Sponsored by URISA and the National Center for Transit Research (NCTR)

URISA and the University of South Florida’s National Center for Transit Research at the Center for Urban Transportation Research (CUTR) are pleased to announce a new partnership to present the 2009 GIS in Transit Conference, taking place Hilton Bayfront in the waterfront district of downtown St. Petersburg, Florida, November 16-18, 2009.

The Conference Committee has organized an educational program based upon the abstracts submitted through a Call for Participation. Abstracts were submitted within these general topic categories: Applications, Tools, Data, and Management & Policy.

Preliminary Conference Schedule

Monday, November 16, 2009

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Registration

Early Rate (if Registered by October 5, 2009)

• Full Registration:
  URISA Member – $275
  Non-Member – $300

Regular Rate (if registered after October 5, 2009)

• Full Registration:
  URISA Member – $350
  Non-Members – $375

Pre-Conference Workshops: $195

Conference Sponsors

The National Center for Transit Research (NCTR) is located at the Center for Urban Transportation Research at the University of South Florida.  NCTR strives to make public transportation and alternative forms of transportation, including managed lanes, safe, effective, efficient, desirable, and secure. The goals of NCTR are: to minimize traffic congestion, maximize mobility options, promote safety and security, improve the environment, and enhance community sustainability. This will be accomplished by conducting applied and advanced research, energetically disseminating the results, and expanding the workforce of transportation professionals through education and training to address the challenges and opportunities of the future.  The National Transit GIS Conference is one of the many efforts by NCTR to forward its goals.  For more about NCTR please visit: www.nctr.usf.edu.

The 2009 GIS in Transit Conference is proudly endorsed by:

For more information, please visit: http://www.urisa.org/gis_transit

(Source: Washington Post & AASHTO)

Supporters garnered the necessary two-thirds support to push through the stop-gap measure intended to keep the Highway Trust Fund solvent through September 30, the end of the fiscal year. The vote was 363 to 68.

The government estimates the account could run dry within several weeks without an emergency infusion of cash. The fund provides states with about $40 billion per year in transportation construction funding.

Trust fund disbursements are separate from the billions in economic stimulus money dedicated to states for transportation projects.

The Senate is expected to act on the temporary trust fund measure before the end of next week, and lawmakers plan to address a longer-term remedy after their August recess.

During the 40 minutes of House floor debate this afternoon, supporters argued the Highway Trust Fund needs additional funding immediately to prevent the payment slowdown to states, which could cause states to then curtail their road construction activity. Opponents contended the transfer is not paid for by any new revenue source and that Congress needs to stop bailing out the Highway Trust Fund. Congress sent the fund an additional $8 billion last September when a similar funding crisis developed due to lower revenue in the trust fund than had been projected as a result of Americans driving less during the economic recession and thus paying less in gasoline and diesel taxes as well as in heavy-truck taxes.

The House bill approved today contains no extension of authority for federal surface transportation programs, which is scheduled to lapse Sept. 30 at the end of this fiscal year. While House leaders have been pushing a full six-year authorization measure, the Obama administration and the Senate have favored a temporary extension of current authority for 18 months. Today’s House vote means Congress will have to face the authorization question in September after returning from the summer recess.

House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar, D-MN, said during today’s floor debate that he regrets Congress must take action to shore up the Highway Trust Fund. But the drop in vehicle miles traveled experienced over the past year and a half has left the trust fund short of its revenue projections, necessitating an infusion, he said. Oberstar’s six-year, $500 billion authorization measure has been approved by subcommittee but not been brought up before the full T&I Committee yet because there is no agreement with the House Ways and Means Committee on how to raise the extra revenue needed to pay for it.

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: BBC)

A crop area the size of the USA would be needed to biofuel all the world’s cars and alternatives, such as electricity, exist for them, it added.

Instead, it said the EU should fund research into using plant-based fuel for aviation to help cut emissions.

Sceptics say some biofuels create more carbon than they save and push up the price of food for the poor.

Most biofuels are derived from crops such as corn, sugarcane and rapeseed.

Join ITS America and AAAE at the Intersection of Intelligent Transportation Systems and Aviation!

Airport land side management has increasingly become a focus for airport managers and transportation management center mangers alike.  More and more, airport managers are turning to Intelligent Transport Systems (ITS) to provide solutions to the challenges they face, such as managing parking, commercial vehicle movement, incident management, security and much more.  This conference is co-sponsored by the American Association of Airport Executives (AAAE) and the Intelligent Transportation Society of America (ITS America) and will showcase the top industry leaders in the Intelligent Transport System (ITS) industry who are currently providing solutions for airport landside management.  The conference will also feature airport personnel sharing real-world results, lessons learned, success stories bad reasons why they have chosen ITS products and services as their airport land side management solution.

Details of Sessions:

Tuesday, August 4, 2009

Keynote Address: Michael Huerta, President, MPH Consulting “Transportation Challenges Presented by the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, UT” – confirmed

Session 1:

“ITS Options in Airport Ground Traffic Management and Revenue Generation”

Moderator: Gary Duncan, Chief Technology Officer for Econolite (EGI) – confirmed

Panelists:

1. Dave Kinnecom, Utah DOT – confirmed

2. FAA –confirmed participation, speaker TBD

3. Stan Doepke, Eagle Integrated – confirmed

This session will focus on the challenges that airport landside managers face in effectively managing and tracking traffic flow in and out of the airport environment.  Discussion topics will include freeway and arterial signage, real time travel information, and other traffic management tools.  In addition to managing the traffic flow, airport managers have significant fiscal responsibility and this session will address those responsibilities and provide real examples of using dwell times, trip charges and airport usage fees from taxis and shuttles to provide a revenue stream for airport operations.

Session 2:

“ITS Options in Airport Ground Incident Management”

Moderator: Irv Rosenblum, Telegra – confirmed

Panelists:

1. Dan Lukasik, Delcan – confirmed

2.Dave Korzep, Salt Lake City Department of Airports –confirmed

3. Ron Sherwood, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport – confirmed

This session will focus on the use of technologies to help airports managers address security issues related to curbside management of transportation taxis, limousines and buses. Additionally, panelists will address management of vehicle accidents on airport property, management of pedestrian flow, park and wait lots, and other security challenges.

Session 3:

“ITS Solutions to Airport Parking Conundrums”

Moderator: Mike Drow, Standard Parking – confirmed

Panelists:

1. Rick Warner, President of ParkingCarma – confirmed

2. Michael Howarth, Intelligent Devices – confirmed

3. Neal Heaton, BWI – confirmed

4. Jon Tarleton, Quixote – confirmed

Passenger parking is the largest source of revenue for most airports and proper management is of increasing importance.  The session will focus on ITS products and services and how they relate to “Parking Guidance Systems,” “Parking Reservation Systems,” and “Vehicle Locator Systems.”  Intelligent Transportation System technologies are now being used in some locations to take the guess work out of finding open parking lots and spaces, pick up points and drop off points for specific airlines. Discover some of the leading edge technology implementations that are working at airports today.

Session 4:

“Importance of ITS Standards in ITS Implementation at Airports”

Moderator: Casey Crabtree, Daktronics – confirmed

Panelists:

1. Rod MacKenzie, ITS America – confirmed

2. Bob Rausch, TransCore –confirmed

3. Marshall Elizer, Gresham Smith & Partners – confirmed

4. Tom Wunk, Sheidt & Bachmann – confirmed

ITS standards define an architecture of interrelated systems that work together to deliver advanced transportation technology and services across different agencies, modes and users. Most standards arevoluntary, consensus-based, and open, meaning that their use is not mandated by law,  they are consensus-based (meaning that a published standard has attained general agreement through cooperation and compromise in a process that is inclusive of all interested parties), and they are not proprietary and are available for anyone to use. The use of standards for airport ITS encourages growth of these services by minimizing development costs, increasing compatibility and interoperability, and increasing buyer and seller confidence in products. A standards-based approach to airport ITS integration helps to facilitate the exchange of transportation data as well as more easily accommodate future equipment replacements, systems upgrades, and system expansions. This session will explore standards available to ITS applications in the airport environment and how they are being used in airport ITS systems development today.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Session 5:

“Airport Management Roundtable”

Moderator: Mark Ozenick, Thomas Group – confirmed

Panelists:

1. Ron Sherwood, Atlanta – confirmed

2. Dave Korzep, SLC – confirmed

3. William Flowers, DFW – confirmed

4. Neal Heaton, BWI – confirmed

This exciting round table discussion will feature key airport executives discussing topics from the previous day as well as other important issues facing them and their thoughts about how technology has or might help them address these issues.  Real world examples from those who have been there!

Technical Tour of Utah Department of Transportation Traffic Management Center “ITS Implementation”

Registration

• ITS America / AAAE Members: $525
• Non-members: $575

(Source: Office of Planning, Environment and Realty Federal Highway Administration)

Recent Events

Transportation Legislation Introduced. On June 18, Representative Oberstar introduced the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009, which includes several provisions relating to climate change. The bill proposes to revise metropolitan and statewide planning statutes to require greenhouse gas reduction targets and strategies. DOT would not be able to certify the planning process of any MPO that fails to develop, submit or publish its emission reduction targets and strategies. Large urbanized areas would also be required to have a greenhouse gas emissions reduction performance measure. Additional information on the bill is available on the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee website: http://transportation.house.gov/

House Passes Climate Change Legislation. On Friday, June 26, the House of Representatives passed the “American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009,” a comprehensive climate change bill. The provisions of the bill, including a cap on greenhouse emissions, are intended to reduce overall greenhouse gas emission from major U.S. sources (which include transportation) by over 80% in 2050 compared to 2005 levels. The bill also mandates new energy-savings standards for buildings, appliances and industry; requires increased use of renewable energy sources by electric utilities; and provides funds to invest in new clean energy technologies and energy efficiency. Similar to the Surface Transportation Authorization Act of 2009 that was recently introduced by Representative Oberstar (see above), the climate change bill requires States and MPOs to develop greenhouse gas reduction targets and strategies for metropolitan and statewide transportation plans. The Senate is expected to take up the matter later this summer. For more information, go tohttp://energycommerce.house.gov/.

Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States Report Released.On June 16, The US Climate Research Program released a plain-language report on the science of climate change and the impacts of climate change on the U.S. The report includes a chapter on transportation which incorporates key messages and several regional spotlights. The report and accompanying factsheets on projected regional impacts are available here: http://www.globalchange.gov/publications/reports/scientific-assessments/us-impacts

DOT, HUD, and EPA Announce Partnership for Sustainable Communities. On June 16, DOT Secretary Ray LaHood, HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan, and EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson announced a new partnership to help American families in all communities — rural, suburban and urban – gain better access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs. Earlier this year, HUD and DOT announced an agreement to implement joint housing and transportation initiatives. With EPA joining the partnership, the three agencies will work together to ensure that these housing and transportation goals are met while simultaneously protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change. For more information on the partnership, see:http://www.dot.gov/affairs/2009/dot8009.htm

EPA Grants Available to Develop Local and Tribal Government “Climate Showcase Communities.”EPA has announced $10 million in grants available for local and tribal communities to establish and implement climate change initiatives, with awards ranging from $100,000 to $500,000. A 50% match is required from local governments. The Request for Applications will be available this summer. For more information, see: http://epa.gov/cleanenergy/energy-programs/state-and-local/showcase.html

CCAP Releases Two Climate Change Studies.The Center for Clean Air Policy recently released two new studies relating to transportation and climate change. Ask the Climate Question: Adapting to Climate Change in Urban Regions describes some of the adaptation measures that members of its Urban Leadership Adaptation Initiative have undertaken, including actions King County, WA is taking to make its transportation system more resilient. In Cost-Effective GHG Reductions through Smart Growth & Improved Transportation Choices, CCAP argues that smart growth measures can be cost-effective and profitable and calculate that comprehensive application of these policies could lead to substantial reductions of CO2 equivalent emissions by 2030.

State and Local News

EPA Grants Waiver to California. On June 30, 2009, EPA granted a waiver of Clean Air Act preemption to California for its greenhouse gas emission standards for motor vehicles beginning with the 2009 model year. California has committed that when a new national program comes into effect in 2012, automakers which show compliance with the national program will also be deemed in compliance with the State’s requirements. Now that California has been granted the waiver, other States will be allowed to enforce the same tailpipe standards. Thirteen other States and the District of Columbia have already moved to adopt the California standards, and a few others have indicated they may follow. For more information, go to http://www.epa.gov/otaq/climate/ca-waiver.htm.

Washington Governor Directs State Agencies to Lead on Climate Change. On May 21, Governor Christine Gregoire signed an executive order directing State agencies to take action on climate change. She directed the State DOT to estimate current and future statewide VMT, evaluate potential changes to state VMT benchmarks to address low and no emission vehicles, and develop strategies to reduce transportation emissions. She also directed the DOT to work with the State’s MPOs to develop and adopt transportation plans that will provide transportation choices, reduce GHG emissions, and achieve VMT benchmarks. The executive order is available at: http://www.governor.wa.gov/news/Executive_Order_09-05.pdf.

Reminders

2009 Transportation, Planning, Land Use and Air Quality Conference to focus on Climate Change. The conference, sponsored by the Transportation Research Board, FHWA, and others, will explore the latest research in the coordination of transportation, land use and air quality with a specific focus on climate change strategies. The conference will be held in Denver, CO July 28 and 29, 2009. For more information, see:http://www.ucs.iastate.edu/mnet/tpluaq/home.html.

Previous Newsletters

• May 2009
• April 2009
• March 2009
• February 2009
• January 2009
• December 2008
• November 2008
• October 2008
• September 2008

If you have any suggestions for inclusion in future issues of Transportation and Climate Change News, or if someone forwarded this newsletter to you and you would like to receive it directly in the future, please send your suggestions or request to Becky Lupes at Rebecca.Lupes@dot.gov.

Description

IT and ITS have a common technical framework and similar technical challenges. As such, practitioners in both fields have much to gain by partnering together. The Oregon and New Hampshire State Departments of Transportation will present their experiences in bringing these different organizational groups together to promote efficient and successful ITS project deployment based on systems engineering principles. Each agency will share their successes, challenges, and lessons learned with the organizational and technical issues these new partnerships engender. Representatives from both agencies will discuss the ways that IT and ITS staff in program offices collaborate to support ITS deployments, making this an informative and interesting session and providing the audience with practical steps for initiating and maintaining collaborative, cross-departmental work partnerships.

This webinar is part of a webinar series on Systems Engineering for ITS projects. Many agencies use their Information Technology group as a source for systems engineering and information technology skills and as a way to build competency across different agency departments.

Audience

• Individuals involved in planning, deploying, and operating ITS
• ITS and IT staff and managers
• Human Resource and workforce development professionals

Learning Outcomes

• Understanding of the positive impact on ITS project outcomes derived from collaboration between the agency’s IT department and the ITS program office
• Steps that can be implemented to initiate cross-departmental (IT and ITS) collaboration
• Benefits of using systems engineering in the development and management of ITS projects
• Best practices for maintaining cross-departmental collaboration through the project lifecycle

Federal Host:

Mac Lister, ITS Professional Capacity Building Program, ITS Joint Program Office, US DOT’s Research and Innovative Technology Administration

Mac Lister is the Manager of the ITS Professional Capacity Building Program at the U.S. Department of Transportation’s ITS Joint Program Office (ITS JPO). He has over 35 years of experience in the field of information systems. Before joining the ITS JPO, Mac was an ITS Specialist at the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) Resource Center. Before that, Mac worked as an IT manager for 25 years, the last 12 of which were for a public transit agency. His ITS areas of expertise are 511 technology/overall operations, the National ITS Architecture, ITS professional capacity building and workforce development, and systems engineering.

Mac has provided training, outreach and technical support for the National ITS Architecture and Systems Engineering programs. He has also the team leader for the FHWA‘s National Field Support team; the field co-chair for the FHWA Operations Council’s architecture and systems engineering working groups; and a member of the 511 Deployment Coalition Working Group.

Mac is a certified instructor and a master trainer for NHI. He has taught courses in ITS Software Acquisition, Systems Engineering and National ITS Architecture. He has also been an independent consultant to ITS America.

Presenters:

Denise Markow, New Hampshire Transportation Management Center, New Hampshire Department of Transportation

Denise Markow is the Program Manager for the New Hampshire Transportation Management Center and has been working for the New Hampshire Department of Transportation for 15 years. For the past two years, she has also managed the ITS Program, a program that she was integral in initiating. She has spent 13 years in the Highway Design Bureau working with Consulting Firms as a Consultant Reviewer responsible for the QC/QA of design plans. Denise is a registered PE in the state of NH. She earned a Bachelor’s degree in Business/French from the University of Wisconsin and a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of New Hampshire.

Gail Hambleton, New Hampshire Department of Transportation

Gail Hambleton is the IT Leader for Transportation at New Hampshire Department of Transportation (NHDOT), a position she has held since June 2008. She has worked in that department for the past seven years and has also worked as a Civil Engineer at NHDOT for 3 years. She has extensive work experience is software and hardware development. Gail is a PE in Civil Engineering (lapsed license since working in IT) and earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Civil Engineering from the University of New Hampshire.

Galen McGill, Oregon Department of Transportation

Galen McGill has been the Intelligent Transportation Systems Manager for the Oregon Department of Transportation since the inception of the ITS Program in 1998. He has worked for ODOT for 21 years in various positions related to technology development and implementation. Galen is a registered professional engineer. He has a Bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering from Oregon State University and an MBA degree from Willamette University’s Atkinson Graduate School of Management.

(Source: GAO)

What GAO found:

Click here to download the entire PDF report.

(Source: Wired)

Image via Apture

The electrification of the automobile has been called the auto industry’s “moon shot,” an analogy that works because of both the technology involved and the cost to develop it. Automakers are pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into the effort with no promise that it will lead to affordable battery-powered vehicles anytime soon — or any guarantee people will buy them once they’re available.

All of the major automakers are racing to put EVs in showrooms as early as next year, and they’re spending money like sailors on shore leave to do it. General Motors has spent about $1 billion developing the Chevrolet Volt. Chrysler wants to invest $448 million in its electric vehicle program to build cars like the Circuit, pictured above at the Los Angeles Auto Show. Elon Musk’s personal investment in Tesla Motors tops $75 million.

The Apollo program cost more than $100 billion in today’s dollars, and as Ron Cogan, founder and editor of Green Car Journal and greencar.com notes, there was no imperative to produce a reasonably priced consumer product. Not so with electric vehicles – the whole point is to sell cars. The Obama Administration is betting heavily on the technology, having recently approved almost $8 billion to help automakers retoolfactories to produce EVs and other fuel-efficient vehicles. Another $16 billion will be doled out next year.

“What people overlook is that accomplishing ‘big picture’ programs like Apollo require accepting the concept of unlimited spending to achieve the mission,” Cogan says. “Current levels of unprecedented federal spending notwithstanding, electric cars are not an exclusive answer to future transportation challenges and consumers will not be willing to buy them at all costs.”

Early adopters and hardcore EV advocates will gladly pay that much, but will the rest of us pay $15,000 to $25,000 more for a car that runs on electricity? Cogan doesn’t think so and says EVs should be considered mid- to long-term solutions until automakers — and the battery makers they rely upon — can bring costs down to a level competitive with vehicles propelled by internal combustion.

Until then, he says, more efficient gasoline cars, clean diesel vehicles and hybrids will comprise the majority of cars sold even as EVs become an increasingly common sight in showrooms.

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: Examiner & Autobloggreen)

In the name of “clean energy,” Washington is subsidizing a switch from gasoline-powered cars to cars powered mostly by coal. In pursuit of “energy independence,” the feds may foster addiction to a fuel concentrated in a socialist-run South American country.

Image Courtesy: Apture - Hybrid electric vehicles at Argonne

Lobbying by automakers, chemical companies and coal-dependent power producers has yielded a slew of subsidies and mandates for electric cars. However promising a gasoline-free automobile may sound, anyone who followed the government’s mad rush to ethanol fuel in recent years has to worry about the clean promise of the electric car yielding dirty results.

Ethanol — an alcohol fuel made from corn or other plants — has been pushed relentlessly on the American people by a Congress under the influence of a powerful ethanol lobby. Touted as a clean fuel, the government-created ethanol boom has contributed to water pollution, soil erosion, deforestation and even air pollution.

Lithium could be the new ethanol, thanks to the government push for electric cars. Lithium is an element found in nature, and lithium-ion batteries are at the heart of the next generation of electric cars. Compared with lead acid (the standard car battery) and nickel metal hydride (the batteries in today’s hybrids), lithium-ion batteries are less toxic, more powerful and longer lasting.

But what would happen if electric cars and these batteries gain wide use?

Before we even get to the batteries, recall that although all-electric, plug-in cars emit nothing, somebody needs to burn something for the car to move. Here, the burning happens at the power plant instead of under your hood.

The Department Energy estimates that coal provides half our electricity. A recent Government Accountability Office study reported that a plug-in compact car, if it is recharged at an outlet drawing its juice from coal, provides a carbon dioxide savings of only 4 to 5 percent. A plug-in sport utility vehicle provides a CO2 savings of 19 to 23 percent.

The Department Energy estimates that coal provides half our electricity. A recent Government Accountability Office study reported that a plug-in compact car, if it is recharged at an outlet drawing its juice from coal, provides a carbon dioxide savings of only 4 to 5 percent. A plug-in sport utility vehicle provides a CO2 savings of 19 to 23 percent.

If the cleaner and cheaper fuel of a plug-in causes someone to drive even a bit more, it’s a break-even on CO2. GAO co-author Mark Gaffigan raised the question to CNSNews.com; “If you are using coal-fired power plants and half the country’s electricity comes from coal-powered plants, are you just trading one greenhouse gas emitter for another?”

And of course, there’s the lithium lobby. FMC Corp. is the largest lithium producer in the United States. The company employs a dozen lobbying firms and operates its own political action committee. FMC has leaned on Congress and the Energy Department for electric car subsidies.

If the electric car lobby succeeds, brace for another harsh lesson in unintended consequences.

Click here to read the entire Examiner article. Our friends at Autobloggreen were kind enough to point Tim Carney, the author of this Examiner article, the following: While Carney is right that the GAO did warn against all of the coal that could be used to power the EVs of the future, he forgot to mention the GAO’s finding that “Research we reviewed indicated that plug-ins could shift air pollutant emissions away from population centers even if there was no change in the fuel used to generate electricity.”

TransportGooru Musings: Though I agree with some aspects of the author’s argument, I disagree with the notion that  Electric Vehicle investment boom is akin to that of the Ethanol-boom of the years past.   There are many differences between what’s happening now and what happened in the past.  Apart from ridiculing the Government’s strategy, the author, Tim Carney, is not offering any credible solutions and simply terrorizes the readers with an insane argument — Your tax dollars are getting wasted and the lithium lobbies are winning.

Let us see, Mr. Carney! We have two clear choices  — either we continue to tread the same path, guzzling billions of gallons of oil a day (and polluting the environment with gay abandon), all the while facilitating the transfer of your dollars to some petro-dictatorship in the Middle East (Saudi Arabia) or South America (Venezuela).  Or try and invest in something like Electric Vehicles which can help us and our children breathe easy in the years to come.   The latter option may not be very appealing to many folks like you who are grounded in a myopic view of the world.

Though majority of the electric power produced in the US comes from coal,  we can to a large degree control the emissions from these coal plants with current technology.  It may require some more arm twisting on the Government’s part to make these coal-fired electric plants to adhere to the stringent emissions standards but this is a lot more easy to manage.  Also, with more government investment in other forms of generating electricity and a great deal of consumer interest in purchasing clear power, we have  golden an opportunity for investing in other forms of electricity production (Nuclear,  Wind, solar. etc – FYI, Government data indicate there have been 17 licence applications to build 26 new nuclear reactors since mid 2007, following several regulatory initiatives preparing the way for new orders and the Government envisions producing significant share of the power from Nuclear by 2020).

In this option, the Fed & State Governments can regulate and control these domestic sources of power generation and to a large degree keep the investments within the American borders.  If you are advocating to continue the same path as we have done in the past decades, Petro-dictators on the other parts of the globe  (Saudi, Venezuela, Russia, etc) are going to grow richer and they do not listen to what you or your government wants.  They do what they want and run a cartel (OPEC) that is very unrestrained and at times acts like a bunch of thugs.  In this option, your price at the pump is not dictated by your Government but some hukka-smoking, arms-dealing perto-aggresor, who is trying to make the best of the situation and extract as much as he can from your wallet.

The Ethanol buzz dissipated quickly because the Detroit lobby was too damn powerful and them automakers were not listening well to what the customers wanted.   When the economy tanked (and the markets wreacked havock on their stock values) and the customers started showing love for foreign manufactured cars like Prius & Insight,  Detroit had a sudden realization that they need to change their strategy and started moving away from making those huge SUVs and Trucks. Now they are talking about newer cars that are small, functional, economic and environmentally viable products.

It is hard to disagree that there was a flood of investment in the Ethanol technology, but the underlying concept remained the same (burning fuel using the conventional combustion engine) and there was nothing ground-shaking about the way it was promoted.  It is just that we were simply trying to change the amount of emissions coming out of our tailpipes.  But now with Electric-vehicles, we are changing the game completely.

Though it may take a few more years to develop the “Perfect” technology, full electrification of vehicles will eliminate the very concept of a tailpipe in a vehicle.  Tesla and numerous other manufacturers are trying to do this and I consider this to be a step in the right direction.  One thing we have to bear in mind is that during the Ethanol era, the U.S. was the major proponent (because we have way to much areable land and corn growing farmers around) and the rest of the world was just playing along with mild interest because of various reason.  But this time around the  scenario looks very different.  Worldwide there is a coordinated push for heavy investments in alternative energy technologies, and almost every industrialized nation jumped into this EV bandwagon pushing research funds towards development of green cars when the oil prices sky rocketed.  No one is interested in paying $140+ dollars/barrel for oil.

Above all, we are at a time when the Government needs to invest its tax-payer dollars back in the communities in a fruitful way. The addiction to oil has gotten way bad and the sky-high oil prices of 2008 were a good indicator that we can’t afford to continue treading in the same path as we did in the decade past. If the Government has to hold back from investing in clean energy technologies, it might invest in other areas that may look very appealing in the short run but potentially leaving a huge developmental hole in the transportation sector.  This is the RIGHT TIME for investing in Electric Vehicles.  Now the Government has a stake in two of the three Detroit Automakers, which offers the flexibility to steer the development of new technologies and  newer vehicle platforms running on clean fuels such as electric and hydrogen power.

Going by your argument that by switching enmass to Electric-vehicles, we are going to create a demand for Lithium, simply shifting our oil dependence to socialist-Bolivia’s Lithium reserves, so be it.  You want to know why? Any day, I’ll take the Democratically-elected Bolivian Government (headed by a Evo Morales)  over the petro-crazy OPEC members.  If it helps resuscitate a nation that is living in depths of poverty, why not do that.  We in the Western world helped the Saudi’s & other mid-east monarchs become rich and modern from their goat-sheperding Bedouin past with the invention of modern Automobiles.  If we can do the same to Bolivia with the introduction of a new technology (Lithium-ion batteries for running cars), why do you get so jittery about that.

The growing threat of environmental degradation and the fallout from the rising green house gas emissions fore-casted by our eminent scientists are too damn threatening to our world and hard to ignore. Be happy thinking that your Government is doing something to improve the status-quo (which is guzzling billions of gallons of oil) instead of  sitting around waiting for a miracle.   For all that matters Electric Vehicles may be just an evolution in the quest for a better form of transportation.  Who knows!  But by investing in these technologies, we may at least have a chance to live a better life in the future. If our Government is not doing any of the above, we may never have a future after all.  So, let’s stop being an obstacle along the way for everything the Government does just because it is run by people who have a diabolically different views and principles.