug-In America founder, Paul Scott who passed on the report from
Coulomb Technologies who “Today announced a smart charging infrastructure for plug-in vehicles. Coulomb has developed a complete solution targeting plug-in vehicles including Extended Range Electric Vehicles, Plug-in Hybrid Vehicles, and Battery Electric Vehicles. Coulomb’s ChargePoint™ Network includes public charging stations, a consumer subscription plan and utility grid management technology for electric utility companies to smooth electrical demands on the grid. The infrastructure solution will be showcased with the Saturn Vue Plug-in Hybrid at the Plug-In 2008 Conference.”

Speaking of news, there was a plug on the front page of this morning’s San Jose Mercury News for the conference with a photo of Kramer’s converted Prius. A piece on the conference lead the front page of the Tech section.
It was great to see four different plug-in hybrids ready to drive in front of the convention center. They may look like regular old hybrids, but they’re really super hybrids. And I don’t know a person who drives today who doesn’t want one right now.

Tomorrow morning the full Plug-In 2008 Conference kicks off with keynote speaker, Andy Grove, Intel CEO and Chairman, talking about why the time is now for Plug-Ins.

I’ve already got my “hit list” of breakout sessions, exhibitors and plug-in principals I want to meet, listen to and learn from while I’m here.

I’ll try to share as much as I can each day as I shoot photos and video for my Greenius reports. I’m excited to be here and on to road to meeting the challenge of clean, green electric drive vehicles.

I Accept The Challenge Al - We CAN Do It In Ten Years If We Start Now

Sun, 20 Jul 2008 16:24:29 -0700

Al Gore gave the single most important speech of the Presidential campaign last Thursday and told it exactly the way it is when it comes to the climate change crisis and what we should do about it.

Gore said our survival is at stake and that things are bad and getting worse. If you’ve been reading the Creative Greenius you know that’s true. If you’ve been paying attention to Dr. James Hansen over the last year or so Gore was telling you what you already know. But that would put you in small minority of Americans.

Al Gore said we are in danger because we continue to use carbon-based fuels and that our reliance on them is hurting our economy, our environment and our national security. Your Creative Greenius will add that it’s also turned us into a nation of BOHICA chumps.

Al correctly pointed out that “we're borrowing money from China to buy oil from the Persian Gulf to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. Every bit of that's got to change.” We couldn’t agree more. We’re not quibbling with a single stirring word Al spoke.

He challenged our nation “to commit to producing 100 percent of our electricity from renewable energy and truly clean carbon-free sources within 10 years.”

I say Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go!
I stand with Al Gore and my sleeves are rolled up. I’m ready to do some heavy lifting.
Others are ready to do some chirping, harping, pillaring and complaining. Their criticism only puts us further away from what needs to be done now.

You might hear some people say we can’t do it in just ten years.
Those people are wrong.
Some of them are well meaning and just don’t have the vision, resolve or ability to make great things happen.
Those people should get out of the way and let those of us who do get to work.

But many of people who say it can’t be done are part of an industry that has been lying and damaging our health for a long time and making huge profits off that business model. They will say and do anything to keep things the way they are. But remember this - there is no such thing as an oil or coal company that isn’t a climate killer and a carbon collaborator. It doesn’t matter how many ad campaigns Chevron, Exxon/Mobile or Shell Oil run. It doesn’t matter how much greenwashing they do. The truth is out there and it damns them.

The truth is that the scientists who know best have already told us that the amount of C02 in the air needs to be at 350 or below. Today it’s at 385 and climbing higher every day.
The experts I trust say that if we don’t turn things around in the next ten years - the ten years Al is challenging us with - then life as we know it will be over. They’re not fudging or factoring in wiggle room. Life as we know it now will be over.

Those experts are right and the people who dispute them are wrong. Listening to the people who are wrong, who have been wrong every step of the way, will only hasten the worst of all possible worlds. We don’t have any spare time left to mince words or be diplomatic about it.

Al said, “Those who, for whatever reason, refuse to do their part must either be persuaded to join the effort or asked to step aside. This is such a moment. The survival of the United States of America as we know it is at risk.”

When Al says they should “be persuaded” your Creative Greenius stands ready to help be a persuader. There are so many effective methods I’ve seen work. Some of them are really fun to employ.

Al says we need a whole new electric grid to transmit our 100% renewable power everywhere it needs to go. Al is 100% correct about that too and once we get the oil company lobbyist out of the White House and Vice President’s residence we should immediately initiate that work and fund it with a carbon tax on oil, coal and the people who burn them.

Al Gore proposes that we shouldn’t be taxed on what we earn, we should be taxed on what we burn, as in climate changing carbon. Al is right about this too. The sooner gas, oil and coal start carrying their own weight based on the damage and harm they’re doing the closer we will be to ditching these planet killers.

Al says we can also ditch gasoline and run our cars off the clean power our national electric system will offer. I’m sure plenty of the folks I’m looking forward to meeting at the Plug-In 2008 Conference this week will be ready. Hell, several of them are already there, having blazed the path for the rest of us.

Al Gore is seizing the moment just when it needs to be grabbed and run with. It’s too bad no one running for President is taking the leadership role this moment in our history demands. But we don’t need the politicians. We’ve got Al. And Al has got me.

Just try and stop us.

Plugging Plug-Ins Part III The Greenius Guide to EVs, Hybrids & Plug-In Hybrids That Will Rock Your World

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 08:25:26 -0700

In Part I we covered Electric (BEV) vehicles.
In Part II we covered PHEV, Plug-In Hybrids.

Here in Part III we’ll cover what’s coming in BEVs.

I’ve already shared the many reasons I love all electric plug-in cars that don’t use any gasoline or other fuels. I can easily imagine a world just a decade away when electric vehicles completely replace all gasoline vehicles. I’m not alone in previsualizing that transportation dream world.

Read this comprehensive article from May 26, 2008
An industry charged up: Electric vehicles are poised to go mainstream
The Financial Times - By John Reed - Published: May 26 2008
While as recently as a year ago carmakers’ green-car announcements often had overtones of worthy science projects or corporate window-dressing, their actions in recent months point to electric propulsion becoming a core business. “You’re going to see more changes in powertrain technology over the next five years than you’ve seen in the last 50,” says Rod Lache, an analyst with Deutsche Bank.

Here are some of the cars that will get us there...

Nissan Going All Electric, Looks To Seize The Initiative
Renault/Nissan, the auto industry’s third-largest group, has announced the most ambitious plans of any major car company, promising pure electric cars providing an expected range of about 100 miles (160 km), to be sold in the US and Japan from 2010 and theb globally from 2012. Carlos Ghosn, the alliance’s chief executive, has identified leadership in electric vehicles as a top objective in Nissan’s new five-year business plan.

According to the article in the NY Times in May of this year, Ghosn said Nissan decided to accelerate development of battery-powered vehicles because of high gasoline prices and environmental concerns, not just because of the need to meet stricter fuel-economy standards.
“What we are seeing is that the shifts coming from the markets are more powerful than what regulators are doing,” he said.

Mitsubishi i-MiEV Expected to be Released Next Year

Mitsubishi MiEV’s in-wheel motor electric vehicle is a very cool approach to driving a car by electricity and they look very serious about getting this car out to the market.

They’ve moved up their original delivery date and plan on having cars first to Japanese customers in 2009.

Right now Mitsubishi has no plans to sell the car in the US, but is asking for potential customers to petition them. Youi can sign this petition asking Mitsubishi to bring the i-EV to the U.S.

Mitsubishi has added one new innovation by giving the i-EV two different charging ports for different charging situations. The i-EV has a charging port on each side. One allows the car to be charged using normal household or parking lot charging, and the other allows for using a “Quick Charging System”.

The household/parking lot method takes about 7 hours and the Quick Charging System takes about 30 minutes to get it to 80%.

Subaru Quick Charge Electric Car in New York

Based on the Subaru R1 minicar sold in Japan, the R1e was developed by Subaru in partnership with the Tokyo Electric Power Company, Inc.. The utility has been testing a fleet of R1e electric cars since 2006. As part of a U.S. test program, two of the Subaru R1e electric cars will join the New York Power Authority (NYPA) fleet.

The Subaru R1e employs fast-charge lithium ion battery technology that eliminates typical lithium ion battery issues of charge memory loss, allowing partial charges and quick charges that do not decrease battery life. The two-seat Subaru R1e is capable of driving at speeds up to 65 mph with a range of up to 50 miles, making it an ideal urban commuter.

The Subaru R1e can be “quick-charged” to 80 percent capacity in only 15 minutes using quick-charge technology. The vehicle can be fully charged overnight (eight hours) while connected to a standard household electrical outlet. The R1e uses an AC permanent magnet synchronized motor producing 40 kW.

THINK ELECTRIC OX DUE IN 2011

Backed by U.S. venture capital, Norwegian company Think is betting its Ox concept vehicle can prove the electric car's time has finally arrived.

An electrified people's car for the 21st century, the Ox is a preview of Think's next-generation production vehicle, due out in 2011.

Roughly the size of a Toyota Prius, the Ox can travel between 125 and 155 miles before needing a recharge, and zips from zero to 60 miles per hour in about 8.5 seconds.

Its lithium-ion batteries can be charged to 80% capacity in less than an hour, and slender solar panels integrated into the roof power the onboard electronics. Inside, the hatchback includes a bevy of high-tech gizmos such as GPS navigation, a mobile Internet connection, and a key fob that lets drivers customize the car's all-digital dashboard. Pricing has yet to be announced, but the company's current vehicles cost less than $25,000.

500 Electric Minis Coming to California

BMW plans to export nearly 500 electric versions of its Mini car to California, company sources said. The electric Minis are being built at the Mini factory in Oxford, England, without engines, gearboxes or fuel tanks, then shipped to Munich, Germany, where they are being fitted with electric powertrains.

The key to this first step is that these cars will only be available to lease at first.

If you want to own an electric plug-in Mini today you’ll have to have a Mini you already own converted. Hybrid Technologies will be happy to do that for you for about $57,500.

In April of 07 popular mechanics got to test drive a mini cooper converted to electric by Hybrid Technologies You can watch the video here too.
According to company founder Richard Griffiths, the Mini we tested sports a 78kW electric motor, can get up to 200 miles on a charge and recharges in six to eight hours. Inside, the only real changes to the Mini interior are that the back seats are gone (your batteries are now your “+2”) and the gas gauge now reads permanently empty because as far as your vehicle’s instrument cluster is concerned, you have no gas. But that doesn’t mean that you have no power. The lithium-powered Mini takes off with gusto—not surprising, since electric motors have full torque available at takeoff.

That’s my report for right now...

BUT... One huge potential development I’m watching along with everyone else in this field is the PROJECT BETTER PLACE concept of selling you an electric car without the batteries and then having “subscribe” to the batteries for a monthly fee. That way when your batteries run down you just go to a Better Place battery station and swap them out for fully charged batteries. This is brainchild of Shai Agassi, (read his blog here) the software entrepreneur behind the new company, and the nation of Israel is already on board in a big way.

There are some other plug-in vehicles I haven’t covered here, but a couple of other sources have gone more in-depth and you should check them out too if you want to drill even deeper... you should pardon the pun:

CLICK HERE TO READ “CARS AFTER THE AGE OF OIL” by dotcommodity of DailyKos. His review of vehicles is the best that’s out there and the most comprehensive. I learn an awful lot from this guy.

CLICK HERE TO READ VENTURE BEAT’S JANUARY 2008 “30 ELECTRIC CARS READY TO TAKE OVER THE ROAD”

Plugging Plug-Ins Part II The Greenius Guide to EVs, Hybrids & Plug-In Hybrids That Will Rock Your World

Sun, 13 Jul 2008 07:28:59 -0700

In Part I we covered Electric (BEV) vehicles.
Here in Part II we’ll focus on PHEV, Plug-In Hybrids.
Plug-In Hybrids are going to be big, fast. The electric utilities are big backers for the technology and I’m seeing article after article like this one from last week’s Oregonian in Portland:

PGE predicts Surge in hybrid vehicles, plans more plug ins
Demonstration - The utility will build 12 charging stations in Portland and Salem
Saturday, July 05, 2008
LIBBY TUCKER -The Associated Press
Portland General Electric has begun leading the charge for mass adoption of plug-in hybrid-electric cars in Oregon. The utility plans to install 12 electric-vehicle charging stations in Portland and Salem by September as part of a demonstration project to develop the transportation infrastructure needed to support electric vehicles.
The project will also help the utility anticipate the demand plug-in cars might place on the region's electric grid and design smart grid systems to help even out variability in wind and solar resources.

Meanwhile conservative Kiplinger Business Resource reports:
Plug-in Hybrid Cars Zooming Ahead
Auto makers are speeding ultra-high-mileage plug-in cars to market to beat looming federal emissions mandates.

WHAT YOU CAN BUY TODAY

CONVERT YOUR PRIUS INTO ONE OF THE FIRST PLUG-IN HYBRIDS
Led by Felix Kramer’s pioneering efforts there’s more than one place you can bring your 2004 or later Toyota Prius into a plug-in hybrid (PHEV)- the next best thing to having an electric car.

Plug-in Hybrids are seen as the perfect transition step to BEVs - battery electric vehicles -because their combination of electric motor and gasoline motor will allow most people to travel their average 30 miles a day on the electric motor, but still have the long range capability they also need sometimes.

I could tell you everything you’d ever want to know about plug-in hybrids, but I’d just be repeating what I learned from the Plug-in Hybrid FAQ expertly compiled by Earl Killian at Climate Progress.

One thing I can tell your right now is where to get yourself one of the those 100+ mpg Prius conversions:

A123Systems uses their Hymotion L5 Plug-in Conversion Modules to convert your Prius hybrid into a plug in hybrid capable of 100+ mpg for 30-40 miles.

Hybrids Plus is converting both Prius hybrids and Ford Escape Hybrids. They’re in Colorado and they charge $32,400 to do an Escape - car not included.

Plug-In Conversions in Poway, California is one of the first companies I became aware of doing Prius plug-ins when I saw their cars and Nilar batteries back in November at the Renewable L.A. event. Here’s what their website says today:
Plug-In Conversions Corporation (San Diego, California) is pleased to announce our participation with the California Cars Initiative (CalCars.org) and Nilar, Inc (www.nilar.com) in the first CalCars based East Coast conversion of a Prius into a PHEV (Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle) at the Embedded Systems Conference in Boston. Nilar NiMH batteries are used which give the converted Prius a low-speed electric range of 15+ miles which provides overall mileage of 100+ MPG depending on driving profile. Nilar makes an advanced NiMH battery with characteristics similar to NiMH batteries used in electric vehicles that have attained 150,000 miles of battery pack life. While other battery chemistries show promise, no other battery chemistry to date has been able to demonstrate this longevity.

EDrive in Los Angeles says they’ll start converting cars next month. Here’s what else they say on their website:
With an EDrive upgrade installed in your 2004 or later year Toyota Prius, you won't miss those trips to the gas station as your daily commute driving range expands to well over 1000 miles per fill-up. EDrive allows a substantial amount of gasoline to be displaced by electricity when you charge nightly and drive locally. Using any 110-volt wall socket, your EDrive Prius can be plugged in overnight to recharge an expanded lithium-ion battery system. With a full charge, expect to see over 100 miles per gallon for the first 40 miles of your daily drive under average conditions. On the open road past 40 miles, or if you forget to plug it in, your EDrive Prius will behave like a normal Prius gasoline-electric hybrid.
EDrive can be installed in the rear of a Prius in about four hours without touching the motors, engine or hybrid control system up front. The lithium-ion battery system fits entirely under the rear cargo carpet.

WHAT YOU’LL BUY TOMORROW

GM says their new plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt will be ready sooner than they originally planned:
GM Pushes Up Production Of Volt Electric Car
Posted on: Tuesday, 8 July 2008,
In the wake of an economic downturn, General Motors Corp is hurrying production of its Chevy Volt. It now hopes to unveil a showroom-ready model in September, according to sources close to the project.

Your Creative Greenius really wishes GM well, but I have no faith or confidence that they will deliver on their promise with this car. Based on GM’s record over the last 30 years they will have to prove themselves to me.

Meanwhile they’ll have Toyota to deal with if they do succeed...

Toyota is promising a Plug In Prius for 2010
Toyota made their announcement in January at the Detroit Auto Show and they haven’t said much since except to whine a little about how tough it is to develop the batteries. I think it’s safe to say that it’s only because of the efforts of the groups like CalCars.org and others doing the heavy lifting to develop the Prius as a Plug-In that Toyota is doing this now.

The good news is that Toyota’s car is looking good according to Popular Mechanics testing.

But we don’t have to count on Toyota and GM to give us the plug-ins we want, they’re just two of the floats in this parade of plug-ins.

German Government to Help VW Develop Plug-In Hybrid for 2010
The German government announced it will be helping to fund VW's plug-in hybrid development program with 15 million euros. VM aims for a 2010 vehicle with 31 miles of all-electric range. VW head Martin Winterkorn said that while petrol or diesel powered cars would be around for some time to come, "the future belongs to all-electric cars." According to autoblog, the Twin Drive uses a 82-hp electric motor and a 2.0L turbodiesel producing 122 hp.

Saturn Says It Will Have First Commercially Available, OEM-produced Plug-in Hybrid

Of course, GM’s Saturn division made that claim back in January of 2008 at the Detroit Auto Show and they haven’t shared anything new about this car in a while.

Once again, GM’s management and track record during the entire 30+ years I’ve been driving would lead me to bet against them.

It would be nice if I was wrong about GM, but so far I never have been. There isn’t a single person in top management at GM who really gets it.

I have more faith in the Fiscar start up company vehicle than I do in GM’s chances of delivering anything as they’ve promised it.

Fisker Karma Prototype on Test Track in May

The vehicle dynamics and fuel economy have performed better than expected and we remain on target for our fourth quarter 2009 initial delivery.
—Henrik Fisker, CEO, Fisker Automotive

In sport mode the Fisker Karma will offer a continuous top speed of 125 miles per hour (200 kph). Electric only, or stealth mode, is capped at 95 miles per hour (150 kph). Preliminary testing of the lithium-ion energy storage system that powers the Fisker Karma has indicated a life expectancy of more than 10 years.

The Fisker Karma is designed to provide an all-electric range of up to 50 miles per day, given a recharge at night. Fisker Automotive is preparing to deliver its first vehicles by fourth quarter 2009.

Currently, Fisker Automotive has received more than 500 orders for the Fisker Karma since its 2008 debut at the North American International Auto Show (NAIAS) in January. Fisker Automotive will reach a full production of 1,250 vehicles per month by the end of 2010. The starting estimated MSRP for the Fisker Karma will be approximately US $80,000

Volvo ReCharge Plug-In Hybrid Concept

Back in 2007 Volvo Cars announced the introduction of the Volvo ReCharge Concept, a plug-in hybrid with individual electric wheel motors and batteries that can be recharged via a regular electrical outlet for maximum environmental benefit.

Volvo claimed that recharging allows the car to be driven about 100 kilometres on battery power alone before the car's four-cylinder Flexifuel engine is needed to power the car and recharge the battery.

CLICK HERE TO READ PART III - THE BEV ELECTRIC CARS ON THE WAY

Plugging Plug-Ins Part I The Greenius Guide to EVs, Hybrids & Plug-In Hybrids That Will Rock Your World

Sat, 12 Jul 2008 22:16:58 -0700

Damn I want a plug-in electric car. I want to end my relationship with the internal combustion engine and the gasoline industry. I want to stop polluting every time I drive. I don’t want to buy another quart of oil or ever pay for another smog check or tune up. The tipping point for me has now arrived. You’ll be there soon enough if you’re not already.

Everyone in my enlightened social circle already wants the details of when they can buy their electric car or their plug-in hybrid. The people I know are ready to ditch gasoline powered vehicles today. And the good news for them is their new cars are on the way. Especially if they live where I do, in California.

I don’t know whether to convert my 1997 Honda Del Sol like Larry Allen did in Riverside California did, or wait for one of the new electric cars coming out in the next few years.

But I do know that I want an electric car I can recharge at night by plugging it into the outlet in my garage.

And I want that outlet powered by my very own solar panels so I can plug into free fuel forever that’s clean and under my control.

Within the next 12 months I’ll have my solar panels installed and generating clean electricity. It no longer makes sense to wait. Not when we’re already in the red zone.

It’s my job to know what’s coming next and I can smell the rapid demise of the gas powered car coming quicker than an excited adolescent at a Victoria Secrets sleep over. They’re going to be too expensive to compete with electric cars and plug-in hybrids. The price we pay in climate change is already unacceptable even if most people don’t get that yet. But they will.

The price of gas is already close to five bucks a gallon here in California so you can forget all about that $4 a gallon gas they keep talking about in the media. That $4 a gallon gas is all gone now. But soon it will be $6 and then $7. Count on that. You can make believe that’s not true but you’ll just be fooling yourself the same way more than a few folks do about someday winning the lottery and solving all their financial problems.

Meanwhile your electric rates will no doubt be going up too, but nowhere near the astronomical, uncontrollable way oil is and will continue to - and the bigger difference is you can make your own electricity right now with solar panels or wind turbines.

In fact, between solar, wind and geothermal resources in the USA we have more power than we can ever use in this country and it’s time to build a new power grid to connect us all to clean renewable power.

If the ultimate carbon collaborators weren’t controlling the White House and we had any effective opposition leaders we would have been building that new grid for the last 7 years - instead of diverting those funds to Iraq in order to seize the oil assets from Saddam Hussein regime on behalf of the US oil companies.

But if “ifs” and “buts” were raisins and nuts we’d all be eating Waldorf salads right now instead of the big steaming pile of C02 we’ve been force-fed.

So electric power for cars is the obvious solution to fighting climate change, making our air far less polluted, stopping crazy oil prices, criminal profiteers, and more importantly it’s the quickest, smartest way for the USA to become energy independent.

But even if all that wasn’t true I could STILL sell you on switching to an electric car in about five minutes. The first minute you got behind the wheel and put your foot down on the accelerator pedal the torque and power off the line would impress the hell out of you. But that’s just the start...no pun intended.

Wait till the time comes for your first tune up.
You can just skip it, and the one after that too because electric cars never need a tune up.
They don’t use spark plugs or valves or fan belts so you’ll never pay to have those replaced.
No transmission either, so forget about having that rebuilt, replaced or repaired.
No transmission fluids either.
Speaking of toxic fluids - electric cars don’t use oil so they don’t need oil changes or oil filters.

Ever.

No air filters either cause the air under your hood and coming out of your tailpipe is clean. Forget about needing a catalytic converter. You’ll never need to get a smog check or worry about emission control sensors or exhaust system computer components because electric cars don’t have them or need them.

It should be no surprise that the folks who have killed the electric car up to now include the auto dealers with their high profit service centers, independent mechanics and oil change stations and the industries that make all the dirty parts that go into vehicles that run on oil and spew a mix people like to inhale when they decide to commit suicide in their garage.

Their argument is easy to understand - it is worth putting you and your children at risk by continuing to use their toxic, antiquated products because it keeps their economy healthy and thriving.

Not anymore. Now even those sellouts cannot stop the plug-in revolution that’s going to sweep the world over the next five years. The price of oil and gasoline is their BOHICA moment.

“So what’s the catch?” you’re asking me. Why won’t EVERYONE want to either convert their current car or buy a new electric car?

Well...

The average American drives less than 30 miles per day. The average commute is 12 miles. But if you’re in the small minority of American drivers who needs to drive more than 150-200 miles a day, then the range of the current generation of electric cars will be too short for you. That makes you a better candidate for a plug-in hybrid car (PHEV) that will get you 100-200 miles per gallon using a combination of electric engine and gasoline engine - more about those later in this post.

But what if you’re like me and you want your electric car as your next vehicle? Well the first thing you do is go to the root sources, the places where I’m learning the things that have got me excited..

Plug In America grew out of the “Who Killed The Electric Car” movement. Their leadership is superb and they’re doing a great job lobbying, informing, building awareness and appeal as well as a movement. I’m proud to say I’m a member and I invite you to join me. Paul Scott is one of the founding fathers of Plug-In America and I’ve been lucky enough to meet him and receive his private newsletter on Plug-Ins.

CalCars.org founder Felix Cramer is a bonafide legend in the plug-in field. One of the godfathers of the Prius conversion to a plug-in hybrid, Felix is a testament to what one determined and very sharp guy can do.
After founding, running and selling a small Internet company, beginning in 2001 he volunteered his time to CalCars. In April 2006 he became the world's first non-technical consumer owner of a plug-in hybrid. Now thanks to his efforts you can get your Prius converted into a plug-in today.

Climate Progress is an outstanding insiders view of climate science, politics and solutions that includes a strong advocacy for electric cars and plug in hybrids that will give you all the facts you need to make a car buying decision and to quickly shut the pie holes of pro oil carbon collaborators when they try to scam you into buying another gasoline powered car or drilling for more oil

EV World is another great source of info on electric vehicles of all kinds. And I also like AutoGreen Blog.

One of my real favorites is Stefano Paris’ Plug-in Alternative Vehicles site. Stefano is a tremendous resource and a creative talent who I admire. He shoots and provides video of key events throughout the plug-in world, including his comprehensive coverage of the recent Google Brookings Institute and Google.org Washington DC Plug In Conference
and his web links are some of the best available.

WHAT YOU CAN BUY TODAY

TESLA Motors is taking orders on their high profile Roadster at over $100,000 but they’ve only delivered a handful and they have a healthy waiting list of rich and famous folks ahead of you. If you’ve got the dough-ray-me and the patience it might be worth it. Paul Scott reports today that “Tesla is delivering their Roadster at a rate of four a week now. Soon to ramp up to 100/month.” You’ll get yourself a car that seats 2, has a range of 220 miles per charge and can go as fast as 135 mph. Read what Fortune magazine has to say about Tesla in their latest issue, “Tesla’s Wild Ride.

USED ELECTRIC CARS like the Toyota EV RAV 4 or the EV Ford Ranger are out there, few and far between and selling for numbers like the $89,200 paid in May for a 2001 Toyota EV RAV4. There’s currently another RAV 4 electric on EBay with bidding at $45,100 and three days left in the auction.

That’s Arnold de Leon, of Cupertino, CA with his 2002 electric Rav4 which he purchased in March of 02. He plugs into free power for his car through his 10.9 kW solar PV system.

MEYERS MOTORS NMG - That’s a whole fleet of the one seat all-electric, No More Gas NMG vehicle that will cost you $29,000, go 40-70 miles per charge and a top speed over 100 mile per hour. It’s a great little funky looking neighborhood vehicle and to me a viable alternative to a motorcycle that will never cost you a dime in gasoline. They’re freeway legal but you can park them like a bike in town.

eBox by AC Propulsion is what you get when you bring AC Propulsion a Toyota Scion xB 5-speed and $55,000. They’ll convert your Scion into a electric vehicle that goes 120-150 miles per charge, fully charges in fast mode in 2 h\ours and in normal mode at 5 hours. Top speed 95 miles an hour and you’ll go from 0-60 in 7 seconds. I rode in one of these in November and it took off like a rocket.

ZAP & ZENN

THE three-wheel Zap comes in car and truck form and each can go 40 mph.

This model comes with the optional 150 watt solar panel.

There are some questions about Zap’s ability to deliver everything they promise, but I’d still keep an eye on them if I were you.

The 4 wheel Zenn is restricted to 25 miles per hour. They’re both sold locally in Southern California at Environmental Motors in Glendale. They’re both too limited to be considered replacement cars for what you have now. But they both promise better cars to come in 09 and 10. We’ll see, but we’ll hope so.

CONVERT YOUR EXISTING CAR TO ELECTRIC
This might be your most sustainable option. If you’ve got a car you like and it’s a good candidate (A light car - 2000-3000 lbs. curb weight - with a manual transmission) this would be your fastest, easiest and least expensive way to go.
The Porsche above cost $18,000 to convert. It gets about 60 miles per charge and has a top speed of 90 mph.

In L.A. Left Coast Electric is legendary for their Dr. Gadget who runs the place and for being hard to get a hold of, but the consensus is that he’s worth it.
There are many places on line where you can learn to do your own conversion using the abundance of parts and kits available.

If you’ve got a VW bug you should check out Hank and Joe’s instructional videos on how to convert it to an EV.

CLICK HERE TO READ PART II

BOHICA, Baby! But It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way...

Sat, 5 Jul 2008 22:08:07 -0700

My erudite and genteel audience of readers is no doubt unfamiliar with the contemporary colloquialism, “BOHICA,” but you are more than familiar with the concept.

B.O.H.I.C.A. = Bend Over, Here It Comes Again.

If you thought last week’s Congressional testimony by Dr. Hansen on climate change was going to wake anyone up or that my Cat is On the Roof post would supply that slap in the face I was looking to deliver...
WRONG
Just two days after Dr. Hansen told the world we were “toast” if we didn’t begin the change from a carbon-based society within a year, that this was “The Last Chance”- the Bureau of Land Management announced they were putting put a halt to the development of all solar energy projects on federal land and stopping the application process on ALL the big solar projects.

They said there was no sense of urgency and that an extensive environmental study was needed to determine how large solar plants might affect millions of acres it oversees in six Western states - Arizona, California, Nevada, New Mexico and Utah.

But the unexpected and immediate uproar from members of Congress, citizens and environmental groups was so swift and loud that on Wednesday the BLM reversed itself and announced that they WILL continue to process the applications.

That’s great, but now they’ve already tipped their hand, haven’t they? And how fair a hearing do you think solar is going to get during their “scooping” process? You already know the decision the BLM has in mind and rest assured they are still expecting you to grab your ankles for that $5-$6-$7 a gallon gasoline and more coal-fired power plants as your ONLY option.

But wait, there’s more.

Our federal solar and wind investment tax credits will expire by the end of this year unless Congress renews them.

So far the President and Congress haven’t done squat on this issue and you should have zero confidence that they will. Unless we force them to.

At the very moment they should be providing every possible incentive and tax credit to get Americans putting up solar panels and wind turbines generating as much clean energy as possible our elected leaders are taking us backwards and still selling us out in a carbon con job. They hate the fact that they don’t yet own and control the sun and blowing wind.

So instead they shout their come-ons like a carnival barker with a megaphone - “Drill for more oil! Use our 250 year supply of coal! More corn ethanol! Ignore solar, wind and other renewable weird environmentalist craziness. Pay no attention to that witchcraft mumbo jumbo folks!”

So your Creative Greenius says, bend over, here it comes again my friends and stay in that position because you’ve got plenty more coming your way...
Last Monday, the good old Wall Street Journal broke the story of how the Bush White House has put the fix in on that big EPA report on greenhouse gasses.

You know the report I mean, it’s the one the EPA was forced to make to the Supreme Court. It’s the EPA’s
formal response to the High Court’s April 2007 decision that found greenhouse gases including carbon dioxide, are pollutants under the Clean Air Act, and that the EPA can regulate them.

Let me make this as easy to understand as an article in USA Today.

The EPA was ordered by the Supreme Court to tell the truth about the emissions that are causing climate change. The Court mandated that the EPA must then do something to reduce those emissions to a safe level.

George Bush and his administration are stopping the EPA from doing that and using every desperate ploy a scam artist employs. Cutting the emissions that kill people is bad for the Bush family business.

The Wall Street Journal uncovers that the EPA report says emissions from cars, trucks, trains, planes, boats, power stations, chemical plants, and refineries endanger public welfare. The result of “a multimillion-dollar study conducted over two years” the document details how greenhouse gasses could be regulated and includes an analysis of the cost of doing that here and in other counties.

The Journal reports that the EPA report says everything the Bush Administration doesn’t want you to hear. It says that using things like plug-in hybrids we could be getting far great fuel efficiency from our cars. It shows how a cap and trade system for carbon would work in the US and says “The net benefit to society could be in excess of $2 trillion”

What may sound great to you and me sounds like red alert with alarm bells to George Bush and his carbon collaborators. And that’s not just my opinion. According to The Journal, people close to the matter said, “Clearly [White House officials] don’t want to leave behind a blueprint that suggests that the Clean Air Act could offer a potential pathway in a cost-effective way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Leaving a blueprint behind could leave the next administration a document they could work from, and that’s not in their interst.

George Bush, along with the oil, gas and coal industry doesn’t believe in the Clean Air Act and wants it deleted - they believe it’s bad for business - the oil, gas and coal business - The one they’re all in together. The one they have always put ahead of their country.
The one they will do ANYTHING to keep pumping profits into.

George Bush and the oil, gas and coal industry have gotten rich from the sales of their carbon-spewing products and they will say and do anything to make sure that you keep paying the price to keep them that way. There is no lie too outrageous for them to tell. No scientific evidence they will accept. No propaganda too obscene for them to release.

These carbon con artists expect you to bend over every time their bill comes due and to pony up on their behalf. And why shouldn’t they? You never let them down. America has become the home of the duped and the land of the hapless victim.

In an era when Nigerian con men at 3rd World Internet cafes find Americans every day to send them money, expecting to make a fortune from an email, it’s no surprise that con men like George Bush and John Mcain are confident of continued success by telling Americans we can become energy independent if we just drill for more oil and call our coal “clean.”

But your Creative Greenius grew up in Brooklyn, New York. I don’t do “chump.”
I work in marketing and advertising and consumer products.
I’ve been observing and commentating on American politics for 25 years now.
And my bullshit detector is world class. I can smell a con with one whiff.
And for the last eight years the air is more than just full of C02 - it stinks of rotting phonies telling lies that make them rich while punking the average American at every step.

We can all pretend that’s too harsh a judgement, but the truth is hard for some folks to grasp after all that blood rushes to their brain from bending over so long.

So my new mission is clear. It’s not enough for me to just offer Greenius solutions for our future - I need to help the vast numbers who have been frozen in BOHICA pose and apparently can neither see it coming or tell when it’s happening.

So... If you can’t see that the biggest BOHICA of all has been the invasion of Iraq on behalf of the American oil industry then you need my help.

Saddam Hussain had to go for one reason only - he controlled the oil in Iraq.

The oil in Iraq is the WMD they were looking for from the beginning.
We didn’t stay in Afghanistan because they don’t have any oil.

Making the oil available for Exxon/Mobile, Chevron, etc, etc was what “Mission Accomplished” was all about. Can you say “no bid contract?”
That’s exactly what happened last week.

The billions spent every week in Iraq is the money that we needed to be spending on renewable energy and getting the C02 in the air back down to safe levels. Projected total US spending on the Iraq war could cover all of the global investments in renewable power generation that are needed between now and 2030 in order to halt current warming trends.

But you need to keep bending over because that is bad for the oil, gas and coal industries and their total control over the current White House administration and the majority of those sitting in Congress means they will fight that using every twisted tool at their disposal.

Don’t you know how much fuel our invasion and occupation of Iraq has used? Do you understand what a fantastic business model this is for the carbon con crew? Their control is so powerful no one has been able to stop them while they change the basic climate and destroy our way of life along with the other species they kill off one by one for profit.

They have been so successful in their con that they have the suckers they’ve fleeced arguing for “more please!” as they make that argument in the BOHICA position.

So even when the U.S. intelligence community issues a report like the one they did last week that says that food shortages and migration caused by a warming climate could threaten US national security by aggravating ethnic strife around the globe, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, that doesn’t sound any alarm bells for most folks. They’re still not comprehending the reality of what they’re really up against.

Let me help you explain it to them - the people who get paid to know what’s really going on, are worried.

They’re not debating whether climate change is really happening, they’re already dealing with what they see coming.

Thomas Fingar, chairman of the National Intelligence Council, is the guy who delivered the report last Wednesday to a joint meeting of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and the House Select Committee on Energy Independence. He warned that global warming will reduce food supplies in Africa, which he predicted would in turn spark violence in the region.

The Wall Street Journal reports that experts who study the connections between security and climate believe the threat is real and must be considered by policymakers.

"It does trade off," said Sarah Ladislaw, a fellow in the energy and national security program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. "The real question out there is: How well are people going to deal with the trade-offs?" The convergence of the increasing cost of fuel, global food shortages, global warming, and national security threats show how interconnected these transnational issues are, and policy makers need to be mindful of that, she said.

So - with all of the above being part of the news in just the last week, perhaps you understand why I’m hearing a calling to become a passionate town crier, spread the truth and help people stand up straight and reverse their previous position into one where the carbon collaborators now become the ones yelping, “Here it comes again!”

And just in case you were wondering, your Creative Greenius doesn’t think this all part of some vast right wing conspiracy. It’s a lot less complicated then that. This is about uncontrollable greed, selfishness and outright crooked rotten-to-the-core people taking advantage of the Last of the Bohicans any which way they can. Nothing more than that.

The Cat Is On The Roof This Joke is at YOUR Expense...

Wed, 25 Jun 2008 07:40:14 -0700

There’s an old joke that most of us baby boomers first heard when we were kids. Here’s the version I remember:

A man goes on vacation and his brother agrees to housesit for him -- feeding the cat, picking up the newspapers and mail, watering the plants, etc. After the first week goes by the vacationing brother phones to check in.

"I’m sorry bro," his brother at the house tells him almost immediately, "but your cat died."

"What!? What do you mean my cat died?! How could you tell me like this? What kind of insensitive creep are you? You need to prepare someone for a shock like that!" exlaims the vacationing brother.

"How was I supposed to prepare you?" asks the man.

"Well," says the brother, "first you should have told me, the cat is on the roof.
Then you should have said, but don’t worry, we’re calling the fire department.
Then the next time I called in to check you should have said, the fire department was doing everything it could and not to worry.
Then the next time I called you could tell me that the cat had fallen, but not to worry -- the vet was doing everything she could to resuscitate him.
Then, finally, after all that, you could have told me, my cat had died. That’s how you break news like that."

"You’re right, bro, I’m sorry. I should have been more sensitive first," said the housesitting brother, who really did feel bad about it at this point.

His vacationing brother on the phone was quickly forgiving, "That’s okay. I understand. So anyway, how’s everything else? How’s mom doing?"

"Mom?" says the man, "Mom is on the roof...."

Guess what?

Right now, here in 2008 the cat is on the roof for global warming.

If that’s too Al a Gore-ical for you then understand this - we have already reached the emergency landing point of our flight. That tipping point you’ve been hearing about?

It’s here.

"'We’re toast if we don't get on a very different path," James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute of Space Sciences who is sometimes called the godfather of global warming science, told The Associated Press Monday.
"This is the last chance."

Is that clear enough for you? Are you getting the sense of urgency? Still think you’ve got your priorities in order?

You’d think news like this would be big enough to dominate the cable news networks for at least a few days like say a kid who fell down a well. You’d be wrong. The death of Tim Russert is apparently a much bigger story than the death of the planet. Who knew?

“Elements of a ‘perfect storm,’ a global cataclysm, are assembled,” said Dr. Hansen this same week testifying to Congress and that’s not all he said.

"…now we have used up all slack in the schedule for actions needed to defuse the global warming time bomb.”

Dr. Hansen is giving us 12 months to get our act together:

“The next President and Congress must define a course next year in which the United States exerts leadership commensurate with our responsibility for the present dangerous situation. Otherwise it will become impractical to constrain atmospheric carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas produced in burning fossil fuels, to a level that prevents the climate system from passing tipping points that lead to disastrous climate changes that spiral dynamically out of humanity’s control.”

Dr. Hansen goes on to say “The disturbing conclusion, documented in a paper I have written with several of the world’s leading climate experts, is that the safe level of atmospheric carbon dioxide is no more than 350 ppm (parts per million) and it may be less. Carbon dioxide amount is already 385 ppm and rising about 2 ppm per year.”

The world’s climatologists have already offered undisputed evidence of irreversible punishments to come, including huge risings of sea levels and massive changes in rainfall patterns, among them.

If you’re feeling the impact of today’s $5 a gallon gas and rising food prices and worried about the dropping equity in your home then wait till you see what’s coming in your immediate future. You don’t need to be physic to know that these are slated to be the good old days that you will wistfully pine for just a few years from now.

Your Creative Greenius isn’t trying to scare you so much as I am trying to slap you hard across your face -a la Cher to Nicholas cage in Moonstuck - and help you to “Snap out of it!”

You don’t have the time or luxury to wait for someone else to come to the rescue. You need to strap it on and report for duty. YOU are the one you’ve been waiting for.

But you better not be too patient with yourself because we don’t have time for you to put on your makeup and get ready.

Let me help you with the perspective here... that terrorist threat from Al Queda and all the other terrorist groups in the world? It’s less than a pimple on a flea compared to the reality of the global warming risk we’re facing today. That killer earthquake California has coming that’s long over due? A short jog through the park compared to what our retirement years and the rest of century will be like. don’t be looking for FEMA to bail you out.

So what steps should you take right now? How can you possibly make any kind of difference? Just what the hell is the Creative Greenius trying to motivate you into doing?

Tune in - Get up to speed on what’s really going on and stop pretending it’s all going to be okay without you - it won’t. You’ve got to make the time and do your homework. This is a pass fail class and you won’t like the consequences of getting an F.

Turn On - Turn your friends, your family, your co-workers, your neighbors, anyone that pays attention to you to what’s really going on and your concern about it.

Plug In - make your next car a plug in electric car and plug it into the new solar panels you need to get. You’ll have free fuel for life for your new clean burning electric car, you’ll end your dependence on gasoline of any kind and you’ll stop pumping more C02 into the atmosphere. You’ll also be finished forever with things like oil changes, tune ups, new air filters and the other maintenance that isn’t necessary with electric cars. So far GM, Toyota, Nissan, VW, Mitsubishi, have all announced plug in vehicles they will have for sale in 2010. That’s 18 months away. So don’t buy another car until you can go electric.

Power On - Once you see how well today’s solar panels work at making electricity you’re going to want to make ALL your electricity that way - especially since your electric rates are going to start doubling soon and then keep going up from there. You’ll be especially happy you made that switch when the energy shortages to come cause rolling blackouts for those reliant on the power companies.

Act Accordingly - Stop wasting so much time mindlessly watching television, playing video games and going to Las Vegas.
Stop pretending and sticking your head in the sand - you’re only exposing a large target when you do that.
Start devoting some of that time to working with other individuals and groups who are dedicated to cutting carbon to levels we can live with.
And start speaking up and speaking out against patently stupid and dangerous ideas like drilling for more oil domestically or using our abundant coal resources. Those are the killer carbons that caused this mess which we need to stop using now.
Walk the walk why don’t you?

Enjoy Yourself It’s Later Than You Think -
Enjoy yourself
while you’re still in the pink.
The years go by as quickly as a wink
Enjoy yourself, enjoy yourself, it's later than you think

Lets face it, no matter what happens you’ve got to live and love and laugh.
With the odds stacked against us the way they are, it’s easy for you to conclude we’re already doomed and that the best response is to just party like it’s 1999 and use it before you lose it. I wouldn’t blame you if you did.

Just do it mindfully, fully aware, with your eyes open. Please have the courage and honesty to say you looked at the situation and decided to stick a fork in us because we’re already done. Feel free to explain that one to the kids too and let me know how that works out for you.

Tell them about this too:

Polar scientists reveal dramatic new evidence of climate change

It seems unthinkable, but for the first time in human history, ice is on course to disappear entirely from the North Pole this year.

The disappearance of the Arctic sea ice, making it possible to reach the Pole sailing in a boat through open water, would be one of the most dramatic – and worrying – examples of the impact of global warming on the planet. Scientists say the ice at 90 degrees north may well have melted away by the summer.

And finally, just to masterfully connect all the dots for you in a way only the most conservative print publication can. In case you thought this was just the rant of a crazy environmentalist.

“Concluding that climate change will have wide-ranging impacts on U.S. security in the coming decades, a classified report complicates an already tangled debate by providing urgent new reasons to address the problem of global warming at a time when American voters are anxious about $4-a-gallon gas. Do something to lower gas prices, and you might exacerbate warming and, potentially, terrorism. Assist in the fight against global warming and risk economic hardship.

There’s a reason it takes a Creative Greenius like me to tackle this issue, but tackle it I am doing with renewed energy and a loud ticking clock reverberating in my brain when I‘m trying to think about the Lakers or organizing my digital photos.

Meanwhile I invite you one and all to get on board the Cluetrain with me and ride the rails to a much better way of life. Your first stop is clicking on all the links I have throughout this declaration of independence and getting your ticket punched.

Not An Environmentalist? Then You Are The Bad Guy In Today’s Story

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 11:51:36 -0700

Just who are these people that choose NOT to be environmentalists?

Should we call them monsters for all the harm and destruction they cause and support? Are they angry murderers or just cold blooded assassins, these killers?

Are they destroyers on a mission to cause as much harm as possible or do they wreck their havoc obliviously as part of their dinosaur-like behavior?

When it comes right down to it, are they in fact terrorists who value no life and show no mercy to little children, pregnant women, the elderly, the ill and the innocent? They’re bad. Really bad.

We may not know what they truly are these anti-environmentalists, but we do know what they are not.

They are not patriotic to the United States - or any other nation for that matter - for their actions harm the very land and way of life we hold so dear.

You are nobody’s patriot if you are not willing to fight and defend the many things that make your country so great.

If you’re not an environmentalist you can’t be very religious because all of the world’s major religions teach that the earth and its natural wonders are a gift to us from God and ours to be protected and cherished.

It goes without saying that if you’re not an environmentalist you’re not really pro-life.

If you’re not an environmentalist you’re also not a very good parent since you’re not doing the right thing for the environment your children will inherit.

The children are supposed to be our future, but if you’re not an environmentalist you probably don’t care much about the future.

So how come you haven’t heard these obvious BAD GUYS of the 21st Century referred to in these terms in the media - or anywhere else?

How come they haven’t been branded and tagged as the villains, the enemy of our future health and happiness?

Well first off, the media doesn’t have the benefit of Creative Greenius, but more importantly environmentalists have already been branded and tagged by these very same Bad Guys, those with a vested interest in having folks believe a different storyline. They’ve done a brilliant job of preemptively redefining and distorting our environmental brand image.

In today’s marketplace “Environmentalists” were long ago defined and remain branded as some kind of inconsequential fringe group of anti-establishment hippy, granola eating, Birkenstock wearering, treehugging, free-spirited bleeding hearts, drug-using Mother Earth-loving wackos who don’t hold real jobs and who want to wreck the global economy, ruin big business and end the free enterprise system just in order to save bugs, birds and plants nobody cares about.

I believe this definition was originally written by Dick Cheney in 1972 at the request of then President Richard Nixon.

But I’m here to tell you that in the reality-based world I reside in, everybody I know and I bet everyone you know is an environmentalist.

How can you tell if YOU are an environmentalist? That’s easy.

If you want clean air to breathe and clean water to drink and clean land to build and grow on - you are an environmentalist.
If you want to preserve and protect our great public lands like our national and state parks, our beaches, mountains, lakes and rivers and unmatched scenic vistas - you are an environmentalist.
If you want to leave our country and our planet a better, not worse place for the next generation than the one you inherited - you are an environmentalist.
If you believe we should be phasing out the use of polluting, carbon producing sources of energy like coal, oil an gasoline and replacing them with nonpolluting, locally produced, renewable sources of energy like wind, solar, wave, geothermal and others - you are an environmentalist.

So the truth is, here in 2008, the overwhelming majority of people in the United States, and in most other places around the world - are all environmentalists.

All of these people would say that they are NOT willing to sacrifice the health or future of either their local or their global environment in order to profit or gain a personal advantage of some sort. All of these people are environmentalists.

As the Creative Greenius I am here today to help reclaim and redefine the word environmentalist, to rebrand it and reintroduce it and towards that end I say the real questions to ask this marketplace are:

Who are the people that are NOT environmentalists and why do they mean to do us such harm?
Why are they willing to sacrifice rain forests, wetlands, natural habitats and forest lands when the harmful consequences of those actions can’t be undone?
Why are they willing to damage the environment and sacrifice the health of all the people we love and cherish in exchange for money or personal advantage? Have they no ethics or values at all?
Are they in fact the enemy of all mankind here on some kind of secret mission to destroy our planet and everything on it?
Are they motivated by hate and evil or are they merely mercenaries doing it all just for the money?

A big part of defining who you are is by identifying who you are NOT - that is what I am proposing we do now.

It’s time we planted revised mental images in people’s heads of who the anti-environmentalist are, these abusers, destroyers and killers who will stop at nothing to achieve their goals of personal gain and power.

Some might say that level of evil can only come from those aligned with Satan himself. Me? I just like to think of them as The Bad Guys.

Whatever your imagination conjures, it’s a grotesquely ugly picture when you think about it - and getting you to think about it is the whole point... Are you grokking where I’m coming from here?

The Creative Greenius says just because the Bad Guys have been successful in their identity theft of the word environmentalist is no reason to let them continue with their crime. You don’t just give up and change your name when someone steals it.

It’s time to take advantage of the ongoing green wave and the public’s attention to creatively set the record straight while we unite all the true environmentalists in our joint mission to respond to global warming and fight the powers who cause it and benefit from it. Does that sound like fun or what?

When it comes to the environment, the truth is it’s the defining issue of our time and you’re either with us or against us.

Sometimes it really is just as simple as the Good Guys verses the Bad Guys.

The Sharing Of The Green

Sun, 16 Mar 2008 22:13:38 -0700

Here in the South Bay of Los Angeles where I live and across our Palos Verdes Peninsula there is no greener time of year than these months of March and April. St. Patrick’s Day next week is famous for its “wearing of the green,” and Earth Day has been the nation’s greenest environmental holiday since its founding on April 22, 1970 by U.S. Senator Gaylord Nelson from Wisconsin.
Even without a calendar, green is the color of our local So Cal scene as spring arrives here long before reaching the rest of the United States and bursting, budding nature abounds to bless us in dazzling displays of trees, plants and flowers.

The birds wintering here have all paired up by now and are busy building nests. The “Zing!” and supersonic aerial displays of our abundant crop of hummingbirds fills the skies and our hearts.

All of this intense green focus brings us the perfect opportunity to seize this verdant moment to reach out and help bring our well meaning friends, family and colleagues into a Greenius state of mind in a movement I’m dubbing, “The Sharing of the Green.”

We all know people (some of you are reading this right now) who have good green intentions but who, for a variety of reasons are just not yet walking the walk. Some of my friends say they know all about CFL bulbs and how much they’ll save in energy use and shrink their carbon footprint, but they’re not going to switch from their incandescent bulbs until they burn out one by one. Not exactly the most insightful or responsible thinking, but it is what it is and they’re not going to become part of the solution without our help.

I say it's up to those of us who have already gone green to help bring these slackers along, and there’s no better time of year to start sharing than right now.
St. Patrick’s Day takes on a whole new green meaning when you explain that Ireland now leads the world in not just four leaf clovers but also in their reduction of plastic bag use.

The Irish are smiling like a Lucky Charms leprechaun after cutting their plastic bag proliferation by 90%. They did it by imposing a 22-cent tax for each bag taken home from the store. So rather than bring your St. Patrick’s day party host a gift of green beer, I suggest bringing them some reusable grocery bags.

And instead of bringing a bottle of wine or some flowers the next time we’re invited over for dinner at a friends, I recommend we share the green by bringing our hosts a pack of CFL bulbs or rechargeable batteries. I’m saying let’s use birthdays, Mother's Day, anniversaries, baby showers and all the other regular gift-giving occasions to give our recipients things like a water filter pitcher and reusable water bottle to get them using tap water to replace bottled water.

We can give a gift basket of eco-friendly cleaning supplies to replace Mom's toxic soup versions. Microfiber “miracle” towels are a highly prized gift. A rain barrel, a push lawnmower or a composter all make great housewarming gifts.

A solar powered charger for the cellphone, digital camera and MP3 player is the perfect gift for your graduate, one they’ll appreciate and also find very cool indeed. I’m sure you can think of other great green gifts that would be perfect for your specific friends and their unique circumstances. Each one will make their own bit of difference and have the chance in their own subversive way of changing your friends forever more.

Many of these friends would never buy any of these green products for themselves, but they will give them a try if they receive one as a gift. And once they discover how easy and rewarding it is to be green we’ll have added another member to the green team.

Another easy way to drive the Sharing of the Green is to gift your friends with memberships in local park, beach and public lands support groups and larger organizations like the Sierra Club, National Audubon Society, Trust For Public Lands, Nature Conservancy, World Wildlife Foundation, Environmental Defense Fund, or the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society – to name a few.

This is the natural time of growth and renewal and here in my corner of paradise our local landscape is rewarding us once again with breathtaking scenes of joy and beauty.

But we Greenius types know that our idyllic slice of heaven – like the rest of the planet - is at great risk due to global warming, just as we know that we must vastly increase our ranks to meet the challenge. The enlightened on this subject are still a small percentage of the masses. Even our own seemingly intelligent and informed family and friends can easily become so overwhelmed with the pressures and stress of getting through their day and week that they just have no bandwidth left to go green.

Those of us who ARE doing everything we can to protect and improve our environment need to realize our own efforts will never be enough and that everyone we have any influence with must also come over to the green side to force a true tipping point. To make the force work for us, we’ve all got to be green Yoda-style, if you grok where I’m coming from.

Through The Sharing of the Green we can creatively exert that Jedi-like influence by enticing our friends using the same successful technique drug dealers have historically employed - The first time is always free. Once they get a taste of how easy and satisfying it is to be green they’ll be hooked and they’ll be one of us. Then we’ll begin to wield an impact far beyond our current numbers and we can become the weight that tips the balance and the straw that stirs the drink.

Yes We Can! We Just Beat Coal. Time to Go Nuclear?

Tue, 5 Feb 2008 20:44:31 -0800

Congratulations are in order for all of us who took on the myth of Clean Coal and who warned that it wasn’t real and would not make coal an acceptable fuel to generate electricity from. We won!
They said we couldn’t do it, that coal had too much money, too much power too much influence. But you can stick a fork in coal now when it comes to generating future energy in America. Coal just got its ass kicked. Just like I said it would.

Last Wednesday the plug got pulled on clean coal by its biggest financial backer and chief cheerleaders, the Bush administration and the Department of Energy in “a major policy reversal.”

The $1.8 billion dollar per plant cost was already double the original budget of $950 million and cost overruns were expected to bump the price up to $2 bill per plant. That’s a ton of money for technology that is just vaporware and not proven. Way too much money for the industry itself to pay. Their costs were going to be capped at just $400 billion with our tax dollars picking up the rest of their tab. Not any more.

Even worse news for coal was in yesterday’s morning’s headlines where I read in the Wall Street Journal that three of Wall Street's biggest investment banks are set to announce today that they are imposing new environmental standards that will make it harder for companies to get financing to build coal-fired power plants in the U.S.

This devastating news for the people who make their money as the biggest contributers to global warming is great news for the rest of us. Because it means the clean coal scam didn’t work and those 151 new coal fired electric plants on the books probably won’t get built. Which is just fine, since we don’t really need them. Americans can conserve the same amount of energy they were going to produce and we must.

We can only use our Creative Greenius on the Chinese and their coal fired electric plants if we first do the right thing here in the USA. Now that we’ve stopped the Clean Coal Carnival here we can start making the serious move to renewables and sell that same technology to the Chinese.

I believe our green movement will transcend governments and entrenched interests and connect at a people to people level. I’m talking about people both here and in China who won’t stand for being victims of global warming and who are willing to work together to change the world for our own self interest and survival. That change starts with us on an individual basis, then extends to our own countries and then to other countries.

But before we get to the solar, wind and other renewables we’re waiting for you’ll need to get ready for the marketing campaign and media blitz to position nuclear energy as our savior from global warming.

Nuclear generates no greenhouse gasses, they’ll tell us. You’ll hear how no one has ever died from any nuclear power plant accident. They’ll say that today’s nuclear plants are much safer and far more advanced than the old Three Mile Island that scared us all or Chernobyl - which wasn’t really as bad as we remember. And they’ll say that those of us who oppose them are a bunch of aging hippies who have all been brainwashed by Al Gore.

But what they WON’T say is that they’ve solved the nuclear waste problem. Unless you talk to my friend, Dr. Robert Schenter, PhD.

Dr. Bob, as he is endearingly called by his many friends around the world, is a brilliant nuclear scientist who has used his time and talents working with radioactive isotopes for medical purposes, primarily in the cancer field. He is the inventor of Smart Bullets that target cancer cells far more precisely than traditional radiation or chemo.

Dr. Bob is active with several Cancer Foundations, is an American Nuclear Society Fellow, a member of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission's Advisory Committee on the medical uses of Isotopes, and has testified before Congress on Medical Isotope Supply and Applications.

But when I spoke with him last month, he was testifying to me about Nuclear Waste Transmutation. Dr. Bob believes that transmutation using Fast Flux nuclear reactors can render nuclear waste into safe, valuable commodities, eliminating the need for places like the Yucca Mountain waste depository. Dr. Bob raises the question - if I can solve nuclear energy’s waste problems for you, why wouldn’t you support nuclear as the green, zero-carbon producing source of electricity that is the holy grail of the environmental movement?

Dr. Bob reminded me that one of Greenpeace’s founders, Patrick Moore is now a supporter of nuclear power and I know from my own research that Whole Earth founder Stewart Brand is on board for nukes.

So what exactly are we talking about with Transmutation? In a nutshell we’re talking about using a fast flux nuclear reactor to burn up the most dangerous long-lived fission products, the ones with half lives of thousands of years and in so doing transmute them into either stable or short-lived isotopes not requiring very long term “storage.”

According to Wikipedia, “Transmutation of transuranium elements (actinides) such as the isotopes of plutonium, neptunium, americium, and curium has the potential to help solve the problems posed by the management of radioactive waste, by reducing the proportion of long-lived isotopes it contains. When irradiated with fast neutrons in a nuclear reactor, these isotopes can be made to undergo nuclear fission, destroying the original actinide isotope and producing a spectrum of radioactive and nonradioactive fission products. Isotopes of plutonium and other actinides tend to be long-lived with half-lives of many thousands of years, whereas radioactive fission products tend to be shorter-lived (most with half-lives of 30 years or less). From a waste management viewpoint, transmutation of actinides eliminates a very long-term radioactive hazard and replaces it with a much shorter-term one.”

It’s not often that I get to talk to a nuclear scientist about the technical side of their work and employ my own microscopically small expertise in the field. But as the former co-chair of the Coalition for a Nuclear Free Harbor in Long Beach, California, I am familiar with the substandard quality of the nuclear workforce and those who handle nuclear materials in general.

For example, during the 1970s and 1980s, the US Navy, who operates a wide range of nuclear warships and submarines, reported that they had recorded over 375 nuclear incidents and accidents. They’ve dumped radioactive waste in the waters all around the planet. Not surprisingly they don’t like to talk about their record and you have to use the Freedom of Information Act to find out the truth.

And you don’t have to look far doing a news search today for information on current screw ups at nuclear plants. Just read my last post. This is an industry and technology that has not earned our trust. I trust Dr. Bob, but the rest of the nuclear industry doesn’t operate at his high standards.

So even if the US could build a new nuclear power plant every one-to-two weeks for the next 50 years as the Institute for Energy and Environmental Research said we need to in their 2006 study it would be an awful use of our money and it would be the wrong direction for us to turn. We already waste way too much of our taxpayer money on nuclear industry subsidies which in 2006 brought them $9 billion and which brought you and me a big fat nothing. If we were spending anywhere near that same amount of money developing wind, solar and other renewables we’d already be plugging into a greener grid today.

So even though I don’t have a PhD, I’m going to tell you that Dr. Bob’s well meaning transmutation solution is not the answer. I wish it was and I wish I agreed with him, but I don’t. We just don’t need a world filled with nuclear reactors in every country big and small even if we could all use a time machine to have them built in enough time to make a big difference in climate change.

The right answer is a mix of energy conservation, a Manhattan Project-sized national commitment to developing and expanding renewable energy and just as importantly, a decentralization of power generating. We need to change the whole concept of the grid as it exists today. We need to see power generated at the local level by big commercial buildings, schools, shopping centers, hotels, office buildings and neighborhoods. Power that’s far cheaper and safer in the long run than nuclear could ever be.

We’ve made the first big, smart move already by busting the clean coal scam. Now it’s time to keep moving in the right direction and not fall for greenwashing by the nuclear industry who see coal’s demise as their opening.

Bonnie Raitt, Jackson Browne and I were right when we talking about No Nukes in 1979 and we are still right today. Can we stop them? YES. WE. CAN.

Check out their most recent video as we continue the Creative Greenius approach to turning energy green. They’re talking about last year’s energy bill but the same nuclear bailout money is in the President’s brand new budget:

Clean Coal, Healthy Cancer & Evil Jesus - Did I mention safe, green nuclear?

Fri, 18 Jan 2008 22:41:35 -0800

If any terrorist organization ever caused the kind of damage to our nation and our people that the coal industry does every day, those terrorists would declare victory and be celebrating on the Al Jazeera network. And our government would be proclaiming coal an unacceptable weapon of mass destruction and declaring war on coal.

Does that sound a little over-the-top to you? Are you concerned that this is hysterical thinking and not a rational argument? If only...
I’ve been reading about, researching and tracking this coal issue for months now and the truth is coal is your enemy if you are fighting global warming (and really who isn’t these days - except the bad guys?)

So then, let’s calmly consider these well-supported facts:

According to EPA data, annual carbon dioxide emissions from coal-fired power plants are greater than the emissions from all cars, trucks, planes, trains, and other forms of transportation combined. 34% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the US come from coal - making coal the King of Carbon.

The serious environmental and public health impacts of coal-generated electricity include damage, death and destruction from - say them aloud with me:

Coal mining
Air pollution
Coal plant waste
Water use

Coal is dirty every step of the way.

There are now about 600 conventional coal plants in the US burning on average about 1.4 million tons of coal each every year. There are also over 150 new CO2 belching coal-fired plants on the drawing board in the US.

There are currently over 1,000 new coal-fired electric plants being built in China with a new one going on line every single week and bringing the planet that much closer to the global warming tipping point... And not in a good way.

While enlightened state and local governments, grassroots coalitions and organizations like the Sierra Club, the Union of Concerned Scientists, and environmental groups large and small are all making the case with citizens and uniting to stop new plants from being built or opening, the coal industry is spending millions on a blatant and aggressive propaganda campaign using scare tactics, misdirection and pushing the fairy tale of “clean coal.”

The “clean coal” campaign says nothing about coal’s role in global warming.

The FTC won’t let companies lie in their erectile dysfunction commercials but the coal industry is held to a “softer” standard of truth.

There is no such thing as clean coal. It is a myth. (You know, like the lottery helping the school system.) No grid-connected power plant anywhere in the world is a clean coal plant and no technology currently exists to build or operate a clean coal plant. It would be swell if it did, but it don’t.

Many billions of our tax dollars have been spent to try and invent clean coal but no breakthrough has happened. And we are not close to a breakthrough. An unproven theory about carbon sequestration is being pushed by the coal industry but no such technology currently exists.

The coal industry will never tell you the truth about this.

Here’s a brilliant concept to remember - The ONLY time coal can be considered clean coal is when its left in the ground untouched, because it’s full of carbon that’s being kept out of the air.
Coal in the ground is its only proven form of carbon sequestration. It has worked for thousands of years. The minute you start to mine it, move it and especially burn it in any way it becomes dirty, polluting and a global warming enemy

Coal is promoted as America’s cheapest and most abundant energy source, but coal’s price needs to include the true cost of coal’s impact on our environment and our health.

The truth is - our entire planet will be better off when all the electricity currently generated by coal-fired power plants is generated instead by renewable energy - wind, solar, biomes, geothermal, wave power and other now proven, reliable and grid-ready alternatives. The sooner we make that move, the better off everyone -except the coal industry - will be.

Right now billions and billions of tax dollars are being spent funding the development of “clean coal.” ALL of that tax money should be spent on real, honest clean energy. The technology is ready. The people are ready. All that is lacking is for the leaders in charge to do the right thing. To make that happen you need to know the facts and use those facts to make things change. I’m talking about speaking out whenever you can.

The coal industry should be spending their own money searching for clean coal, just as they should be spending their own money cleaning up the damage they have done. Instead, they’re spending their money trying to scam people and trying to influence elections so they can get still more tax breaks and favorable legislation. We can’t let them get away with that.
And we won’t - we’ll keep the spotlight on them and we’ll creatively tell their story in a way that will expose their brand as empty and without value. Just as importantly we’ll offer the viable alternatives that can help solve the environmental problems coal causes.

The world’s most respected and accomplished climate scientists will tell you that the smarter, more beneficial and logical use of those tax dollars at this point in the global warming timeline would be spent replacing all coal-fired electric plants with renewables.  
That’s certainly a lot less pie in the sky than the fantasy of “clean coal”. And the sooner we get started the sooner we begin mitigating the damages of global warming. and the sooner we begin building a thriving, growing new economy.

Here’s a simple and powerful truth for you - we can eliminate the need to add all those coal fired electric plants through conservation efforts and green practices. That’s right, we have the ability and know how today to save all the energy those plants would produce and erase them from the drawing board. Clearly that’s the smartest possible thing we could do, isn’t it? Damn right it is.
Can we do it? Yes we can! We did it before. Over an 11-year period (1973–1983), the United States built approx. 30 billion square feet of new buildings, added approx. 35 million new vehicles and increased real GDP by over one trillion dollars (in year 2000 dollars) while decreasing its energy consumption and CO2 emissions.

When it comes to telling the truth, the coal industry has proven time after time that it cannot be trusted. They’ll say anything to keep raking in the billions of dollars they reap while their product acts like a weapon of mass destruction all around the globe.
They will pretend that only coal can give us the power filled future we all want and can afford. They will even pretend that using their deadly product makes us somehow “more secure.” They count on our ignorance and fear to keep us from seeing them for who they really are. That’s the way criminals and terrorists work... I’m just saying...

The latest evidence of the true unethical nature of the coal industry are the record fines just leveled against Massey Energy Company. Massey is the country's fourth-largest coal producer, and they’re being forced to pay a $20 million fine to settle federal charges that they repeatedly dumped dangerous amounts of mine waste and sediment into creeks and rivers in three Appalachian states over a seven-year period.

They got off pretty easy based on all the harm they caused. But typically they admitted no wrong doing. How could they when they’re busy telling us that coal is "an American resource that will help us with vital energy security" and "the fuel that powers our way of life?"

The coal industry is frightened about having to take responsibility for their industry's actions and impact and they will resort to the worst levels of FUD - Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt - employing it to discredit solar and wind energy and using it to try to position a carbon tax as an economy killer. So okay then, don’t think of it as a tax, think of it as a Carbon Cost, a part of coal’s business budget. A bottom line cost you should have to pay if your product produces greenhouse gasses.

So now you know why I start thinking about concepts like Healthy Cancer and Evil Jesus when I hear the words, “Clean Coal” and why you should start thinking of other ridiculous cynical oxymorons when you hear blatant greenwashing designed only to con you and your family.

Maybe you’ll think of “That Idiot Einstein!” the next time one of those GE Ecoimagination commercials comes on. Perhaps Chevron’s farcical claims to be the environmentally green oil company will instantly make you or one of your kids blurt out “Soothing Mayhem!” or “Powdered Water!”

Mocking and derision are powerful tools to use against bullies, con artists and grifters because their scam relies on you playing the role of clueless sucker. Well I’m here to offer you the much more fun and rewarding role of enlightened creative greenius. We’re going to make our voices heard above the FUD and make sure our leaders at the local, state and federal level hear us. Word-of-mouth and the Internet are the most powerful and effective communication tools today. I’m using it right now and you need to as well.

One final thought as a tease for my next post - If you want to know how bad coal really is, consider that the “green” nuclear power industry is counting on Americans finding coal so self-abusive to use that we’ll be willing to turn to nuclear energy to replace it.

They’re hoping we’ll be so frightened and panicked over global warming that we’ll be willing to overlook the issues of radioactive waste, terrorist attraction or their industry’s practice of living up to the Homer Simpson standard of worker excellence.

It’s the nuclear industry’s own track record that makes me think of glowing neon green radioactivity when I hear about the “green nuclear energy.” All you need to do is read the newspaper to learn the truth. Just last week the San Onofre nuclear plant just a couple of hours south of here was busted for safety and security violations “including a worker who falsified records for more than five years to show that operators made hourly fire patrols when they had not.”

Last month a Canadian nuclear power plant that supplies critically needed radioactive medical isotopes for cancer patients was shut down over other serious safety violations. "A significant risk to the successful completion of the project has been the unresolved technical issues related to operating in compliance with regulatory requirements," the federal auditor general warned.” Now thousands of cancer patients aren’t receiving their treatments as a result.

True to form, the nuclear industry didn’t accept responsibility for their screwups either or offer any real hope that they’ll do better in the future. They’re too busy lobbying in DC for billions in tax breaks and fast track approval for new nuclear plants. “Aging hippies,” “Al Gore worshippers” and “treehugging granola eaters” is how the nuclear industry looks at those of us who don’t trust them and who call attention to their lousy record.

That’s right - they go straight to the Montgomery Burns playbook. It’s only natural - the Simpsons offers the most accurate and honest look at the nuclear power industry ever produced. Monty Burns is as green and credible as the United State nuclear power industry has ever been.

I’ll share the reasons why and the nuclear record with you in our next Creative Greenius.

Let’s Go, Let’s Go, Let’s Go!

Thu, 3 Jan 2008 17:56:27 -0800

The late, great Chick Hearn, play-by-play broadcaster for the Los Angeles Lakers for 42 years and one of my true role models, is famous for his incredible work ethic, never missing a game for a streak of 3,338 from 1965 to 2001. He not only invented the terms “slam dunk,” “air ball,” and “no harm, no foul” among dozens and dozens of others, he united Los Angeles in a way no mayor, business leader, celebrity or religious figure ever has or ever will. He transcended the sport of basketball and his death in 2002 has left a void in Southern California’s spirit ever since.
 Chick had an enthusiasm, drive and a sense of urgency that were legendary among those of us who studied him. Hearn was always the first guy in his plane or bus seat whenever the Lakers returned back home from a road game. The second Chick could confirm that all the players, coaches and staff were on board he’d want to know why the pilot hadn’t taken off yet. “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” Chick would yell out.

Nobody had better timing than the man who offered us his “words eye view” in real time based on what he saw happening in front of him.

Lately I’ve been feeling like yelling “Let’s go, let’s go, let’s go!” to the pilots who are supposed to be flying us into the future, because while they wait on the runway fueled by incremental changes, half measures, baby steps and compromised goals designed not to offend or antagonize anyone, our flight is already so late we’re not going to land on time. Worse yet, the pilots are still in no hurry to take off.

Never mind the analogies, let me give it to you straight - If you think there is still time to stop global warming and the effect it’s going to have on all of us for the rest of our lives, I’m afraid you’re wrong. We’re already past that point now. We’re already at the point that demands a sense of urgency and bold, decisive action starting today. You may think that’s an exaggeration or an overreaction to what’s happening, but I believe most people have no clue about what’s happening.

That’s one of the dangers of really studying and learning about this issue - you have to face the ugly truth. Not only that, but if you’re a Creative Greenius, you not only need to clue people in, you’ve also got to have a positive solution for them. Rest assured I do.

Here’s why YOU need to have a sense of urgency:

In November 2007, the head of the UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) tried to issue a warning. He said, “If there’s no action before 2012, that’s too late. What we do in the next two to three years will determine our future. This is the defining moment.” Do you remember reading that headline? Me neither.

What part of that wasn’t urgent enough? And Rajendra Pachauri, fellow Nobel Peace Prize winner, along with Al Gore, isn’t known as some kind of wide-eyed radical given to making outrageous statements. He was chosen to head the IPCC because he was a soft-spoken moderate.

The IPCC climate change report itself was the work of more than 2000 of the world’s top climate change scientists who conducted the most detailed and exhaustive review of all scientific knowledge about global warming. The report leaves no doubt about the sense of urgency or the defining moment we are now at. No doubt.

But you no doubt heard a lot more about the baseball steroid scandal or Britney Spears sister getting pregnant than you did about the fact that we have two to three years to determine our future. I bet you probably saw the video of the beauty pageant bimbo bumbling her question about why so many Americans can’t find the USA on a map or the YouTube video offering those Asian prisoners dancing to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

But I know you didn’t see the video of the world’s greatest climate scientists begging government leaders in Bali to take “radical action to slow global warming because ‘there is no time to lose.’

On December 5, 2007, the Associated Press ran a story headlined, “Scientists Beg for Climate Action.” 215 climate scientists, frustrated and fed up, signed a petition calling for the the world to cut greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2050. The scientists made their plea to the group gathered in Bali, Indonesia to negotiate the new global warming treaty.

These scientists have never issued a plea like this or signed a petition on this issue before. In fact, the scientists have stayed away from issuing calls to action, leaving that for green advocacy groups. But now they can’t wait for someone else to act. But I bet you didn’t read about this or hear about it on the radio, or see it on TV.

Instead you heard a big deal being made over the new “energy bill” and how US car makers will have to average 35 miles per gallon by 2020. How’s that for a sense of urgency? Seems as if the members of Congress and the Bush Administration didn’t hear the scientists or understand the UN report either.

Maybe that’s why there is no funding for solar or wind and why the requirement that by 2020 15% of electricity come from clean, renewable energy was eliminated from the bill. We need to take urgent action in the next 2-3 years, but 15% renewable energy is too ambitious for us. Where is the leadership? Where is the intelligence?

It isn’t coming from the crop of Republicans or Democrats who want to be the next leaders of the USA either. None of the Presidential candidates has made the global warming issue their chief cause, none of them have separated themselves from the pack by becoming the undeniable green candidate. Not a single one of them mentions any of what you’ve just read in any speech or position paper. Why? Isn’t it a big enough issue? Don’t they think people will get it?

And it’s not as if we’re not up to the challenge. We already have the renewable energy technology ready to go to start reducing those greenhouse gasses the way we need to. And we already know what has to be done. We could start today if the people blocking action would stop being part of the problem and start being part of the solution.

But the people in the automotive and oil and coal industries made their fortunes on products that harm your health and the health of the planet and they are no different from the cigarette industry. The only way they will do the right thing is when they are forced to. So it’s up to us to force them.

And that’s going to mean people like you and me stepping up and providing leadership in the void left by our current elected officials. When the head of the Environmental Protection Agency strikes down the state of California’s tough air emission measures we need to speak out and support our state which has now filed suit to overturn the EPA’s move.

This is a key moment in time for us and the EPA has been dragging its feet for over 2 years now. When the one federal agency that is supposed to protect the environment is fighting a state with as much air pollution as we have in California and giving us lame, political excuses it’s time to step up, speak out and fight back.

The urgent threat we face toady does not need to become a disaster or horror story. This should be an exciting start of a new era of clean energy, fresh directions and an explosion of new industries, new jobs and the kind of future we all want to leave to the next generation. All it takes is some Creative Greenius.
Those of us who get it and understand the sense of urgency need to reach out to each other not just here in the USA but around the world. Billions of Chinese share the same need to act as Americans do.

And we need to do more than reach out, blog, write and talk. We need to do more than just green our homes and businesses. We need to get more involved and participate in the process. We need to serve on city commissions, citizen task forces and political action groups. That’s why I’m filing my application here in the City of Torrance to become a member of the Environmental Quality and Energy Conservation committee. It’s not a political move on my part, it’s an acceptance of my civil responsibility. It may take me a while to get there, but I’ve begun the process.

We cannot wait any longer for leadership that isn’t coming from the current establishment. We need to become the leaders and lead the way.

Let’s go! Let’s go! Let’s go!

Charging Into The Future Today

Mon, 10 Dec 2007 09:38:49 -0800

Yeah, that’s me riding a very zippy battery powered Roth Motorboard at Saturday’s first annual Renewable L.A. in Van Nuys. That personal transportation device has a range of 20 miles and goes 15 mph. Apparently I was quite photogenic.

What a great event and I had a terrific time getting hands-on with all the renewable energy vehicles, the 100kw solar panel rooftop tour, the ecogift fest and especially the highly-charged people who turned out for this gathering of the mostly already enlightened green masses.

It takes a certain kind of person to get up on Saturday morning and then get on the San Diego Freeway to make the drive over the Sepulveda Pass into the San Fernando Valley during the holiday shopping season for the sole purpose of attending a renewable energy event - and those were exactly the kind of people i wanted to spend my day with. I got to meet and talk with plenty of them and I’m glad I did

I’m talking about the kind of people who filled the parking lot with hybrid cars and more electric cars then I’ve ever seen in one place (outside of a bumper car ride). The kind of people who couldn’t think of a better way to spend a beautiful fall day.

Besides getting to ride in a ridiculously fast eBox electric car built by AC Propulsions - which took off from the line faster than anything I’ve ever ridden in, including Maserati and Lotus vehicles - and getting to check out the Zenn electric cars, and the very cool Vectrix Maxi Scooter, I also enjoyed the seminars on Biodiesel, and “Why Population is an Environmental Matter.” I didn’t realize how green i’ve been by not having children. Turns out that had even more impact than those CFL bulbs we installed... who knew?!

I especially dug the presentation by Van Nuys Assemblymember Lloyd A. Levine on how to improve the California Solar Initiative. Levine is a young environmental mover and shaker in the California Assembly who’d like to move up to the California Senate. He really knew his stuff and I appreciate his understanding and opposition to coal fired electric plants.

He was quick on his feet during the Q&A session following his presentation and I came away from his session feeling like there was at least one guy in the California legislature who gets it and is trying to do the right thing. We’ll keep an eye on Lloyd and let you know what he’s up to in the future.

It was a real treat getting to meet event organizers Zan Dubin Scott and her husband Paul Scott, especially after watching “Who Killed The Electric Car” that same day. I also had a great conversation with Ben Zuckerman of Californians for Population Stabilization on some of our favorite things about children.

Ady Gil, the host of the event who generously donated his state-of-the-art American Hi Definition facility as the venue, and allowed all of us to walk around his new rooftop solar installation, seemed to be everywhere at once. I introduced myself to him during a moment when I saw him catching his breath.

I was very happy to see Moira Lerner Nelson there as well. I’m a big admirer of hers and hope to someday live as green a life as she and her husband Dency. Debra and I hadn’t seen her in years and we were thrilled to be reunited after so long.
The South Bay green community was especially well represented at Reneweable L.A. Al Sattler of the South Bay/PV Sierra Club was there helping to explain some of the more challenging scientific concepts to me and Michael Warren, long of Mattel and now one of the forces behind Greener Impact was there with his two kids.

Greener Impact is promoting their Million Lights Project, which sounds like a noble and worthy cause to me. They’re looking to distribute 1 million free CFL bulbs by Earth Day 2008 - April 22. It’s ambitious, but that’s exactly what we need right now. I’ll be talking to Michael and his partners about how I can help.

Debra and I and our friend Wendy left energized and full of green ideas and projects that we happily yapped about during the bumper-to-bumper drive home on the 405. I kept thinking about how much better that ridiculous Saturday afternoon traffic jam would be if all of us were in electric or hybrid cars. At least we wouldn’t be pumping tons more greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

Deb told me later that she was thinking that if she had one of those battery powered Roth Motorboards in the back of the car she could have hopped right out and zipped on home.