This post originally appeared at Popular Mechanics. You can read the full post on their website. Written by Chris Ladd.

The 2000-pound cylinder of fiberglass, resin and carbon fiber, glossy as a vinyl record, hangs from a mechanical winch above its thick steel chamber. For millennia, flywheels have powered everything from potter’s wheels to steam engines, storing kinetic energy in their momentum as they spin. Now, the flywheel has found a higher purpose in the electrical grid: Wound around a 500-pound rotor, this 5-foot-tall, 3-foot-diameter flywheel assembly at Beacon Power’s plant in Tyngsboro, Mass., appears poised to be the great green hope of that unsung, unsexy, absolutely essential energy niche that is frequency regulation.

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If we need just one more reason to be convinced that the era of fossil fuels is quickly winding down, 30,000 square feet of evidence is going up right now in the suburban Detroit town of Warren, Michigan. That’s where the U.S. Army is building its new Ground System Power and Energy Laboratory (GSPEL), and it’s no accident that the site is deep in the heart of the U.S. auto industry.

The high tech GSPEL complex features eight separate laboratories, all dedicated to the development of more sustainable military vehicles and related systems: increasing energy efficiency, using more renewable resources, focusing on ready access to energy and power, and reducing environmental impacts. It’s all part of the military’s overall drive to shed fossil fuels—both foreign domestic—and focus on energy security for the 21st century.

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The City of Copenhagen has announced the establishment of its first hydrogen fueling station, alongside a mini-fleet of fuel cell vehicles, and hopes that the move will help it towards the ambitious goal of becoming the first carbon-neutral capital city in the world by 2025.

Following the recent news of a growing hydrogen fueling system in Germany, the new facility also opens up the intriguing proposition of a cross-border European hydrogen infrastructure.

According to grandly titled Technology and Environment Mayor Klaus Bondam, “Today we are putting Copenhagen on the map as a champion of clean transport. Together with [fuel cell vehicle integrator] H2 Logic, Copenhagen is setting in motion the development of hydrogen transport in Denmark and in northern Europe, because the hydrogen filling station in Copenhagen will help provide future hydrogen-powered vehicles from Scandinavia and Germany with hydrogen.”

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Without pavement and parking lots we would still be traveling cross-country in Conestoga wagons on 6-inch deep ruts and be breathing lungfulls of dust every time a vehicle drove by at the Kwik-E-Mart. Needless to say, pavement is one of the many things that makes modern life possible.

But, like everything else in our modern life, the more advanced we get in our ability to collect and analyze data, the more we realize that the good stuff always seems to have its awful consequences too. It’s the same story with pavement.

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This is an excerpt of a guest column Nick Chambers, editor of Gas 2.0, wrote for Popular Mechanics. You can read the whole column on the Popular Mechanics website.

The road trip—driving cross-country for days on end, crammed into a vehicle with your family—is virtually a required rite of passage for most Americans. The lure of the open road is as ingrained in our psyche and culture as the hamburger, football or fishing. So it’s no surprise that proposals for new types of taxes on these seemingly free highways—traditionally paid for by gas taxes and tolls—are causing an uproar.

Back in July of this year, Rep. Earl Blumenauer (D-Oregon) proposed a bill that allocates funds to research the effectiveness of taxing highway usage by the mile. On the surface, the bill seems to be laying the groundwork for big government to track our driving habits while simultaneously discouraging the driving of more fuel-efficient vehicles. It doesn’t have to be this way.

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French energy minister Jean-Louis Borloo will announce a plan on Thursday for the country to invest 1 billion Euros ($1.46 billion US) in the infrastructure needed to encourage the adoption of electric cars. That investment will buy 4.4 million charging stations, upgrade the power grid, purchase a government fleet of electric cars, and provide subsidies to EV buyers and auto manufacturers.

France hopes that this amount of investment will be enough to get 2 million electric cars on its roads within 10 years.

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As China marches forward with aggressive infrastructure construction plans, years of panda conservation face major setbacks.

Despite the panda’s status as China’s signature animal, China’s desire for economic development may spell doom for this shy and gentle creature.

The panda’s already fractured habitat is being split up into even smaller pockets by construction of highways at nature reserves. According to People’s Daily Online, WWF China has reported several panda populations have already been forced into habitats just 1 kilometer wide.

Pandas limited to fragmented home ranges are unable to breed with other populations, severely impacting opportunities for genetic diversity within the species - and leading to extinction in the wild.

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The Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation (eTec), a subsidiary of ECOtality, Inc. and Nissan North America win a $99.8M grant from the Department of Energy to support the largest deployment of electrical vehicles (EVs) and charging infrastructure in U.S. history.

The project will use Nissan’s LEAF, an early stage zero-emission EV to study and develop the logistics and necessary scale behind the implementation of a national charging infrastructure, that will in turn, support large-scale EV deployment.  Initial stages of the project include the deployment of 5,000 EVs and EV charging stations in Arizona, California, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington.  Don Karner, President of eTec, sums up the industry e-coup:

By studying lessons learned from electric vehicle operations and the infrastructure supporting these first 5,000 vehicles, the Project enables the streamlined deployment of the next 5,000,000 electric vehicles…Nissan and over 40 government and industry partners, will enable this Project to successfully pave the way for electric transportation nationwide.

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]]> http://ecopreneurist.com/2009/08/06/ecotality-and-nissan-to-get-100m-from-department-of-energy/feed/ http://ecoworldly.com/2009/07/08/what-is-a-good-city/ http://ecoworldly.com/2009/07/08/what-is-a-good-city/#comments Wed, 08 Jul 2009 23:51:14 +0000 Rhonda Winter http://ecoworldly.com/2009/07/08/what-is-a-good-city/

That was one of the many probing questions that the visionary former mayor of Bogotá Colombia, Enrique Peñalosa, asked a packed auditorium in San Francisco last night. How do we define what makes a good city, what is our criteria? What makes an urban environment desirable and livable, and how do we judge the quality of life? What is socially and environmentally sustainable?

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]]> http://ecoworldly.com/2009/07/08/what-is-a-good-city/feed/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/05/10/a-new-federal-construction-push-wetlands/ http://cleantechnica.com/2009/05/10/a-new-federal-construction-push-wetlands/#comments Sun, 10 May 2009 17:25:16 +0000 Jeff Kart http://cleantechnica.com/2009/05/10/a-new-federal-construction-push-wetlands/ Some people like to call them swamps — usually folks who want to turn them into concrete developments.

Others call them wetlands, for their abilities to reduce flooding and filter out contaminants that run off of city landscapes.

The fact is, you may not like wetlands or swamps (mosquitoes), but they do a lot of good. The next time it rains, watch the water run off of a driveway, sidewalk, street or nearby parking lot. That water used to go into wetlands, depending on where you live. Now it goes into sewer systems, and often ends up being flushed untreated, or only partially treated, to rivers and lakes.

What to do, short of “The World Without Us“?

Many cities are turning to constructed wetlands, which can’t replace the natural work of Mother Nature, but can do a pretty good job of keeping contaminants out of waterways that supply drinking water, fishing and good ol’ recreation.

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]]> http://cleantechnica.com/2009/05/10/a-new-federal-construction-push-wetlands/feed/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/04/17/obama-unveils-our-high-speed-rail-future/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/04/17/obama-unveils-our-high-speed-rail-future/#comments Fri, 17 Apr 2009 00:03:28 +0000 Rhonda Winter http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/04/17/obama-unveils-our-high-speed-rail-future/

Compared to most other industrialized countries, the rail infrastructure system in the United States is only in its most stunted infancy.

President Obama’s stimulus package, however, is now going to help bring our nation’s transit system into the 21st century. Nine billion dollars has been allocated over the next five years to begin building a faster and cleaner high speed rail network that will not only provide many needed jobs, but will also give us more sustainable transit options and help to make us more competitive internationally.

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]]> http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/04/17/obama-unveils-our-high-speed-rail-future/feed/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/02/08/pres-obama-addresses-economic-stimulus-video/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/02/08/pres-obama-addresses-economic-stimulus-video/#comments Sun, 08 Feb 2009 23:27:12 +0000 Timothy B. Hurst http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/02/08/pres-obama-addresses-economic-stimulus-video/ In his weekly address from February 6, 2009, President Barack Obama articulated the details of his economic stimulus plan. Mr. Obama said the plan had at its core a simple idea: “Let’s put America to work doing the work America needs done.”

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]]> http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/02/08/pres-obama-addresses-economic-stimulus-video/feed/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/02/05/economic-stimulus-package-will-obama-push-for-a-smart-grid/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/02/05/economic-stimulus-package-will-obama-push-for-a-smart-grid/#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2009 19:17:40 +0000 Timothy B. Hurst http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/02/05/economic-stimulus-package-will-obama-push-for-a-smart-grid/

Spending in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on environmental projects being debated in Congress right now already includes $100 billion in ‘green stimulus.’ But because of the stated preference for so-called ‘shovel-ready‘ infrastructure projects, long-term infrastructure projects like mass transit and a smart grid may suffer.

The bill already includes spending for incentives for clean energy; the retrofitting of public buildings and public housing; low and moderate-income home weatherization; clean water and environmental restoration projects. But mass transit and smart grids require the kind of planning and long-term investment not encapsulated by that tidy new buzzword, ’shovel-ready.’

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]]> http://redgreenandblue.org/2009/02/05/economic-stimulus-package-will-obama-push-for-a-smart-grid/feed/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/02/01/pilot-bike-sharing-program-announced-for-san-francisco/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/02/01/pilot-bike-sharing-program-announced-for-san-francisco/#comments Sun, 01 Feb 2009 04:00:38 +0000 Rhonda Winter http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/02/01/pilot-bike-sharing-program-announced-for-san-francisco/ San Francisco has just announced that it will go forward with a pilot bike-sharing program to help increase the number of trips taken by bicycle in our city. The program will be implemented by Clear Channel, the operator of SmartBikeDC, currently the only other bike-sharing program in the United States.

One of many conveniently located bike-sharing stations in Vienna, Austria

Many city residents and bike enthusiasts are very disappointed that the proposed program will initially only have five stations, with roughly a dozen public use bikes at each. The five stations will not be in close proximity to each other, but will be spread across the city in the Financial District, Mission Bay, the Presidio, Civic Center and on the City College campus.

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]]> http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/02/01/pilot-bike-sharing-program-announced-for-san-francisco/feed/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/01/05/take-action-the-road-to-nowhere/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/01/05/take-action-the-road-to-nowhere/#comments Mon, 05 Jan 2009 07:00:50 +0000 Becky Striepe http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/01/05/take-action-the-road-to-nowhere/ Friends of the Earth’s “New Roads = New Pollution” campaign is calling for President-elect Obama to focus his infrastructure plan on clean endeavors instead of new road construction

[Creative Commons photo by Tobias Pro User]

Pollution from motor vehicles is responsible for 72% of nitrogen oxides and 52% of reactive hydrocarbons (principal components of smog). Cars and trucks are not the only culprits - road construction causes greenhouse gas emissions both during and after the work is done. A Sightline Institute analysis (pdf) found that building 10 miles of new four-lane highway construction is the equivalent of putting 46,700 Hummers on the road, once you account for factors like materials, maintenance, congestion, and new traffic.

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]]> http://ecolocalizer.com/2009/01/05/take-action-the-road-to-nowhere/feed/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/12/16/atlantas-transit-system-is-in-trouble/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/12/16/atlantas-transit-system-is-in-trouble/#comments Tue, 16 Dec 2008 12:00:38 +0000 Becky Striepe http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/12/16/atlantas-transit-system-is-in-trouble/
[Creative Commons photo by Josh Hallett]

The Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority (MARTA) is $60 million in the hole - double their expected revenue shortfall for 2008. Administrators are talking about raising fares and reducing consumer services to help the transit system cope with the losses.

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]]> http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/12/16/atlantas-transit-system-is-in-trouble/feed/ http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/12/07/obama-puts-his-best-foot-forward-to-build-a-sustainable-economy/ http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/12/07/obama-puts-his-best-foot-forward-to-build-a-sustainable-economy/#comments Sun, 07 Dec 2008 08:45:26 +0000 Reenita Malhotra http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/12/07/obama-puts-his-best-foot-forward-to-build-a-sustainable-economy/ The number of jobs lost this year is close to 2 million.  But while each American stands fearful that his job might be the next one to go, President-elect Barack Obama is planning a new economic recovery plan that will save or create 2.5 million jobs very soon.

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]]> http://inspiredeconomist.com/2008/12/07/obama-puts-his-best-foot-forward-to-build-a-sustainable-economy/feed/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/10/23/australia-to-launch-one-of-worlds-biggest-electric-car-recharging-systems/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/10/23/australia-to-launch-one-of-worlds-biggest-electric-car-recharging-systems/#comments Thu, 23 Oct 2008 19:16:02 +0000 Andrew Williams http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/10/23/australia-to-launch-one-of-worlds-biggest-electric-car-recharging-systems/

The Australian government has given the green light to a plan to establish one of the world’s largest electric car recharging infrastructures, powered entirely by renewable energy.

The A$1 billion ($676 million) project could see the establishment of as many as two million recharging points, as well as more than 500 battery swap stations, where drivers can exchange depleted batteries without the need to wait for a recharge.

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]]> http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/10/23/australia-to-launch-one-of-worlds-biggest-electric-car-recharging-systems/feed/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/10/09/france-invests-549-million-in-electric-and-hybrid-cars/ http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/10/09/france-invests-549-million-in-electric-and-hybrid-cars/#comments Thu, 09 Oct 2008 17:42:52 +0000 Andrew Williams http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/10/09/france-invests-549-million-in-electric-and-hybrid-cars/ The French government announced today that it has earmarked a massive €400 million ($549 million) in state support for the development of electric and hybrid cars. The news comes hot on the heels of key pledges on the development of electric cars from Renault and Peugeot-Citroen that signal a major shift in green transport policy across the country.

Speaking at the Paris Motor Show, President Nicolas Sarkozy said the investment is destined “exclusively for the research and development of non-polluting vehicles.” His comments follow earlier announcements from French carmakers Renault SA and PSA Peugeot Citroen of separate agreements with energy company Electricite de France (EdF) to develop and market green vehicles.

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]]> http://redgreenandblue.org/2008/10/09/france-invests-549-million-in-electric-and-hybrid-cars/feed/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/09/02/changing-locomotion-in-midstream-californias-ethanol-mandate-part-2/ http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/09/02/changing-locomotion-in-midstream-californias-ethanol-mandate-part-2/#comments Tue, 02 Sep 2008 13:57:28 +0000 Alexis Madrigal http://ecolocalizer.com/2008/09/02/changing-locomotion-in-midstream-californias-ethanol-mandate-part-2/ Editor’s note: Yesterday, guest contributor Alexis Madrigal introduced the rationale behind California’s ethanol mandate, and alluded to some of the “behind-the-scenes” changes that the mandate required. Today, he takes a look at one piece of the California ethanol infrastructure.

II. The Geography of Green

In northern California, the major incoming station for ethanol is the NuStar Selby Terminal outside Crockett, in unincorporated Contra Costa County.

At places like Selby, rail cars filled with ethanol are unloaded into holding tanks, then eventually transloaded into a truck (or a pipeline) that delivers the fuel to a refinery. The Big Oil refiners splash-blend it with hydrocarbons inside tanker trucks into what the state calls gasoline.

That’s one of the things that Selby’s manager, Mike McDonald got shipped to California to do, after his last post at a refinery in the Caribbean. He’s sturdily-built with closely cropped hair. In his blue coveralls, it’s obvious he’s no suit or hipster. When I show up uninvited at Selby early one evening, after weeks of trying to get the NuStar press handlers to call me back, I catch McDonald still working.

And why wouldn’t he be? Selby never stops working. The terminal operates 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. It can store three million gallons of liquid fuels, the vast majority of it being oil.

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