Truly Alternative Fuel Buses

I recently came across two kinds of buses that truly use alternative energy sources.

(Photo: fta.dot.gov)

The first one was tipped to me by a friend who administers transit programs. CALSTART will soon roll out the first fuel-cell, full-size transit bus in the U.S., in partnership with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), bus manufacturer New Flyer, and several other vendors. Officials refer to this accomplishment as a 'major milestone.' Typical bus usage may exceed 500 miles a day. CALSTART promotes and commercializes clean transportation technologies.

(Photo: Wessex Water)

The second kind of buses was relayed by Engadget. This bus built in the U.K. converts the energy contained in human waste into mechanical energy, by means of 'anaerobic digestion' that produces methane. The bus can travel up to 180 miles/300 km. The bus is built by Scania and get its biomethane from a biowaste plant near Bristol. Engadget also has a video that explains how this bus works.

In conclusion, there are always sparks of innovation in the energy and transit industries. Let's see how soon we may get to enjoy them!

Fw: What It Would Really Take to Reverse Climate Change

Via IEEE Spectrum

Image: Alfred Palmer - Library of Congress

At the current technology and policy progress rate, it will too late to reverse human-made climate change. At least that is the conclusion of this very interesting article from IEEE Spectrum Magazine. Read more how the authors are taking a retrospective on an aborted Google project that aimed at delivering technology to curtail carbon emissions. They say that despite carbon cutting measures, continued use of fossil fuel will cause CO2 levels (and temperatures) to rise for the foreseeable future.

MPG Tracker is back and Fuel Drop

Announcing the return of my MPG tracker on the side pane of this page!! My old website featured an MPG tracker showing my car's MPG along with the price I paid for gas. I left it out when I switched to Blogger. It is back and up to date now with three years of consumption.

Not as dramatic, you can also see the price of fuel sharply declining in recent weeks - from $3.70/gal to $2.99/gal and less (read more about it here for example).

Fw: Three Interviews on Utility Analytics

Via greentechmedia.com

At this page, you will find videos of executives at three competing companies explaining their vision on utility analytics during the SoftGrid conference:

• Landis+Gyr's Soorya Kuloor (former GRIDiant CTO)
• Space Time Insight's Steve Ehrlich (VP Marketing)
• TempoIQ's John Cronk CEO

It just happens that greentechmedia.com placed links to these videos on the same page.
Disclosure: I am now an employee of Landis+Gyr INC.