Articles by Adam Browning

100 households to test out plug-in hybrid Pruises in California

UC Davis's Institute of Transportation Studies and AAA are looking for 100 households willing to drive their plug-in hybrids. I nominate myself for the sacrifice.

The more batteries we have plugged into the grid, the more renewable energy we'll get on the grid.

I would say I can't wait to buy one of these commercially, but if you read the sad details from Felix at CalCars, you'll see that's exactly what I am going to have to do. It appears Honda is out, Toyota is retreating, and Nissan is talking EVs.

If you think this is most disappointing, then tell them so here. Or here.

CPR for the electric car

Project Better Place has a new take on jumpstarting the electrification of transportation: they've raised $200 million (about enough to buy, what, three fuel cell vehicles?) to start building infrastructure for charging and battery exchange stations.

That's just a down payment. If you play Internet Nancy Drew for a sec you will quickly find out that Israel Corp, a major investor, also has a stake in oil refineries, and 45 percent of Chery, the Chinese car company that keeps threatening to build electric cars. These guys are invested in the full value chain, and dollars to donuts they're leveraging much more value from partner companies than the measly $200 million. We are talking about a $6-10 trillion industry, after all, which tends to focus the mind and get people working together.

Do yourself a favor and check out the video. The vision is a transportation system powered by wind and sun. And a software exec (CEO and founder Shai Aggassi comes from SAP) is exactly the right person for the job.

We don't have an energy problem, we have an energy storage problem. When I listen to Agassi talk about developing software to manage the charging strategies of EV's flexible and mobile loads in a way that enhances integration of intermittent resources like solar and wind into the grid, I get a little weak in the knees.

Combine that with REC's announcement that it was building a 1.5 GW fully integrated solar manufacturing plant in Singapore, and the future seems much brighter indeed. Note that 1.5 GW was about the size of the entire world market in 2006.

The combination of cheap solar and millions of big batteries on the grid can mean only good things.

Inhofe challenger the real deal

As a coda to DR's political obituary of Inhofe, let me add that I spent a few hours with challenger Andrew Rice last Thursday. My takeaway? Game on.

He's smart and charismatic, and he has a compelling story. He understands politics.

He's also picked a great opponent. In politics, people are more motivated by hate than love, and, well, there's not a lot of people whose name don't begin with Exxon or end in Mobil with Inhofe on their Valentine's list. Inhofe's 'definite re-elect' numbers are in the pits.

I spent some time around Jerry McNerney when he took on Pombo. Bless his heart, he had a lot of wonderful qualities, but Rice strikes me as a better public speaker and campaigner.

Here's my prediction: Rice will make it competitive. Then this race is going to get nationalized.

Right-wingers will do whatever Gore says not to

I bet it would work:

Better yet, maybe Gore will make a major speech telling people to not stick their tongues in wall sockets in an effort to save electricity. Afterward, expect lots of flickering lights in your neighborhood and fewer right-wing bloggers on the internets.