Coming at the heels of Toyota’s problems with sticking accelerator pedals, news of potential braking problems on the 2010 Toyota Prius and Lexus HS250h hybrid has raised legitimate concerns among hybrid owners. Yet, media coverage of Toyota’s safety issues may be blurring the lines between a potentially fatal problem with the accelerator pedals—resulting in a massive recall of 4.5 million Toyota vehicles—and the hybrid braking issues that may largely be based on perception.

First, consider that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received nearly 200 consumer complaints about the 2010 Toyota Prius’s braking performance—while approximately 103,000 units of the 2010 Prius are on US roads. (Each of these case must be investigated before any conclusions can be drawn.) It’s also interesting to note that in Japan, where the 2010 Prius has been the No. 1 selling car for six months and 200,000 units have been sold, the Prius braking issue “hasn’t registered on the national radar,” according to National Public Radio reporter Lucy Craft. She characterized the coverage in the US as a “hysterical reaction,” compared to the response in Japan.

Some drivers of the 2010 Toyota Prius have complained of a feeling of losing brake power when going over a bumpy surface.

NPR added that Toyota doesn’t believe there are any “defects” and any problems related to the driving experience can be “fixed fairly easily by adjusting some software.” That’s exactly the position taken by Ford to some customer complaints about braking in the 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid and 2010 Mercury Milan Hybrid. "While the vehicles maintain full braking capability, customers may initially perceive the condition as loss of brakes," said Ford. “There have been no injuries related to this condition.” Toyota informed HybridCars.com that "there is no loss of braking control."

In an interview with local ABC News, Wayne Mitchell, co-founder of a local Prius chat group in Chicago, said, “The sensation you have is like your accelerating, but in actuality you're just coasting." He explained that the brake pedal doesn't feel engaged going over an uneven surface, even though it is. "If you were just to push a little further into your brake pedal, the brakes—the regular brakes—are there. They'll come on and they'll stop the car," said Mitchell.

Ford attributed the sensation to “a different brake feel when the hybrid's unique regenerative brakes switch to conventional hydraulic braking." Ford is planning to ask Fusion Hybrid and Milan Hybrid owners them to bring in their cars to be reprogrammed at dealers at no charge.

Mitchell’s coworker Felipe Torres, who also drives a Prius, said, "You always have braking power, you have the ability to stop the car, but it might make people more comfortable not having that sensation on occasion," said Mitchell.

Aaron Bragman, an automotive analyst at HIS Global Insight, told the Wall Street Journal that some drivers are unfamiliar with the idea that hybrids drive slightly differently. “The brakes are different and the regenerative system is different. It’s a learning curve when you’re driving a hybrid.”

Regenerative braking is a key function of hybrid cars—as well as the plug-in hybrids and electric cars expected in the coming years. These systems have been put to use in hybrids since 1997 in Japan, and 2000 in the US. There are nearly 2 million hybrids currently in use in the United States.

Reprinted with permission from Hybrid Cars

Researchers in the Middle East are developing a technology they say will convert saltwater-tolerant crops into jet fuel, creating a biofuel that doesn’t consume huge amounts of fresh water or take land away from food crops. The Masdar Institute in the United Arab Emirates is creating a demonstration farm that will use a system called integrated seawater agriculture, in which seawater would be transported via canal to a desert-based farm that combines fish and shrimp farming with cultivation of mangrove trees and salicornia, whose seeds can be converted into fuel. The effluent from the fish farming will be used to fertilize the salicornia plants, which are grown in saltwater-irrigated fields, said Scott Kennedy, the project leader. The runoff of that irrigation, which by that point would be even saltier, would be used to grow the saltwater-tolerant mangrove trees. The oil-rich salicornia seeds would then be processed into biofuel suitable for blending in jet fuel, researchers said. One potential challenge for the project, experts noted, is the damage that high salt levels will likely inflict on machinery used to harvest the salicornia.

Reprinted with permission from Yale Environment 360

by Tom Knudson

I am hiking through a moss-draped forest more than 10,000 feet above sea level in the Rwenzori Mountains in western Uganda, not far from the border of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The trail ahead is steep as a ladder and slippery with mud, and every few minutes my guide and I stop to rest.

Most people who come to this part of Africa do so for its wildlife, especially the endangered mountain gorilla. I have made the journey for another reason. I am looking for a glacier.

In the popular imagination, glaciers and Africa intersect at one location: Mt. Kilimanjaro, the iconic dormant volcano that rises from the grasslands of Tanzania and whose shrinking snowcap has become a symbol of climate change.

But there are glaciers in steamy Uganda, too, hidden in the eaves of jagged 16,000-foot peaks that are lost in the clouds most of the year. And these glaciers have a climate change story to tell, too — one that scientific research suggests better reflects the impact of global warming than the fading snows of Kilimanjaro.

But their story is also nearing its close. In just two decades, scientists expect the Rwenzori glaciers — as well as Africa’s few other remaining ice fields — to be gone. Kilimanjaro has already lost 84 percent of its ice since 1912, and what’s left is not expected to last more than a couple of decades. The Lewis glacier on Mount Kenya is also expected to wink out soon.

That prognosis comes as no surprise to my guide, a local Bakonjo tribesman named Baluku Josephat, who has guided climbers through the Rwenzori range since 1982 and has seen the consequences of global warming firsthand.

“If you go to Mount Baker,” he says, referring to a massive, ship-like peak in the center of the range where glaciers have already melted, “you can now go without crampons. It was not that way in the past. Now people just walk over rocks.”

And not all of the impacts are playing out in the snow zone. Two years ago, Josephat spotted something in a brushy thicket at 10,900 feet that startled him — an upwardly mobile chameleon.

“Chameleons are supposed to be at lower elevations. Now they are moving up and up,” he said, echoing an observation scientists have made about animals and plants in other mountain ranges worldwide. “When I found that chameleon, I was puzzled. I thought, ‘My God, what is happening?’”

With its snow-capped peaks looming over the tropics, the Rwenzori are a geographical marvel that has haunted the Western imagination for centuries. As early as 500 B.C. the Greek dramatist Aeschylus wrote about “Egypt nurtured by the snows.” In 150 A.D., Claudius Ptolemy, the most distinguished geographer of his time, produced a celebrated early map of Africa that fanned speculation about a snowy source of the Nile. Without ever setting foot in Africa, he sketched an icy range rising from the heart of the continent that he called Lunae Montes — the Mountains of the Moon — a name widely used for the Rwenzori today.

But it wasn’t until 1888 that the American explorer Henry Stanley proved Ptolemy correct. Looking up from a camp in the Congo, he spotted what he first thought was a silver cloud in the shape of a mountain.

“Following its form downward, I became struck with the deep blue-black color of its base,” Stanley wrote. “Then I became for the first time conscious that what I gazed upon was not the semblance of a vast mountain, but the solid substance of a real one with its summit covered with snow.”

Even today, hiking into the Rwenzori range is like stepping into a lost world. Fewer than 2,000 people a year visit the place. For long stretches, you see no one. And there are surprises by the hour, from worms as long as your walking stick, to iridescent greenish-purple sunbirds and the elusive, brilliant-blue Rwenzori turaco.

A mountaineering guide stands near the former terminus of the Speke Glacier, which once snaked down the side of Mount Speke for 1,600 feet.

Also astonishing is the kaleidoscope of chlorophyll, the staircase of forest zones that clings to the range from the foothills at 5,400 feet to the treeline around 13,500 feet. On our second day, we entered a forest of giant heather so ensnarled in moss it was hard to see the sky. “No forest can be grimmer and stranger than this,” wrote Filippo de Filippi in his epic account of the first expedition to thoroughly explore the range and climb its major peaks, led by the Italian mountaineer and adventurer, Prince Luigi Amedeo of Savoy, Duke of the Abruzzi, in 1906.

As we climbed higher, the heather disappeared, replaced at 11,200 feet with something stranger: two species that looked like cactus, but weren’t — the torch-like giant lobelia and the giant groundsel, which reaches upward with woody branches topped by enormous cabbage-like leaves.

But the most astonishing sight of all is the snow you begin to glimpse hovering above the tropical landscape. When Abruzzi tramped through the range a century ago, ridges and mountains were shellacked with snow and glaciers. He discovered glaciers on six peaks and estimated their total size at 2.5 square miles.

“Members were full of excitement and satisfaction,” wrote de Filippi, describing the expedition’s initial ascent into the alpine zone. “The place was rough and wild. A cold and biting wind blew off the glacier and suggested surroundings very different from those usually associated with Equatorial Africa.”

Today, less than half a square mile remains. On three peaks, glaciers have disappeared altogether.

In the Andes and Himalaya, the melting of high-altitude glaciers is expected to trigger water shortages downstream in coming decades. But Uganda’s ice is much too small to have such an impact. Nonetheless, Josephat and his fellow tribe members are worried. For them, melting glaciers are an economic threat.

“The snow and ice you are seeing are a tourist attraction,” said our cook, Donald Philly, over dinner one evening. “Clients come to see the snow and we get employment opportunities.” And when the snow is gone, he added, jobs will vanish. Standing nearby, Josephat said the Bakonjo would simply have to adapt — like the chameleons. “We are going to train our guides on rock climbing,” he said.

Precipitation patterns are also changing.

“Years ago, it would rain cats and dogs, from morning to evening, for seven days straight,” Josephat said. “Rivers were flooded. There would be a lot of fog, even down to the lower elevations. These days, that is not happening.”

Such changes, he believes, are contributing to a rise in mortality he has observed among the iconic giant lobelia. “The trees are withering at a rapid speed,” Josephat said. And as they die, he said, other plant and moss species are likely to suffer, too.

Ultimately, Josephat said, he fears climate change may set off a domino effect of forest decline that could one day diminish the range’s ability to soak up and store water, putting downstream villages at risk. The Bakonjo guides take the threat so seriously they have recently formed an organization to plant more trees around the base of the range, both to battle deforestation and increase carbon sequestration.

The changes here also pose a challenge to climate scientists. Inside the Rwenzori’s receding glaciers are specks of pollen and dust that could unlock secrets about past climatic upheavals. But there’s a problem: no one has managed to access to the glaciers amid the daunting terrain. Seven years ago, Lonnie Thompson — the well-known U.S. scientist who has sampled high-altitude tropical glaciers worldwide and uncovered evidence of dramatic pre-Incan climate swings from ice core samples high in the Andes — was scheduled to work in the Rwenzori. But he had to cancel his trip because of security concerns in East Africa at the start of the Iraq war.

Time is running short.

“The whole atmosphere is warming in the tropics,” Thompson told Science News. “But the greatest risk is taking place at the highest elevations — on the order of 0.3 C (0.5 F) per decade.”

Ice in the Rwenzori is disappearing so swiftly that much critical information may have already been lost. “There is a lot of concern about whether there is even a viable [ice] core,” said Richard Taylor, a hydrologist at University College in London. Without such solid evidence, he added, scientists can’t even determine the age of the range’s glacial cover.

Taylor is the lead author of a 2006 study in Geophysical Research Letters that links the melting glaciers in the Rwenzori more directly to rising temperatures than the shrinking snowcap on 19,340-foot Mount Kilimanjaro.

“The ice fields on Kilimanjaro are substantially higher” than the Rwenzori and therefore less prone to melting, Taylor told me by phone from London. “The glaciers that still exist in the Rwenzori reside somewhere between 4,800 meters and 5,050 meters” — 15,750 to 16,570 feet — making them “more vulnerable to fluctuations in temperature.”

By contrast, the shrinking snowcap on Kilimanjaro is likely due to decreasing humidity, not rising temperatures, he said, adding, “The Rwenzori mountains are the icon of global warming — not Kilimanjaro.”

But as I climb higher into the Rwenzori, it’s clear that getting close to even one African glacier is going to be more of an ordeal than I expected. And it’s not just the steep trails and thin air that conspire to halt my progress. It’s the mud. Never have I seen mud in such quantity or variety. Sludge-like in places, syrupy in others, it filled two enormous high-altitude bogs. In spots, a boardwalk helped. But where it ended, chest waders would have come in handy, too.

Finally, after scrambling up a nearly vertical wall of rock and moss, I stepped onto a ledge at 14,400 feet, where a century ago Abruzzi encountered a nine-story-high wall of ice known as the Speke glacier, named for the British explorer — John Hanning Speke — who discovered the source of the Nile at Lake Victoria.

In Abruzzi’s day, the glacier snaked down the side of 16,080-foot Mount Speke for 1,600 feet before ending abruptly near the rocky cliff face where he — and now I — stood. A century ago, the glacier covered about 540 acres, and de Filippi recounts listening to the roar of gigantic columns of ice crashing into the valley below.

In the thickening mist, I searched for ice but saw none. Instead, I looked out on the ghost of a glacier, a rubble of smooth slate-gray stone sloping up from a small green lake, formed by glacial melt. Here and there, giant groundsels were starting to grow between rocks that not long ago were entombed in ice.

Then the sky opened up to reveal a narrow band of silver and white more than 1,000 feet up the mountain — the last receding remnant of the Speke glacier, which has now shrunk to just a few dozen acres.

A few seconds later, the clouds zippered back up and it was gone.

Reprinted with permission from Yale Environment 360

The Clorox Company (NYSE: CLX) this week announced the launch of a new website that includes ingredient lists for more than 230 household and commercial cleaning, disinfecting and auto care products in the U.S. and Canada, as well as a comprehensive glossary of terms for each ingredient.

In 2009, Clorox was the first major consumer packaged goods company to launch a product ingredient communication program in North America.

The updated site is perhaps a response to the US Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) stated mission to update the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA). The EPA recently announced that it will not allow companies to withhold chemical information based on claims of corporate competition.

Clorox is now providing information on how the company screens ingredients, including fragrance components for new products. For example, Clorox requests all of its fragrance suppliers to follow a series of strict guidelines for ingredients used in any new fragrance the company purchases. In addition to complying with fragrance industry standards by the International Fragrance Association (IFRA) and Research Institute for Fragrance Materials (RIFM), fragrances must not contain Alkylphenol (APs) or Alkylphenol Ethoxylates (APEs), including, but not limited to, Octylphenol Ethoxylates and Nonylphenol Ethoxylates; Musk Ambrette; Musk Xylol; Polycyclic Musks; Diacetyl and Phthalates (such as DEP, BBP, DBP, DiBP, DPP, or DEHP).

"Clorox is continuing to demonstrate the kind of progress we need companies to make," said Sierra Club Chairman Carl Pope. "Since we began working with them on the Green Works® brand, we've seen their commitment to important areas such as product innovation, ingredient communication, environmental stewardship and the transition to eliminate chlorine transportation from their U.S. supply chain. We applaud their approach to becoming even more open in communicating about their business practices and CSR commitments."

Website: www.cloroxcsr.com

Reprinted with permission from Sustainable Business

Fifty-five major industrial powers that produce nearly 80 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions have submitted voluntary CO2 reduction targets, but a top UN climate official says they still fall short of what’s needed to limit future temperature increases to 2 C (3.6 F). Meeting a Jan. 31 deadline established at the December climate summit in Copenhagen, the European Union set a goal of reducing emissions 20 percent below 1990 levels by 2020; Japan pledged to slash CO2 emissions by 25 percent below 1990 levels by 2020; the U.S. set a more modest target of reducing carbon dioxide emissions 17 percent below 2005 levels by 2020; and China vowed to cut the so-called “carbon intensity” of its economy — the amount of CO2 produced per unit of gross domestic product — by 40 to 45 percent by 2020. Some conservationists hailed these targets as an important step in slowing global greenhouse gas emissions, but Janos Pasztor — the top climate advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon — said that even with these voluntary reductions “it will still be quite difficult to reach 2 degrees.” Meanwhile, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao reversed an earlier position and said he supports the ratification of a binding global agreement on CO2 reductions at the next major round of climate talks in Mexico City this December. Reprinted with permission from Yale Environment 360

by Nick Chambers

All hybrids have some type of premium associated with them that makes them more expensive than their conventional counterparts, but is that premium really worth it when you consider cost versus reduced environmental impact and fuel savings? It’s a question that thrift-conscious and green-minded consumers often find themselves asking when doing new car research.

It’s a tough question to answer and one that will clearly be different for each individual based on how important it is to reduce environmental impact and fossil fuel use. Yet, even though the process is highly subjective, the Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) has developed the Hybrid Scorecard to help consumers determine if that premium is worth it for each hybrid on the market.

Environmental Score

First the group looked at all the hybrids currently available on the market and determined an “Environmental Score” to “look past the hybrid label to see if hybrid technology is truly being used to maximize reductions in both global warming and smog-forming emissions.” The score is a measure of a vehicle’s improvement in global warming pollution over its closest conventional counterpart.

What they found was that among the hybrids available for purchase there is a huge difference between the best and the worst performers. “Going from a conventional Toyota Matrix to a Prius reduces global warming emissions a whopping 44 percent,” says the group’s website. “That’s like trading in a Hummer H3 for a Mini Cooper. By contrast, going from a Saturn Aura to an Aura Hybrid only reduces emissions 10 percent, the equivalent of trading in the Hummer H3 for a 3.7-liter Jeep Grand Cherokee.”

The group took special exception with what they call “hollow hybrids” saying that cars such as the Chevy Malibu Hybrid and Saturn Aura Hybrid fall into this category. “Their electric motors aren’t powerful enough to provide significant assistance in moving the vehicle, a key feature of hybrid technology,” stated the group’s website. “In reality, these are not hybrid vehicles. Their poor Environmental Score and Hybrid Value rating show how taking a half-hearted approach to hybrid technology can undermine consumers’ confidence in the hybrid label.”

Hybrid Value

Next the group looked at whether or not the vehicles in question had a good “Hybrid Value.” In other words, how much of a reduction in environmental impact do you get for your buck? What the group found was that a 27 percent or greater reduction in global warming emissions for a hybrid premium cost of about $4,000 fell into the category of “High Value.” According to the group’s website, “Toyota, Honda, Ford, and General Motors have all shown they have the capacity to deliver high hybrid value in vehicles ranging from compact cars to full-sized SUVs.”

The group found that misusing hybrid technology in the form of what they call “muscle hybrids” resulted in low value by combining the premium hybrid technology costs with poor emissions performance. For example, according to their methodology, the GMC Yukon Hybrid and Chevy Tahoe Hybrid SUVs have a lower Hybrid Value rating because “their hybrid drivetrains were coupled with bigger engines that help the vehicle deliver additional power and torque.”

Forced Features

Lastly the UCS wanted a way to measure how artificially inflated the price of a hybrid was compared to a conventional counterpart. The way the group sees it, the hybrid drivetrain certainly adds justifiably to the cost of a new hybrid. But in order to inflate their profit margins, some automakers add non-optional bells and whistles such as leather upholstery and upgraded audio systems. Overall the the UCS found that the average hybrid comes with $3,000 of these “forced features,” as the group calls them.

As the group’s website says, “Car buyers deserve the freedom to invest extra dollars in fuel economy instead of frills. Honda’s Insight has no forced features, resulting in a 40+ mpg vehicle that costs less than $20,000. By comparison, Honda’s 42 mile per gallon Civic Hybrid is loaded with $3,362 worth of forced features, bringing its MSRP to $23,550. The worst offender is the Lexus LS 600h L, which comes with more than $17,000 of extra features on top of an already luxury-laden base model.”

Check out the full list on the UCS website hybridcenter.org. Although the list clearly has some warts, it does highlight many of the problems we’ve all noticed with the way hybrids are engineered and brought to market. Do you think the UCS’ Hybrid Scorecard is helpful?

Reprinted with permission from Gas 2.0

by David Ferris

In a last-ditch effort to save climate legislation this year, a consortium of clean-energy groups met today in Washington and kicked off a week of intense planning and lobbying.

The notion of Clean Energy Week was born only a few weeks ago, when several groups realized they had planned events in the capital at the same time. Hasty organization didn’t prevent speakers at an opening press conference today from hammering on a consistent message: that the United States might gain 1.9 million jobs in the next decade if some version of a cap-and-trade bill is passed this year.

One participating group is the Coalition for the Green Bank, whose co-founder, Reed Hundt, said, “As the president made clear in his State of the Union address, a focus on green jobs is the immediate focus for the clean energy sector, and in fact by promoting the double whammy of clean energy generation and transmission along with energy efficiency, literally millions of fine new jobs can be created over the next several years.”

Organizers have high hopes for a “Business Fly-In” on Thursday, when 200 CEOs of clean-energy businesses arrive to meet with swing legislators and put a face on the possibility of jobs creation.

Other events include RETECH, a three-day conference between business, nonprofits and government on renewable energy.

Prospects for a climate bill retreated two weeks ago when the Democratic Party lost its filibuster-proof majority in the Senate with the special election of Republican Scott Brown in Massachusetts. However, President Obama’s repeated emphasis on clean energy and jobs in his State of the Union speech last week has invigorated advocates that an agreement might still be won.

Reprinted with permission from The Ferris Files

by Tina Casey

Suniva, Inc., a solar manufacturer based in Georgia, is aiming to bring a commercial, grid-connected, stored solar energy system to the state for the first time. The company has just announced a partnership with Georgia-based GS Battery USA Inc., that will combine Suniva’s solar modules with high tech batteries on a 30 kilowatt solar plant at GS Battery’s headquarters in Roswell, Georgia.

To make it a trifecta, a third Georgia-based company, First Century Energy of Atlanta, is the designer of the solar array. It’s an interesting sustainable energy threesome given that GS Battery is a subsidiary of GS Yuasa Group of Japan, which is a global battery technology leader that has just contracted with NASA to assemble lithium ion battery cells in Roswell — and there’s a couple of other U.S. government connections, too.

Stored Solar Energy and Green Jobs

Suniva’s 30 kW array is set to be the first in a series, and it takes advantage of the 2009 stimulus package aka the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), which as of January 1st applies a 30% investment tax credit to battery storage systems as well as solar systems. On top of that, Suniva was founded by staff from the University Center of Excellence for Photovoltaics at the Georgia Institute of Technology, which was established with funding from the U.S. Department of Energy. This powerful nexus of government funding, academic research and private enterprise is fulfilling the promise of an emerging green economy jump-started by the 2009 stimulus package.

Suniva and Solar Power

Suniva is known for its high efficiency, low cost monocrystalline solar cells, the ARTisun series. At an output of up to 300 watts they rank among the highest performance levels, and the company has more developments in the works: improving the process for screen-printing solar gridlines, teasing out a better response from the more energetic blue end of the solar spectrum, and getting more light to reflect back into the system with a more efficient “passivization” layer.

GS Battery and Stored Energy GS Batteries USA specializes in motorcycle and other vehicle batteries, so it will be interesting to see how the subsidiary interacts with its parent on a technological level. According to an article in the Atlanta Constitution-Journal, the recent GS Yuasa contract with NASA represents the high end of energy storage technology, calling for satellite and space station vessel lithium-ion battery cells that go for $20,000 a pop. The components will be pre-made and then assembled at the Roswell facility, which could nearly triple the plant’s employment from 35 to 100.

Solar Power and Stored Energy Energy storage is the key that will unlock the full potential of solar power for use in manufacturing, and the Roswell installation could help demonstrate that stored solar energy is just as steady and reliable as any source of fossil fuel. Aside from lithium ion technology, researchers are also developing solar energy storage systems based on molten salt, plant photosynthesis, and even the good old fashioned flywheel.

 

Reprinted with permission from Cleantechnica

by Nick Chambers

With a theoretical storage capacity more than 10 times higher than today’s best lithium-ion batteries, it’s no wonder lithium-air batteries are being touted as one of the types of batteries that could make electric cars truly mainstream.

Now, as part of a US Department of Energy program to provide large amounts of supercomputer time to advance cutting edge, real world research, IBM scientists are partnering with government scientists from both Argonne and Oak Ridge National Laboratories to model and develop the materials needed to make lithium-air batteries a reality.

The award provides up to 24 million hours of computer time on two of the world’s fastest supercomputers–which, you guessed it, are housed at the two national labs. To give you some perspective, this only represents about 1.5% of the total time available on both computers, but considering how many other scientists use these computers, the fact that one project got 1.5% of the total time is pretty amazing.

IBM has been researching lithium-air batteries for some time. In the past they’ve indicated they’re not interested in building their own batteries, but want to partner with other players. The major stumbling blocks to building a consumer grade lithium-air battery have thus far been related to safety and recharging. Lithium can be extremely flammable and using air as a reactant instead of forms of cobalt or iron greatly increases the danger for the battery to catch fire.

The researchers hope that with the huge amount of computing time made available to them, they’ll be able to develop materials and methods to deal with some of these issues.

Given that recent reports clearly show lithium-ion batteries are coming up far too short in certain areas, the world can’t get next generation batteries soon enough.

 

Reprinted with permission from Gas 2.0

by Zachary Shahan

Obama put a strong focus on this in his State of the Union speech — “From the first railroads to the interstate highway system, our nation has always been built to compete. There’s no reason Europe or China should have the fastest trains…. Tomorrow, I’ll visit Tampa, Florida, where workers will soon break ground on a new high-speed railroad funded by the Recovery Act. There are projects like that all across this country that will create jobs and help our nation move goods, services, and information.”

Now, the White House has just announced the 12 rail lines that will receive billions of dollars for HSR in the very near future. If these HSR projects come to fruition, the US may finally be level with Europe and China.

Will this be the start we need to transform our transportation system in the US?

Previously, I wrote about about North Carolina and Virginia’s chances for funding. They were asking for $5 billion out of the available $8 billion. Well, they were awarded funding, but not quite the $5 billion they were asking for. In order to provide funding for a wide variety of projects across the country, no one could get exactly the amount they wanted. NC and VA (together) are receiving $620 million for their projects. California, Florida and the Northeast are receiving the most funding.

The following gives a quick snapshot of the projects awarded the funding. For more information on any of the projects, follow the links to the White House press releases.

Northeast Region

The Northeast Region is receiving a total of $1.191 billion for thousands of miles of new, upgraded or planned tracks. The projects in this region span 11 states (Maine,Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland) and Washington, DC. The region includes 7 intercity passenger rail corridors.

As the White House’s press release states: “The Northeast region currently has the most integrated passenger rail network in the country. The vision for these rail corridors is to invest in projects that will boost speeds, cut trip times and strengthen the system as a real alternative to air and car travel.”

Florida

The Florida Department of Transportation was awarded $1.25 billion for HSR lines between Tampa, Orlando and Miami.

As someone who was born and raised in Sarasota, about one hour south of Tampa, this statement from the White House is no news to me: “the region is almost entirely reliant on automobiles for transportation between these metro areas, which together have a population of over 10 million people and account for two of the nation’s 20 largest metro areas.” This new HSR investment may be the start of a major transportation transformation in those areas. This is a dream a lot of Florida residents (and probably tourists) have had for years, but not knowing if it would ever come true.

This investment will also bring thousands of jobs to Florida, something sorely needed in one of the states hit hardest by the economic recession. “It is estimated that these investments in high-speed rail will create thousands of jobs throughout Florida, which has one of the highest unemployment rates in the nation.”

Speeds on these rail lines will be up to 168 mph (Tampa-Orlando) and 186 mph (Orlando-Miami), making rail travel times significantly less than automobile travel times (60 minutes compared to 90 minutes and 2 hours compared to approximately 4 hours, respectively).

The Tampa to Orlando phase is scheduled for completion in 2014, and the Orlando to Miami phase for 2017.

Pontiac-Detroit-Chicago

This rail line connecting cities in Michigan (i.e. Pontiac, Detroit and Kalamazoo) with Chicago (Illinois) is receiving $244 million to upgrade 300 miles of track.

As the White House states, “The long-term vision for this corridor includes doubling the number of daily round trips between Detroit and Chicago and increasing speeds to 110mph.”

Some existing stations on this corridor will be renovated and some new stations will be built with the money as well.

Northwest

The Northwest is receiving $598 million for a high speed rail corridor from Eugene to Portland to Seattle to Vancouver. “

The long-term vision for the corridor is to have a dedicated high-speed track, where trains will operate at up to 150mph, with 13 daily round trips between Seattle and Portland.” This federal funding follows significant investment made by Oregon and Washington already.

California

California is receiving a total of $2.344 billion. =This is for approximately 1,955 miles of new (800 miles), upgraded (880 miles), or planned (275 miles) track!

As the White House reports, California has invested a lot in rail recently, and with 5.5 million people (per year) riding on its 3 intercity corridors now, its routes are only second to the Northeast in ridership. Its plans for the future are even bigger.

“The long-term vision for passenger rail in California is among the most ambitious in the nation.”

Train speeds are expected to reach as high 220 mph and should cut travel time between Los Angeles and San Francisco to under 2 hours and 40 minutes (compared to 6 hours by car).

With a more ambitious plan, the time frame for California is also longer. “Phase I calls for a 520-mile system connecting Anaheim and Los Angeles through the Central Valley to San Francisco by 2020; Phase II would extend the system north to Sacramento and south to San Diego by 2026.”

Ohio

Ohio is receiving $400 million for 250 miles of new track.

This brand new corridor, named the “3C Corridor,” will connect Cleveland, Columbus, Dayton, and Cincinnati, Ohio.

This project will create thousands of jobs in Ohio, improve its livability greatly, and help to rehabilitate historic downtowns. There are numerous universities and major companies in close proximity to the corridor: “Nearly 40 colleges and universities lie in close proximity to the route, as do the headquarters of 22 Fortune 500 companies.”

Texas

Texas is receiving $4 million to “implement the final design and construction of signal timing improvements at grade crossings between Austin and Fort Worth. This will increase the operating speed of Amtrak’s Texas Eagle and improve on-time performance.”

Iowa

Iowa is receiving $17 million to “install four remotely controlled powered crossovers on the BNSF Ottumwa subdivision, which will reduce travel times and improve on-time performance.”

Twin Cities (Minneapolis/St. Paul) - Madison - Milwaukee - Chicago

Wisconsin and Minnesota are receiving $823 million for approximately 441 miles of track that connect their main cities with Chicago.

Although this a major region in the Midwest, there is currently no passenger rail service between Milwaukee and Madison.

“Using grants from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), intercity passenger rail service will be established between Milwaukee and Madison with stops in Brookeld, Oconomowoc, and Watertown at speeds of up to 110 mph. Service is expected by 2013.

Improvements between Chicago and Milwaukee will ultimately reduce travel time by more than 30 percent and increase maximum speeds from 79 mph to 110 mph. Eventually, passengers will be able to travel from Chicago to the Twin Cities at a top speed of 110 mph, saving time and energy compared to driving.”

Chicago - St. Louis - Kansas City

Illinois and Missouri were granted $1.133 billion to upgrade 570 miles of track connecting Kansas City and St. Louis to Chicago as well.

“The corridor connects Chicago, IL to St. Louis, MO and Kansas City, MO. Currently, five daily round trips operate between Chicago and St. Louis and two daily round trips operate between St. Louis and Kansas City. Ultimately, the long-term vision for the corridor is to reach speeds of 110mph from Chicago to St. Louis to Kansas City, with up to eight daily round trips between Chicago and St. Louis.”

North Carolina & Virginia

As mentioned at the beginning, North Carolina and Virginia are receiving $620 million, to upgrade 480 miles of track.

This “Southeast Corridor” connects Charlotte, Raleigh, Richmond, and Washington, D.C. With a strong history of supporting passenger rail, significant planning efforts for HSR, and being one of the fastest growing regions in the country, the federal government recognized that these states deserve investment in the transportation of the future.

HSR rail for the Southeast is getting its start here, but the long-term plans are much broader. “The long-term goal for this corridor is top speeds of up to 110mph, reducing trip time by one-third from Washington, D.C. to Richmond, and to four and one-half hours between Richmond and Charlotte. Eventually, the Southeast Corridor is expected to use Atlanta as a regional hub, with connections from Atlanta east to Charlotte, south to Macon and Jacksonville, north to Chattanooga, and west to Birmingham.”

Only the HSR lines in California will compare with China’s new HSR lines in speed. However, many of the other HSR lines are anticipated to be very similar to Europe’s best. At these speeds, rail will become much more competitive with air and automobile travel in the US.

This is a good start. But the funding needs to continue, especially through a long-overdue, new Transportation Bill.

Reprinted with permission from Cleantechnica