Political Cortex: Brain Food for the Body Politic

In Rollerblading glimpse of the future, Arjuna provided us a glimpse at his athletism and, perhaps, an indication of one path of industrial espionage.

So my wife and I play rollerhockey. That's hockey on rollerblades. The trick is to find a good parking lot without obstructions that's the flat, the right length, and that has curbs that can serve as boards. For 10 years Stephanie has played with a group of friends in what was the SGI HQ parking lot in Mountain View.

It just so happens that this is now Google. And the group, now including me, continue to play there.

Recently Google installed an impressive set of solar panels over the lots but Sunday we noticed that a bunch of the arrays had new power cables hanging down from them with plugs. Only one thing they could be for... plugging in cars.

Two weeks after announcing a major initiative to Green the Computer, Google announced RechargeIT with the tag line:

"Recharge a Car, Recharge the Grid, Recharge the Planet"

How do they describe the bumper stickers?

Recharge a Car: Google.org is working with A123 Systems and Hymotion to convert our growing fleet of hybrid cars into plug-in hybrids and to collect performance data to demonstrate their efficiency.

Recharge the Grid: We are demonstrating vehicle-to-grid technology and funding research to make this smart energy idea a reality.

Recharge the Planet: By adopting cleaner sources of energy, such as Google's 1.6 MW solar installation that charges our own fleet, we will help mitigate global warming by reducing the use of fossil fuels.

PHEVs are potentially a critical part of a path toward a sustainable energy future.  There are real efforts going on -- from Austin, Texas, to plugged-in school buses in Florida (also on buses) now to Google's campus in California -- to help move the nation toward a smarter grid, where V2G (vehicle to grid) using PHEVs provides a path for balancing out peak/low demand, for helping to bridge intermittency of renewable energy sources, for helping to foster the electrification of America's transportation.

Now, Google has real power, financial (where is its stock today, $530 or so?) and otherwise.

This initial, $10 million investment might a critical step for moving from cracking the door open to accelerating PHEVs into the market space (helping to make the VOLT a reality), to Crashing the Gate toward efficient car transport.

As noted by one climate scientist,

just getting this embryonic technology demonstrated by a company with Google's heft was a victory in itself. "These guys have clout with hundreds of millions of young and middle-aged people," he said, adding that what was necessary to jump-start a new type of car was a combination of reliability, affordability and "cool."

What sort of impact could there be? According to one USG study,

   
• The integration of hybrid cars with the electric power grid could reduce gasoline consumption by 85 billion gallons per year.

   
• That's equal to a 27% reduction in total U.S. greenhouse gases,

   
• 52% reduction in oil imports

   
• $270 billion not spent on gasoline

To learn more about PHEVs, take a few minutes on the video.

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 For more discussions, seen Celsias and The New York Times.

In any event, my perspective:  

• This is another in a series of potentially major actions, with Corporate America starting to take leadership positions that could lead to real (positive) change.

• Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs) are potentially a major Silver BB to turn the globe toward a sustainable (and prosperous) energy future, offering advancements that make the Senate's move to 35 mpg by 2020 look less than minimalist.

• PHEVs offer many benefits -- which includes the move to a smart(er) grid with V2G (vehicle-to-grid) creating revolutionary opportunities for a number of reasons. The PHEV batteries would become storage systems for the grid -- taking power in when there is excess and (dependent on each owner's instructions) standing ready to feed power into the grid when there is excess demand. The PHEVs could provide storage for covering intermittency in renewables. They could also provide greater resiliency in face of manmade or natural disasters. (When ice knocks down the elecric wires, houses would remain lit up with PHEV batteries providing power as lines get repaired ...)

• PHEVs will be cleaner than gasoline powered cars -- electric cars, even operating off coal-generated electricity, are cleaner than gasoline / bio-fuel cars.

• And, well, getting a PHEV provides the opportunity to pursue renewable power to charge your car as well as run your home.

As for me, I'm putting aside the funds -- my next car will be a PHEV ... and, I hope, soon.

Ask yourself:  Are you doing your part to ENERGIZE AMERICA?

NOTES

• Consider joining the new, improved Daily Kos Environmentalists community / listserve.
  
• Are you coming to Yearly Kos?  There will be an EA2020 panel Saturday morning along with a session on using the blogsphere for policy development. And, an Energize America tour of Green Chicago Sunday afternoon (we hope)
  
• And ... of course, ENERGIZE AMERICA

First posted on Ecotality

* For general background on Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEVs), Wikipedia's Plug-In Hybrid page.