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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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As a friend pointed out to me though, you’re almost more hard-pressed to find wineries that don’t have some sort of green aspect to them, these days. From solar panels, to wind energy, to organic growing standards, wineries are becoming more and more eco-friendly every day.

There are a number of resources on finding green wineries in California. The Bay Area Green Business Program lists wineries both in Napa and Sonoma counties that meet their requirements. You can check out this sustainablog post rating some Bay Area wineries. And though this winery guide from Green Girls LA is a few years old, it’s still fairly accurate and comprehensive.

Of the wineries my group stopped at this past weekend, my favorite by far was Grgich Hills Estate in Rutherford, CA. Don’t let the difficult to pronounce name deter you; Grgich Hills is the only winery in Napa Valley that features exclusively biodynamic wines. When you first start explaining biodynamic processes, you’re met with a lot of skepticism. (As soon as I said “cycles of the moon” I could see eyes rolling in my group.) Fortunately our server at Grgich was able to explain it in a very practical way.

• » See also: Solar Energy and Energy Efficiency financing through your property tax now available in Napa, CA
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Biodynamic wineries are, by definition organically certified, they just take it a few extra steps. Because they remove any chemicals from the process, they look at their vineyards as ecosystems, taking a holistic approach to the way they care for the land and their crops. A particularly interesting practice involves burying a cow horn filled with manure in the soil. It sounds almost like witchcraft, but in fact it adds calcium and other nutrients to the soil in an efficient way. (Read more about the biodynamic philosophies and processes on Grgich’s website. They’ve also recently gone solar.)

Ok, so solar panels, compost, that all sounds great… but how does it taste?

Perhaps it’s my particular palate, but the wines we tasted at Grgich were my favorite of the day. I love Zinfandels, and the ones we sampled here were fantastic. We took home a bottle of their 2005 Zin, and were also treated to an off-the-menu sample of Miljenko’s Old Vine Zinfandel, grown from vines over 100 years old. Both my husband and I who normally have very different tastes in wine agreed that it was our favorite of the day. Unfortunately, though, The release was very limited, and we tasted the last drops of it before it sold out.

I’m no wine expert by any means, so I love visiting green wineries like this, where the staff are more likely to discuss soil quality and cover crops with me, than try to woo me with tasting notes. Although, that being said, I can’t wait to try a glass of my fruit forward Zinfandel alongside a plate of pasta with tomato sauce… Mmm…

For more wine-related posts on Green Options, check out:

Wine, Tea, and TV Dinners: “The Green Does Food”

Drinking Carbon Neutral - America’s Greenest Winery

Wining about Global Warming

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.

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