Green Options

Spectators at next years Sonoma Showdown at California’s Infineon Raceway will be treated to something they’ve never seen before - the nation’s first ever zero-carbon motorcycle race.

The Sonoma County event, known as the Time Trial eXtreme Grand Prix, will form part of the AMA Motorcycle Sonoma Showdown weekend, May 14-16.

Scanning the week’s news of the leading fleet magazine, more than half the headlines are focused on automotive manufacturers including Toyota, Ford, Nissan and their commitment to greening of their fleets by moving to electric vehicle technologies.

For example, Nissan plans to use a $1.6 billion U.S. loan to rework a Tennessee factory so that battery-powered cars can be manufactured there. Ford Motor Company said it has developed an intelligent vehicle-to-grid communications and control system for its plug-in hybrid electric vehicles that “talks” with the nation’s electric grid.

Indeed it is exciting to read on a daily basis how much closer we are to the reality of EV’s for consumers and fleets.  Fleets will be the first mass adopters of EVs and PHEVs. We are already seeing businesses, government agencies, cities and countries across the world that are making significant and meaningful steps to reducing their fuel costs, our nation’s dependence on imported fuel, and our carbon footprint by converting their gas guzzling and polluting fleets to eco friendly EV’s…but what about the infrastructure needed to support such vehicles?  Is there different technology needed to support EV fleets vs. consumer EVs?  Just what are the needs of fleet managers when it comes to EV fleets?

Oregon, Sonoma County, Tucson, San Diego, Phoenix, and now Seattle. Nissan has been on a media blitz over the last few months adding partners to its growing list of electric vehicle cooperators. In doing so, a clear picture of the company’s “West Coast Plan” has emerged.

I’m a huge fan of Traditional Medicinals tea, so I’m pleased to learn that the company has just completed the largest solar powered tea factory on the planet. Traditional Medicinals’ 70,000 square foot Sebastopol, CA headquarters will use 1450 solar panels that generate 430,000 KWh of power— that’s 75 percent of the company’s total energy needs. The rest of the factory’s energy use will be offset by wind energy credits.

Though I’ve lived in the Bay Area for three years, I don’t drive, and so this past weekend marked only my second trip up to Wine Country. I had some friends in from out of town, and when choosing our itinerary my only requirements were that we visit a few green wineries.

As a friend pointed out to me though, you’re almost more hard-pressed to find wineries [...]

Paul Fenn of Local Power called me first thing this morning. Paul wrote California’s Community Choice Energy law (AB117) and his firm is a finalist to operate San Francisco’s Community Choice Energy program, which will build 360 MW of local renewable energy. But thats not what he called about.

Paul was excited about Sonoma County’s plan to achieve “carbon-free” water by 2015 - that is, using renewable energy sources such as solar and geothermal to power the county’s entire network of treatment plants and pumps. The plan is close to being released and today the SF Chronicle reported on one of the key initiatives to take the waste out of wastewater.