With Solar Panels, People Power and its From Hungary

About 15 years ago, the streets of Budapest were still lined with Trabants and Ladas-an homage to their Soviet past. Today, there are fewer of these compressed cardboard cars that took years off one’s life. The future might look a bit different though.

A few weeks ago, the Antro Solo was unveiled at the Budapest Museum of Transport. The car is a gas-electric hybrid, with top speeds of 87 mph and solar panels on the roof that store energy in the car’s battery for short trips of 15-25km. And the best part, each of the three seats has pedals that also charge the car’s battery. These people apparently are used to Budapest traffic, so they figure they might as well get some exercise in there.
I love this car. But we have decided that it looks like a small dust-buster. Soon enough they will all look like this though! The Antro Solo is set to be on the market in 2012 for about $20,000. This car and I share a mother-country, so when I go there this August, I will be certain to check out the museum and get the beat from the street on whether this thing is a go.

State Legislature Passed a Green Roof Property Tax Abatement

Good news for those of us who look out on flat black roof tops and shudder with thoughts of their lost potential. On June 24th, Assembly Bill 11226 was passed allowing building owners in New York City who install green roofs on at least 50 percent of available rooftop space to get tax credit for it. Property owners will be able to apply for a one-year property tax credit of $100,000. The credit is equal to $4.50 per square-foot area that is planted vegetation. This is essentially 25% of the typical cost associated with materials, labor, design, and maintenance. The Storm Water Infrastructure Matters (S.W.I.M.) spear-headed the initiative with the help of Assembly Member Ruben Diaz. The law goes into effect on January 1st 2009 and will expire in 2013. 

So, what does this mean for green roof expansion? Well, first of all, it is a huge step in the right direction. The fact that this has made its way onto the radar of the political agenda (thanks to S.W.I.M) is a huge leap from where it was before: an environmental special interest. But is 25% of the cost enough to bring new people into the circle of green roof development? Or is it just a nice perk for those who were interested in doing this to begin with? At the Institute, we often talk about reaching the 49%. If half of the population is not quite turned onto environmental sustainability and 1% is entirely gung-ho working in the field of advancing these causes, doing everything they possibly can, there is still another 49%. The are the folks who aren’t quite sure of what to do, but are certainly concerned and interested. In the building sector we would maybe see a similar breakdown. We probably won’t get slum lords to turn their buildings green and healthy, even if we give them 75% of the funding. But is 25% enough for those who are curious? I guess we will see.

Congratulations to S.W.I.M for their victory. This really is an exciting development!

Dancing = Energy

One of the joys of summer in the city is the copious amounts of free musical events, which of course lead to dancing. What if we used that movement and turned it into energy? I realize that this sounds like a nice dream, but apparently it is a nice reality already.

Joining some other cities that boast eco-friendly nightclubs (cups, utensils, beverages, free entry if you can prove you rode your bike or used public transport) London is about to raise the bar. The dance floor will now be creating 60% of the building’s energy with the rest coming from renewable sources. The club’s owner, a wealthy Londoner has also started an organization called Club4Climate. He believes that clubbing is the best way to get young people engaged in the fight against global warming. Young people want to dance, not listen to the  “grown-up’ environmental organizations.

I gotta hand it to the guy, it is creative and it certainly is an impressive way to make a space more sustainable. But I do question whether young people, with many drinks in them and a desire to party are the most captive audience for creating positive changes. Dr. Earth, the character behind Club4climate says: “Dr. Earth wants you to be environmentally aware, but he sees no reason why environmental awareness and hedonism shouldn’t go hand in hand. They are not mutually exclusive.”  Well, I think we know that there are a few human activities that are not so good for the environment, luckily dancing is not one of them. New York night clubs, where are you?

Find it at Evolvist

Usually when we need to find products these days, we go to amazon, or google, or even the yellow pages online. Some folks still use the cumbersome yellow-page book itself. I guess they take their cue from the city who insists on sending 8 copies per household.

But what about green pages that would give you information on eco-friendly services in your neighborhood? That precisely is what Evolvist aims to be. While the site certainly still needs to be populated-which is great because you can also share your tips-it is an admirable attempt at providing a multi-city green page. They are relatively new and welcome your feedback, comments, questions, praises and problems.

Of course the businesses are limited to New York, San Fran, Berkeley, and Brooklyn. And the products so far are somewhat limited. I was however able to find chocolate. But what about toilet paper? And what about Tulsa?

More Hybrids, Less Hummers

GM’s recent cut backs and the contemplation of what exactly to do with the Hummer brand are all happening as Hybrid sales rise. In April of 2008, Hybrids experienced a 15% increase in sales, while the rest of the car market was down 8%. The Prius of course was the leader of the pack, selling 21,757 of the 40,060 hybrid vehicles sold in April 2008.  For those of you interested in the barriers and advancements to better technologies for hybrid vehicles and their batteries, join us this Saturday on Governors Island for “New Materials for Renewable Energy Technologies.” (Shameless plug, I know.) Hummer on the other hand sold a measly 2380 in the same month.

While the labor battles at GM are certainly a sad face to this story–each of the 4 plants closing employs about 2500 people–what we are really seeing is a culture war, waged through our automobile choices. And these decisions are essentially our energy impact choices. It was almost surreal to go back and read the words of then Press Secretary for Mr. Bush, Ari Fleischer. This mind you was said in 2001, when the prospect of gas for $3 a gallon was a distant threat.

REPORTER: Is one of the problems with…the entire energy field, American lifestyles?  Does the President believe that, given the amount of energy Americans consume per capita, how much it exceeds any other citizen in any other country in the world, does the President believe we need to correct our lifestyles to address the energy problem?

MR. FLEISCHER: That’s a big no.The President believes that it’s an American way of life, and that it should be the goal of policy makers to protect the American way of life.  The American way of life is a blessed one…And we have a bounty of resources in this country…the President also believes that the American people’s use of energy is a reflection of the strength of our economy, of the way of life that the American people have come to enjoy.

I completely agree. Our use of energy, rather our waste of energy, is certainly a reflection of our economy: Both are very troubled.