Energy Plus Transit: May 2015

Fw: Oil price rise: is the world running short of oil?

Oil price rise: is the world running short of oil?

Fw: Leo DiCaprio asks everyone in the world to stop pretending that global warming facts don't exist.

DiCaprio asking UN representatives to not fake global warming. He "pretends for a living", politicians must deal with reality.

Fw: Hawaii to go all solar by 2040

Via Thinkprogress.org

Hawaii, the US state with the most energy constraints, enacts the most ambitious policy: going all solar by 2040. And perhaps they will have solar planes first too! Other states could find inspiration from Hawaii's example.

Solar plane over Hawaii (image source: NASA)

YPT Atlanta Event on Regional Transit Governance

Aaron Fowler explaining the concepts of regional transit integration.

On Monday, YPT Atlanta hosted a talk on regional transit governance with ARC's Aaron Fowler. The Atlanta region is due for a reform in transit governance that would improve guidance on how to plan, fund, and operate transit as a region. In Atlanta, transit operates in silos with minimal synergy between MARTA, counties, GRTA, and shuttle operators.

There have been coordination efforts in the 2000s (transit planning or implementation boards) that mostly resulted in the adoption of MARTA's Breeze Card as the regional fare card.

Efforts to streamline regional transit in Atlanta includes the following:

Adoption of a common numbering system and consolidation of bus stop data,
Creation of a common bus stop design for all transit agencies,
Creation of a regional trip planner (ATLTransit.org),
Aggregation of real-time information across multiple agencies,
Single reservation/payment/checkin mechanism for paratransit.

Other factors that may have to be considered in the future:

Creation/use of one master authority for all transit planning,
Single fare structure with interchangeable fare products, eg a local ticket useable on any operator (revenue needs to be split by each operator - typically by number of boardings)

Two foreign transit systems might give some inspiration for a streamlined Atlanta transit system:

Paris, France: all planning (including route schedules), pricing, and most funding now comes from STIF (Syndicat des transports d'Île-de-France). STIF originally created the zoned monthly pass (now on smart card), made the famous metro ticket accepted by all regional bus operators, and designed the livery of new trains and buses. Pricing for rail and buses remains separate (no bus-to-rail transfers at this time.)
São Paulo, Brazil: planning and funding comes from the state. State flag is found on all trains. A regional fare card with stored value is accepted by all operators (city buses, regional buses, 2 metro companies, and regional trains). The base price is the same for rail and bus, with a rail-bus transfer equivalent to a discount fare. The city contracts to a number of private bus companies (the livery is similar, each sub-region/company uses a different color).

On Tesla's new Powerwall home battery

Via Engadget

Powerwall, Tesla's new battery solution for homes has just been announced, and is bound to open a new market. Tesla Energy is the new business unit that will sell the compact 10 kWh battery for $3500.

In my opinion, Powerwall has clearly one advantage for the following consumers:

Homes powered by any kind of renewable energy: the batteries can store the surplus that can be later used, without drawing extra power from the grid,
Homes without a renewable energy supply, but in areas prone to power outages: batteries may power basic appliances (fridges, heating) for the first few minutes of an outage.
Homes without a renewable energy supply, but in areas with demand response/power shortages: batteries may cover the house energy needs for the duration of the demand response event, typically during peak hours. The battery is recharged during off-peak hours.

Tesla's Powerwall battery units addresses specific needs. Besides outage and demand response management, we expect to see the value of the batteries in conjunction with harvesting renewable energy.