Energy Efficiency Campaigns Launched
DOE launched two new energy efficiency campaigns for kids last week: "What’s your Excuse?," which is focused on the 8-12 "tween" market, and a Tinker Bell-themed campaign for 8- to 9-year-olds. The two campaigns were developed in partnership with the Advertising Council and are designed to educate children about the importance of energy efficiency. "What’s your Excuse?" encourages tweens to save energy at home with a 10-step energy action plan, and includes tips, games, and downloads posted on a Web site called "Lose Your Excuse."
The campaign is supported by the pro bono efforts of Goodby, Silverstein and Partners, which developed public service announcements (PSAs) for television, radio, outdoor, and Web media. The Tinker Bell campaign consists of television, online, and outdoor PSAs created by the Ad Council to educate children about positive energy saving habits. The campaign directs children to visit the kids section of the DOE Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE) Web site. See the DOE press release, the Lose Your Excuse Web site, and the EERE Kids Web site.
The Ad Council has also teamed up with the Environmental Defense Fund (EDF) and Ogilvy New York to launch a campaign that encourages people to drive less. The "Ride, Don’t Drive" PSAs urge U.S. residents to take advantage of carpooling, mass transit, and bicycling to save money while reducing their emissions of greenhouse gases and other pollutants. The PSAs will be distributed online and to television stations throughout the country.
It may be hard to judge the success of the campaign, though, as public transit ridership has been on the increase lately. According to the American Public Transportation Association (APTA), ridership in 2007 was the highest in 50 years, and ridership in the second quarter of 2008 was 5.2% higher than in 2007. In fact, a recent APTA poll revealed that 85% of public transit agencies are experiencing capacity problems. See the EDF press release and the APTA press releases on ridership and capacity issues.
GM Celebrates 100th Birthday by Unveiling the Chevrolet Volt
General Motors Corporation (GM) reached its 100-year anniversary yesterday, and as a sign of changes coming to the automotive industry, the company unveiled the production version of its plug-in hybrid vehicle, the Chevrolet Volt. GM took design cues from its muscular concept vehicle in its creation of the Chevy Volt, but the pursuit of aerodynamic efficiency for the highest fuel economy led to a softer, more rounded shape for the production vehicle.
According to GM, the company has created one if its most aerodynamic vehicles ever in order to achieve its goal of traveling up to 40 miles without using gasoline or producing emissions. For longer drives, a flex-fuel engine will burn gasoline or E85 (a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline) to drive a generator that will recharge the battery.
The Chevy Volt will feature a lithium-ion battery pack consisting of 220 battery cells that can store 16 kilowatt-hours of electricity. The battery will provide power to a 111-kilowatt electrical drive unit that will produce 150 horsepower and 273 foot-pounds of torque, allowing the Volt to reach a maximum speed of 100 miles per hour. The vehicle can be recharged in about 8 hours using a standard 120-volt outlet or in less than 3 hours using a 240-volt outlet, the type commonly used for electric dryers or ovens.
GM estimates that the Chevy Volt will cost about 2 cents per mile to run in electric mode, while even a 60-mile-per-gallon hybrid fueled with gasoline at $4 per gallon will cost about 6.7 cents per mile. GM expects to build the Volt in Detroit, Michigan, beginning in late 2010, but it has not yet determined a price for the vehicle. See the GM press release and the story and related videos on the GM Next Web site.
Intercontinental Flight Demonstrates Fuel-Saving Technologies
Imagine being on a commercial airliner that pulls away from its gate, taxies to the runway, and immediately takes off, without having to queue up at the runway. That’s one of many fuel-saving ideas that was demonstrated last week in an Airways New Zealand flight from Auckland, New Zealand, to San Francisco, California.
According to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), the "historic" demonstration flight used the most fuel-efficient technologies to save flying time, reduce fuel burn, and minimize emissions. Along with the fast trip to the runway, the flight took the most direct, high-altitude route between the two cities, taking wind and weather into consideration. Along the way, the flight climbed to altitude slower and descended more smoothly, without having to circle the airport at low altitude, waiting to land. Or as Airways New Zealand put it, the flight was freed from "all practical operational restraints."
According to the airline, one key to fuel-use reduction for the flight was to minimize the use of the aircraft’s auxiliary power unit (APU) prior to takeoff. Instead, air conditioning and electrical power was supplied to the aircraft by Auckland Airport, and the APU was only started 15 minutes prior to departure, saving about a gallon of fuel per minute, or about 60 gallons. Similar measures at San Francisco International Airport helped to avoid the use of the APU after landing.
The flight also used "just in time" fueling, calculating the fuel requirements just before takeoff to minimize the amount of excess fuel carried by the aircraft. That should have dropped the fuel load by about 170 gallons, realizing a weight savings that avoided the burning of about 68 gallons of fuel.
The demonstration flight was the first of three to be carried out under the Asia and South Pacific Initiative to Reduce Emissions (ASPIRE), a partnership of the FAA, Air Services Australia, and Airways New Zealand. Both of the remaining flights will run between the United States and New Zealand within the next six months. As yet, neither the FAA nor Airways New Zealand has said how much fuel was actually saved by the maiden flight. See the FAA press release and speech from the event and the Airways New Zealand press release and its ASPIRE Web site.
National Solar Tour Comes to All But Four States in October
More than 5,000 solar homes, businesses, and schools throughout the United States will open their doors to the public in September and October for the National Solar Tour. The annual event is coordinated by the American Solar Energy Society (ASES) and sponsored by DOE’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy. Promoted as the nation’s largest grassroots solar energy event, the ASES National Solar Tour attracted more than 115,000 people to solar buildings in 46 states last year, and the event grows bigger every year.
Although most tours will occur on Saturday, October 4, some events happened as early as late August, while others will stretch into November, so it’s key to check the dates and locations of solar tours in your state. This year, events are currently scheduled for every state except Idaho, Mississippi, North Dakota, South Dakota, so if you own a solar home or business or work at a solar school in one of those states, consider organizing a tour! See the ASES press release and the National Solar Tour Web site.
Report: $100 Billion Could Yield 2 Million Clean Energy Jobs
A new report from the non-partisan Center for American Progress concludes that a $100 billion federal investment in clean energy technologies over the next 2 years would yield 2 million new U.S. jobs, cutting the unemployment rate by 1.3%, while putting the nation on a path toward a low-carbon economy. The report, prepared by the Political Economy Research Institute at the University of Massachusetts, proposes $50 billion in tax credits for energy efficiency retrofits and renewable energy systems; $46 billion in direct government spending for public building retrofits, mass transit, freight rail, smart electrical grid systems, and renewable energy systems; and $4 billion for federal loan guarantees to help finance building retrofits and renewable energy projects.
If $100 billion sounds like an unreasonable number, consider the fact that this year’s economic stimulus package amounted to more than $152 billion, of which about $100 billion was provided to taxpayers in the form of rebate checks. The Center for American Progress report concludes that clean energy investments would yield about 300,000 more jobs than if the same funds were distributed among U.S. taxpayers. The clean energy investments would also have the added benefits of lower home energy bills and reduced prices for non-renewable energy sources, thanks to the reduced consumption of those energy sources. See the press release and report (PDF 5.3 KB) from the Center for American Progress, and for background, see the White House fact sheet on the 2008 economic stimulus package.
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Kevin Eber is the Editor of EREE Network News, a weekly publication of the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy (EERE).
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