Green Energy News | April 23, 2000

April 23, 2000 – Vol.5 No.4

ENERGIES... week of April 23, 2000

WHAT’S IN A NAME? When a well recognized company steps out and does something different, people take notice - or they should. Sony Corporation (yes, the consumer electronics company) has announced that it and Tokyo Electric Power (TEPCO) will set up a new company to build wind farms and solar power plants in Japan.

According to news reports, Sony recognizes the growing demand in Japan for renewable power given newfound environmental awareness by consumers, along with resistance to nuclear power after a series of nuclear accidents in the nation.

The new project will also include the involvement of a third-party organization that will issue certificates attesting that corporate capital contributors to the venture are promoting the use of renewable energy. Those certificates could be traded on the open market should a treaty to reduce greenhouse gas emissions become international law.

Legislation has also been introduced in the Japanese Diet which would subsidize renewable power generation. Visit TEPCO at http://www.tepco.co.jp/index-e.html

AMMUNITION. Working to convince your community, your state or your nation to support the development of renewable energy? Another study has just been published to back your efforts.

Citizens for Pennsylvania’s Future (PennFuture) has released Green Power: The Path to Cleaner Air and a Brighter Future which shows that switching to renewable power is the best action people can take to improve air quality and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

According to the report, each family that buys renewable power removes an amount of pollution equal to planting 950 trees or not driving 20,000 miles. In Pennsylvania alone more than 30,000 people have made the switch to renewables, the equivalent of removing 51,000 cars from the road or planting more than 28 million trees.

TOMORROW’S TRUCKS. U.S. car owners may squawk when fuel prices climb too much, but so far higher prices have had little effect on their car buying habits. On the other hand, truck and bus fleet operators - those who drive vehicles to make money - can see the immediate changes to company profits by operating more efficient vehicles. Fleet purchasers may be more inclined to jump onto the efficient vehicle bandwagon than individual car buyers.

Lockheed Martin Control Systems has become a founding partner in the Clinton Administration’s 21st Century Truck Initiative, a government-industry partnership aimed at developing medium and heavy trucks and buses with far greater fuel economy than vehicles currently available.

Lockheed Martin has had considerable success in the field, with 125 hybrid buses being built for New York City using the company’s HybriDrive (tm) diesel-electric drive system. Projects for Lockheed in the Initiative include a Class 8 tractor being developed with Volvo Trucks North America and Radian Inc., a 5 ton U.S. Army tactical truck, plus a demonstration program for a fuel cell powered bus in conjunction with Georgetown University.