Order the book now: Two Billion Cars: Driving Toward Sustainability

Editorial Reviews

“An urgent wake-up call …The authors have laid out a blueprint the entire world can use.”–Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger (from the Foreword)

“In this insightful and persuasive book, Sperling and Gordon highlight one of the biggest environmental challenges of this century: two billion cars. They rightly contend that we cannot avert the worst of global warming without making our cars cleaner and petroleum-free. Luckily the authors also offer a road map for navigating this problem that is both visionary and achievable.”–Frances Beinecke, President, Natural Resources Defense Council

“The future of mobility should concern every citizen and government official. We have to tackle this together, but weve not been good at it, except in crisis. Now is the time to move forward. Two Billion Cars provides inspiration and a compelling pathway.”–John D. Hofmeister, Former President, Shell Oil company, and Founder and CEO, Citizens for Affordable Energy

“The authors make a compelling and urgent fact-based case that we must quickly expand the universe of affordable, low-impact transportation options if we are to survive the doubling of the worlds cars. They show how a combination of leadership, smart policy, the unleashing of a can-do technological revolution, and carefully understanding consumer motivations will save the day. It’s a must-read for anyone eager to be part of the solution.”–Kevin Knobloch, President, Union of Concerned Scientists

“Provocative and pleasurable, far-seeing and refreshing, fact-based and yet a page-turner, global in scope but rooted in real places. The authors make a convincing case that smart consumers driving smart electric-drive cars can find the critical path to a safer planet.”–Robert Socolow, Princeton University

“This book provides with considerable objectivity and foresight an analysis of the unsustainable pattern of transportation that human society has become accustomed, indeed addicted to. In very simple terms the authors deal with the profound issues arising from the growing human desire for locomotion and mobility.”–R.K. Pachauri, Chairman, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

Today several advocates of electric vehicles discussed what’s ahead for electric vehicles with NPR’s Ira Flatow on the Science Friday program.

Listen to the program.

Guests

Sherry Boschert
Vice-president, Plug In America
Author, Plug-In Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America
San Francisco, California

Daniel Sperling
Professor of Engineering and Environmental Science and Policy
Director of the Institute of Transportation Studies
Member of the California Air Resources Board, Automotive seat
University of California, Davis
Davis, California

JB Straubel
Chief Technical Officer
Tesla Motors, Inc.
San Carlos, California

Tony Markel
Senior Engineer
National Renewable Energy Laboratory
Golden, Colorado

“We’re going to get serious about advancing our local climate action plans, about getting into the business of alternative transportation,” said San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom.

Waxman’s defeat of Dingell is a great victory for those who have long called for legislation to toughen clean air standards.

“Waxman’s victory is a breath of fresh air — of clean air. It was a stunning defeat for the corporate lobbyists on K Street,” said Frank O’Donnell, president of Clean Air Watch. “It shows that a majority of the House Democrats are ready to work with the incoming Obama administration on effective global warming legislation.”

David Roland-Holst and Fredrich Kahrl of UC Berkeley are the lead authors of the report “California Climate Risk and Response,” which was funded by Next 10.

The report notes that scientific climate research is good and getting better, but planning for the types of mitigation and adaptation that will be required is in its infancy.  “… degree of uncertainty regarding many important adjustment challenges remains very high. This uncertainly is costly, increasing the risk of both public and private mistakes and the deferral of necessary adaptation decisions. The process of improving research and understanding of climate effects may itself be costly and difficult, but policymakers must have better visibility regarding climate risk and response options.”

“In conducting this multi-sector assessment, we compile the most recent available science on climate damage, assess its economic implications, and examine alternative strategies for adaptation.”

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THE EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

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THE FULL REPORT

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THE TECHNICAL SUPPLIMENT

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THE PRESS RELEASE

Author Michael Pollan discusses these issues in an open letter to the next President in the October 9 issue of the New York Times. Read the letter here. Pollan points out that solar energy is the source of everything we eat, although much of that energy is in the form of fossilized solar energy from oil and natural gas. He says its time to bring back ‘contemporary solar energy’ and ‘resolarize’ the farm.

Pollan writes at length on these issues in his latest book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma This is an important and valuable book. Changing the way we farm is a key step in reversing global warming. Changing the way we eat is the most important thing we can do to improve our health and reduce health care costs.

For a more detailed discussion, see the post at www.votesolar.org, here.

Below is a list of clean technology indexes and stock mutual finds. The ticker symbols follow the fund names.

The following two items are stock indexes. Although they have ticker symbols, they are not funds:

• WilderHill Clean Energy Index – ECO
• WilderHill New Energy Global Innovation Index – NEX

The following four funds are ‘traditional’ mutual funds, not exchange traded funds:

• Firsthand Alternative Energy Fund – ALTEX, a no-load fund, expenses 2%
• Guiness Atkinson Alternative Energy Fund – GAAEX , expenses 1.6%
• Calvert Global Alternative Energy Fund – CGAEX, expenses 1.85
• New Alternatives Fund – NALFX, Large front end load

There are at least 16 ETFs (according to one source I read) that focus on ‘alternative’ energy and ‘clean technology.’ The latter category includes nuclear energy, although you might not think nuclear energy belongs in a ‘clean tech’ listing. Here are 11 ECFs that I was able to find:

• First Trust ISE Global Wind Energy Index – FAN
• PowerShares Global Wind Energy Portfolio – PWND
• PowerShares CleanTech – PZD
• Van Eck Nuclear Energy – NLR
• Market Vectors Global Alternative Energy Fund – GEX
• PowerShares WilderHill Progressive Energy Portfolio – PUW – Invests in companies that make traditional forms of power generation — oil, gas and coal — cleaner and more efficient.
• PowerShares WilderHill Clean Energy Portfolio – PBW – Invests in companies developing alternative sources of energy, primarily wind and solar.
• PowerShares Global Clean Energy fund – PBD
• Claymore Global Solar Energy ETF will track an index developed by Chicago-based Melvin & Company – NYSE: TAN
• Van Eck Market Vectors-Solar Energy ETF tracks the Ardour Solar Energy Index – Amex: KWT
• First Trust Clean Edge Fund – NASDAQ: QCLN

The report, entitled “Energy Efficiency, Innovation, and Job Creation in California,” also analyzed the economic impacts of a recently proposed plan to reduce California’s greenhouse gas emissions over the next 12 years to achieve aggressive targets set by the California Global Warming Solutions Act.

The UC Berkeley study estimated the state’s plan to reduce the greenhouse gases, which include measures to cap emissions and increase energy efficiency standards, could create 400,000 new jobs and increase household incomes by up to $48 billion annually by 2020.

“If the country can follow California’s example, it will have a dramatic effect on our future emissions and energy independence,” Roland-Holst said.

Read the press release here.

Read the executive summary here.

Read the full report here.