Transportation: how we move people and people's stuff from place to
place. The transportation system's energy efficiency, energy source,
as well as the way we incorporate those transportation systems into the
places where we live and work, has a profound effect on our ecosystem.
All manner of Transportation-related news and information is located
here.
NASA Study: "Road Transportation Emerges as Key Driver" of Global Warming
From NASA:
"For decades, climatologists have studied the gases and particles that
have potential to alter Earth's climate. They have discovered and
described certain airborne chemicals that can trap incoming sunlight
and warm the climate, while others cool the planet by blocking the
Sun's rays.
Now a new study led by Nadine Unger of NASA's Goddard Institute for
Space Studies (GISS) in New York City offers a more intuitive way to
understand what's changing the Earth's climate. Rather than analyzing
impacts by chemical species, scientists have analyzed the climate
impacts by different economic sectors.
"
See the original NASA web page Here
Hybrid Vehicles:
From a CALSTART webpage:
"A common complaint about new technology is that the “back of the
envelope calculation just doesn’t pencil out”. Most new technologies
come up against this challenge as they struggle to be implemented in
commercial industries that have become accustomed to the status quo but
are looking for ways to reduce costs. A simple payback calculation is a
quick and easy method to assess the benefit of a new cost-saving
technology; but it isn’t necessarily very accurate, and in assessing
the case for hybrid drivetrains, a deeper dive is required."
The webpage is
Here
CALSTART's Mission Statement:
CALSTART is dedicated to the growth of a clean transportation technologies industry that will:
- Clean the air;
- Secure the nation’s transportation energy future;
- Create high-quality economic opportunities; and
- Reduce greenhouse gas emissions
HTUF / Hybrid Truck Users Forum (a CALSTART Project)
HTUF is a national, multi-year, user-driven
program to speed the
commercialization of medium- and heavy-duty hybrid and high-efficiency
technologies. It is operated
by CALSTART in partnership with the U.S. Army’s National Automotive
Center
(NAC), with project support from the Hewlett Foundation and the
Department of
Energy. HTUF has been very successful in helping launch the first
production of hybrid trucks and is credited with cutting up to two
years from product development. HTUF has helped create the first
markets and is now working to get purchase incentive funding.
The HTUF web page is
Here