Transit & Electrification

3/26/24 Wired reports that people hate the idea of car-free cities — until they live in one.

As vehicles cause 70% of our greenhouse emissions we need to look more closely at European examples

3/26/24 Good article by Bloomberg on how EV’s are Cleaner

Includes manufacture, batteries etc. and comparison to other countries

3/20/24 Big News – New federal rules aim to phase out gas cars

Link to details from the New York Times

3/17/24 Problems from expansion of “renewable” deisel

A growing body of research from nonprofit groups, universities and other sources indicates that renewable diesel, which can provide a climate benefit when produced from noncrop feedstocks like waste oils, will cause more climate harm than it solves if demand climbs too high. That’s because it can encourage higher production of soybean and palm oil, which can lead to deforestation in countries from Brazil to Indonesia.

Much more on the need to change the LCFS program (Low Carbon Fuel Standards) in three articles from Canary Media Part 1, Part 2, Part 3

3/14/24 Linear Generators – Interesting new way to generate electricity from a mix of “green?” fuels

2/23/24 Update on EV availability and rebates by Mike Saint – Good News!

Much More Info on EV’s and Heat pumps at this Page

11/16/23 New Santa Cruz Electrification Code

Details from 11/14/23 City Council meeting on efforts in Santa Cruz to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from gas appliances

10/26/23 Metro Update

The recording of a recent interview Mathilde Rand did with Michael Tree the CEO of Santa Cruz Metro includes LOTS of exciting new updates

10/18/23 Electric Home Tour

Recent Bay Area Electric home tour details  recording, slides, and resource list. Details should apply in the centralcoast area.

8/5/23 PUC Utility Tax Problem Slide show

15 energy experts ask the CPUC to reject income graduated fixed charges

Marin Biomass Project marinrcd.org

California group begins development of 2 industrial pellet plants @BiomassMagazine

biomassmagazine.com

8/4/23 Sam Trans switch to EV Buses

7/28/23 Great Graphic about Induced Demand

5/14/23 Nova:Chasing ZEro Carbon

A good look at many current options

4/24/23 New Geothermal energy methodology

Interesting 16 minute video

2/24/23 West Cliff Support Pilot for One-Way Car Traffic on West Cliff Drive

Details and letter draft

2/15/23 New Transportation Platform with Prizes

check it out

3/31/23 Heat Pumps vs Hydrogen

12/13/22 Great article About the Climate Impact of location

By clicking on the article you can view any area in the USA.

11/16/22 New Website with data on solar and wind

11/04/22 Short Video on Home Electrification

10/13/22 RailCat – innovative transportation System

7/23/22 Good News about Moss Landing Battery Plant

6/12/22 Details of Ithaca’s Green Plan

6/10/22 Analysis of Net Energy Metering (NEM) link

6/10/22 Home Electrification help from 3CE

Link includes significant rebates and finding local contractors

6/1/22 10 great Ideas

5/14/22 Ford’s EV Sales Are Way Up, With The F-150 Lightning Leading The Way

Link from Clean Technica includes a 40 in video about the F-150 Lightning

Great Video from LA25x25 – enjoy! Click link in title!

New Video 4/22/22

Message is that EV’s are better than gasoline cars but trains are MUCH better

3CE April News letter

Lots of information about grants for e bikes, e cars, e school buses and affordable housing

Heat pumps 101: heat and cool your home while saving energy and reducing emissions!. presented 4/14/22

4/14/22 Article – 12 best ways to get cars out of Cities

Well researched article based on research in European cities

2/17/22 Ca Solar Panels on canals

News from Ecowatch about a plan.

2/16/22 Electrification of old buses

2/11/22 Detailed webinar on Home Electrification

Part of a series by the City of Sunnyvale, Ca

• Resources discussed
• Sustainability Speaker Series webpage for our upcoming Speaker Series events:
• Sunnyvale’s Scoreboard for more information on our greenhouse gas inventory:
• Sustainability Speaker Series: The Emissions that You Purchase: Reducing Your Carbon Footprint:
• Sunnyvale Drive Electric: 
• Register for our upcoming Drive Electric Webinar:
• The next EV Financial Incentives Clinic:

1/20/22 Electric Bus Built in Kenya

Great result of Swedish/Kenyan cooperation – example for US companies

1/14/22 Action for a Healthy planet

Great web site and host for “Code Red” events. Focussing on what cities can do. Also great video “How to Electrify America” by one of the speakers from the 1/14 event.

12/16/21 Great info for people on Home Electrification options

12/3/21 Ecology action article with EBike Rebate Info

12/2/21 More Battery-Electric Trains Coming To Germany

12/2/21 Great article on EVs with good graphics

Includes info on the best times to charge your vehicle

11/1/21 Understanding electric vehicles and their safety ratings

New detailed guide to many aspects of EV ownership. Well worth reading.

10/22/21 Community Power Innovations

great recordings about distributed energy resources and other local power innovations here

10/22/21 Coast Futura Street Car Demo Rides

More at the Coast Futura site

9/6/21 Just transition from Coal in Spain

Great article with details and comparison to Australia

8/26/21 Microgrid Webinar

Interesting details by MicroGid Knowledge!

8/24/21 Guide to Global Internet Energy Usage

https://www.energyhelpline.com/help/a-guide-to-global-internet-energy-usage

8/17/21 Updates On Personal Rapid Transport aka PRT

First, Glydways and its proposed 28-mile system for East Contra Costa County. The feasibility study has been approved by the local bus agency, Tri Delta Transit, plus four city councils, and it looks like the system is actually going to be built. Glydways is interested in doing a Watsonville-to-UCSC system, and they know how to get the financing done.

• Video: 29-minute presentation (plus Q&A) describing how Glydways works
• Video: Glydways presentation for Pittsburg City Council
• Feasibility study for Glydways Contra Costa County

Alternatively, here’s a “short and sweet” video of Ultra system which is similar technology and has been in service for over ten years at Heathrow Airport.

Meanwhile, Ron Swenson is working with SJSU students (and other entities worldwide) to design the Spartan Superway, a solar-powered suspended PRT system. This is more advanced technology than Glydways, so it might take longer to implement, but Ron says he can get it done if the political pieces fall into place. He has his own solar business (which installed the solar panels at Santa Cruz City Hall and police station) in addition to family connection to Swenson Builders .

2021: Fight for CCAs and EQuity in the Energy revolution

CCA means Community Choice Aggregation. Our local one is called Central Coast Community Energy (3CE), and it’s responsible for the sources of our energy, which still comes through lines operated by PG&E. Investor Owned Utilities (IOUs) such as PG&E are fighting community choice energy groups. Part of their effort is CA bill AB1139 which uses a sham equity argument for actions to discourage roof top solar. You can learn about this issue by reading the book “Revolutionary Power” by Shalanda Baker. Here is an inspiring ten minute excerpt from a recent interview with Shalanda.

2020: Watt a Year for Building Electrification!

Webinar from Sep 28, 2020

1) This is a link to a recording of a webinar that took place Sept 28 presented by the reliable source, Clean Energy States Alliance, CESA, who represent federal Department of Energy, Sandia Labs, National Renewable Energy Labs and others.
 Introduction to Virtual Power Plants for Potential Local Distributed Energy Resources
 https://www.cesa.org/event/an-introduction-to-virtual-power-plants/

New California mandate for Clean Trucks. June 2020

New 2020 information on Electric Vehicles including HUGE rebates

Our friends at Campaign for Sustainable transportation have prepared a letter to the RTC, prior to the Thu Dec 5 , 2019 meeting.

NOTE – transportation is the #1 source of green house gases in our county

Electric Vehicle – Incentive Program see 2020 updates at this page

More info at Campaign for Sustainable Transportation.

EV Garbage truck now available

EV News

Good news on the EV front, battery cost is falling so fast EVs will be cheaper to buy than gas vehicles by 2022. So says this article

At the City Council budget meeting on Weds, May 8, lots of us expressed opposition to the plans to lease new gasoline powered vehicles.  We’d like to see a plan to electrify the entire city fleet within 15 years of so.

Here’s a list of links about new electric trucks

plug-in-hybrid-ford-f-250-pickup

future-electric-pickup-trucks-worth-waiting-for

bollinger-b2-electric-pickup-truck

workhorse electric pickup truck test drive/

the-rivian-electric-pickup-truck

ford-rivian/

Rivian vs tesla

W-15 Workhorse            More about workhorse

added May 10, 2019

Oct 11, 2018 – Great TEDX on the right new way to plan and change cities 15 mins well worth watching

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQWWhnjNUtc   

City Council Study Session on Downtown Parking & Library Tuesday, June 19th, 7pm    City Hall Dear pauline, You can be a friend of the Library and still oppose a 5 level parking structure on top of it. We need to tell our friends the truth, right? The truth, gleaned from our outreach to people in Santa Cruz, as well as business owners downtown (see their testimony below)  is that a large majority oppose building a $37 million, 640 space garage at the site where the Farmers Market meets. We believe those people would vote against a new garage, if we put the referendum on the ballot. So as a friend to the Library, we would caution against hitching their wagon to the garage plan. With the money saved from not building a new parking structure, the City could fund all the benefits to motivate downtown workers to switch from solo driving, and have plenty left over to spend on homeless programs downtown, etc.  The METRO plan for bus passes for all workers downtown would cost the Parking District an additional 5% of their budget. That’s a bargain compared to the approximately 80% increase due to the debt, maintenance and administration for the new garage. At the very least, the City should implement the commuter incentives beforedeciding to add parking capacity. That’s the recommendation three consultants gave to the City on Oct 15, 2015. You can watch that presentation here. In 2011, a retail market analyst Robert Gibbs, didn’t see the need for more parking. His report said, “Parking for the district is relatively easy and convenient.” Should the City disregard the advice of these consultants and decide to build a garage anyway? The business owners below have articulated a vision for alternatives to a new parking structure. Come and share your vision at the Council. And write CityCouncil@CityofSantaCruz.com  -Rick Longinotti After 25 years in business downtown I have heard very few complaints about parking or the library. Santa Cruz needs more homeless services, affordable apartments an event space, and more events. I’m not happy about moving our popular Farmers’ Market to an inferior location. – Paul Cocking, Gabriella Cafe I feel putting in a new parking garage on top of a new library is not at all the right move for building a visionary downtown in Santa Cruz.  Our downtown is already quite congested with cars and there are a number of other options to explore regarding transportation and parking.  Speaking with several of our clients and my coworkers, I’m hearing that they had no idea voting to fund renovations to our existing library could result in replacing the open space for the Farmer’s Market with a multi story parking structure. – Lauren McLaughlin, Salon on the Square When I think about Santa Cruz building a very large new parking structure downtown, I think about the message; “Driving is the best way to get around and we want to encourage it”. This is not forward thinking. It flies in the face of what we know about our future with climate change and the looming presence of autonomous vehicles.  Rick Longinotti has described how other cities have successfully reduced demand for employee parking. It makes sense to try these methods before committing prime real estate and vast amounts of money to perpetuate and encourage a transportation model that is not sustainable. – Curt Simmons. O.D.,  Plaza Lane Optometry It would be such a loss to lose the last open space downtown to have public events like the WednesdayFarmer’s Market, Antique Fair, and Pride. There are so many better solutions to our parking and library space needs. – Janis Baldwin, Pure Pleasure I think we need to be smarter about managing our current parking situation before we make a large financial commitment towards a new garage. – Bubb Berdels, Berdels We need to restructure the parking permit program so that permit holders pay by the day rather than by the month. When employees pay for a month of parking in advance, you create an incentive to drive and park every day. We can do a better job of using our existing parking resources. – Ashleigh Keller, Rare Bird Salon We are at a technological crossroads: electric bikes, car shares, Lyft and Uber — so many new transportation concepts here and on the near horizon. Imagine how absurd it would have been if the City put in a 5-story horse barn with a 30 year mortgage just as the automobile age was beginning. – Wade Hall, Spokesman Bicycles With the savings from not building a garage, let’s do something about our homeless problem. The homeless problem affects my business more than parking availability. – Nicole Ammerman, Go Ask Alice I would like to see a vibrant downtown with more pedestrians, cyclists and alternative transportation options–not more cars, more traffic and more emissions. Before the city decides to build a $37 million parking garage, it should give the alternatives a chance to solve our parking needs. – Paul Speraw, Metavinyl Building a new garage would be a big financiall risk for downtown businesses. If we hit a recession, the debt on the garage would still need to be paid. Before taking on that risk, we need to pursue other alternatives. – Loretta Sapino, Thrifty Cuts Barber Shop The proposed garage appears to us a dated and short-sighted concept that will not only create more congestion but will also fragment and diminish the character of our downtown. As many academic studies have noted, social and technological changes are quickly changing the face of transportation and the huge investment needed to fund this project could very well be obsolete in less than a decade. We feel that the City of Santa Cruz should better manage our existing parking and continue to focus on bike-friendly streets, downtown walkability, and public transportation. Noelle Antolin & Stuyvie Bearns, Lupulo Craft Beer House Businesses like mine that don’t supply their own parking pay “deficiency fees” in the Parking District. I’m concerned about the impact of an expensive new garage on our fees. – Leopoldo Santos, Retro Paradise

4/13/18 METRO staff has developed a one-year pilot to issue bus passes to all workers in Downtown Santa Cruz, paid for by parking revenue. The free bus pass would be part of a set of Transportation Demand Management incentives for commuters to travel by means other than single-occupant autos, including reform of garage pricing, credit for taxis/ride services, discount parking for carpools, etc.

Speak in favor of the plan at the City Council Study Session on May 1 at 7pm and sign this new  online petition

More info at Campaign for Sustainable Transportation.

Posted 3/8/18    Podcast  “Planning the Autonomous Future”  26 mins

An excellent 3 min simulation of a transit system in Santa Cruz by Gray Jameson, created created using a 3D sandbox game called Cities: Skylines.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1cEwy1KCa7vNoL9ll9FiNTK5NamwpVUaG/view?usp=sharing

Flyer opposing Auxiliary lanes    Aux lanes side 1 v2 (2)   Aux lane side 2 v2 

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Ecology Action has s Transportation Services program which offers programs that encourage member employees to use other ways than driving alone to commute to and from work.

• Emergency Ride Home: Free cab ride home when you have an emergency during regular work hours, and rode the bus, bicycled, carpooled, vanpooled, or walked to work that day.
• 0% Interest Bicycle Loan: Borrow up to $750 interest-free for one year to purchase a bicycle and related equipment.

Employers may chose to offer their employees one or all of these services. Please refer to the Member Service & Fees section.

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Local transportation issues are handled by our friends at Campaign for Sustainable Transportation.   Several of our active members belong to both groups.

They also have an active Facebook page   and frequent local meetings.

Since auto traffic produces 60% of local Greenhouse Gases this is a very important issue.

Link to a detailed PDF presented by Stanley Sokolow Nov 2nd, 2-17. Includes various “Rail/Trail” options and other material.

On Future of Transportation in SC County_Nov 2 2017