California Clean Energy Committee

September 02, 2017

Mountain Line: "Mountain Line’s three-year Zero-fare demonstration project began in January 2015, and continues to be a big success as the agency continues to experience record ridership each month. Mountain Line provided 110,237 rides in September, a 43 percent increase over last year. Overall, the cumulative ridership is up 36 percent since January."

"Mountain Line’s Zero-fare partners include the University of Montana, Associated Students of the University of Montana, City of Missoula, County of Missoula, the Missoula Metropolitan Planning Organization, St. Patrick Hospital, Community Medical Center, Missoula County Public Schools, Missoula Aging Services, Missoula Downtown Association, Missoula Parking Commission, Missoulian, Southgate Mall, and Homeword.  Before Zero-fare, many of these organizations would purchase bus passes for students or their employees to ride fare-free. Now thanks to their investment, these benefits are extended to all Missoulians."

August 23, 2017

New York Times: "Starting just a few feet below the surface and extending tens or even hundreds of feet down, it contains vast amounts of carbon in organic matter — plants that took carbon dioxide from the atmosphere centuries ago, died and froze before they could decompose. Worldwide, permafrost is thought to contain about twice as much carbon as is currently in the atmosphere."

"Once this ancient organic material thaws, microbes convert some of it to carbon dioxide and methane, which can flow into the atmosphere and cause even more warming.  Scientists have estimated that the process of permafrost thawing could contribute as much as 1.7 degrees Fahrenheit to global warming over the next several centuries, independent of what society does to reduce emissions from burning fossil fuels and other activities."

July 19, 2017

Brian D. Taylor: "A typical freeway lane can handle up to 2,000 vehicles per lane per hour, but in really bad traffic that throughput can be cut in half; just when we need the most out of our road system, it performs at its worst. So heavy traffic is not only irritating, it’s also really inefficient. Second, traffic delays are non-linear, which means that when traffic rises to certain levels it becomes unstable. Add just a few too many cars at the wrong time and fast-moving traffic suddenly slows to a crawl; take just a few cars off of the road at the right time and traffic speeds and throughput can both increase dramatically. If we can find a way to keep some cars from crowding onto already congested roads at certain times and places, many more people will get through the system overall, and at higher speeds to boot."

"Keeping drivers from crowding onto roads at the wrong times and places is not easy, and could entail a heavy-handed role for government. This is where pricing comes in. Road space is scarce and valuable, so why not use prices to allocate it like we do for almost everything else, including food, housing, and utilities?"

July 13, 2017

New York Times: "While the destabilization of the Larsen C Ice Shelf is certainly worrying, it pales in comparison with the threat from the increasing instability of the glaciers and ice shelves holding back the enormous West Antarctic Ice Sheet. If much of that ice sheet thaws and slides into the sea this century or next, global sea levels could rise by up to 17 feet."

July 05, 2017

The Transport Politic: "The U.S., of course, is the world’s notable exception. Over the past thirty years, almost two dozen countries have built up networks of collectively thousands of miles for trains traveling at least 150 mph. Since 1976, for example, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain slowly but steadily built up large networks, under varying political and economic environments (Japan had started opening such lines in 1964). Americans upgraded a route between Boston and New York and created 34 miles of track capable of such speeds."

"In face of the difficulties inherent in investing in large infrastructure projects that have the potential to transform the travel experience, the U.S. has been unable to advance. Over the course of an entire generation, American society has proven itself incapable of pooling either the sustained motivation or the resources to complete a single major high-speed intercity rail project."

July 05, 2017

Joe Cortright:  "It may seem like we have a shortage of infrastructure, or lack the funding to pay for the transportation system, but the fact that truck freight is so heavily subsidized means that there’s a lot more demand (and congestion) on the the roads that there would be if trucks actually paid their way. On top of that, there’d be a lot more money to cover the cost of the system we already have."

Congressional Budget Office: "Locomotives are much more energy-efficient (per ton-mile) than trucks, so their emissions are much lower."

May 23, 2017

May 23, 2017

April 22, 2017

City Lab:  "German rail’s most innovative project for 2017 won’t go especially fast, and you’ve probably never heard of the cities it will link. It will still revolutionize rail travel, quite possibly across the world, with one dramatic change. In December 2017, Germany will launch the first ever passenger rail service powered by hydrogen."

"Unveiled by French manufacturers Alstom this month, the new Coradia iLint will feature a motor that gains its power from a hydrogen tank and a fuel cell. Stored in a tank large enough to fuel a 497-mile journey, the hydrogen’s chemical energy will be converted into electricity by the fuel cell, propelling the train at up to 87 miles per hour. Any energy not used immediately is stored in Lithium batteries attached to the car bottom. Producing nothing but steam as a by-product, the motor will run far more quietly and cleanly than a diesel engine."

Alstom: "Alstom is a world leader in integrated railway systems. It recorded sales of €6.9 billion and booked €10.6 billion of orders in the 2015/16 fiscal year."

April 22, 2017

Walmart: "Reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, which fuel climate change, can seem daunting – but it doesn’t have to be. There are time-tested and cost-effective enterprise strategies that are designed to help address this challenge. So what’s stopping your company from taking the next step toward capturing a portion of these savings?"