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Green Energy and Electric Cars

Wednesday 28 October 2009

by: NOW, t r u t h o u t | Programming Note

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Denmark's reliance on wind power to produce electricity without contributing to global warming is well known. (Photo: Amake / wikimedia commons)

Will green energy and electric cars drive a new global climate change plan? Next on "NOW."

Airtime: Friday, October 30, 2009, at 8:30 PM (EST) on PBS (check local listings).

Home to a worldwide summit on climate change in early December, Denmark is setting a global example in creating clean power, storing it and using it responsibly. Their reliance on wind power to produce electricity without contributing to global warming is well known, but now they're looking to drive the point home with electric cars. To do this, they've partnered with social entrepreneur Shai Agassi and his company Better Place.

On Friday, October 30, at 8:30 PM (check local listings), "NOW" investigates how the Danish government and Better Place are working together to put electric cars into the hands of as many Danish families as possible. The idea is still having trouble getting out of the garage here in America, but Denmark could be an inspiration.

Will so much green enthusiasm bring about a "Copenhagen Protocol"? This show is part of a series on social entrepreneurs at work that we call "Enterprising Ideas."

  

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Comments

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Imagine !!! We, that all of

 Wed, 10/28/2009 - 21:24 β€” ER (not verified)
Imagine !!! We, that all of us in the USA and Europe had spent all that money that we spent on the wars in Iraq and Afganistan ... billions and billions and billions ...on creating renewably electricity and the cars to run on it. We could tell the Middle East and Russia to take their oil and gas and choke on it. Our people would have good paying jobs. The ecology would profit from it. Their would be no reason to go to war, let's face it energy is the reason we do it whether it is for the oil and gas itself or to secure the routes to buid the piplines to get it to us. Who in the world could be against such a plan ?? Oh yeah, I forgot, Exxon, Shell, Texaco, BP .... and the beat goes on.....the beat goes on.

Better Place has the right

 Wed, 10/28/2009 - 21:46 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
Better Place has the right viewpoint and should work well for Denmark as well as all those isolated places like Hawaii and nearly any island with wind power. Wind at night is normally lost energy, but with cars, their storage needs can serve to save all that power. This model makes great sense -- you pull into a "gas" station on longer trips and simply have your batteries replaces in a couple of minutes. Gets out of the whole gasoline model. Most Interesting. Wonderful concept. (see Wired Magazine for a long article on this.)

Where does electricity come

 Wed, 10/28/2009 - 22:11 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
Where does electricity come from to power these cars? Lots of coal. Duh. Our electric grid is to the breaking point on the east coast, west coast and the Chicago area. What are they going to do for additional electricity? Then you have to think about hurricanes in the south: how long did it take Houston to get up and running with electricity after Ike? Months for some folks. Lots of unanswered questions in my mind.

Electricity can come from

 Thu, 10/29/2009 - 06:03 β€” J. Biesche (not verified)
Electricity can come from solar panels, wind energy, hydroelectric plants, maybe hooking up all the treadmills, stationery bikes and weight machines in gyms all across the country to big storage batteries...the point is that there are lots and lots of untapped energy sources, many that no one has even thought of yet. How about methane digesters, safe fusion, hydrogen cell? Natural gas? T. Boone Pickens has a plan for that. Who needs coal and oil?

Heh Anon !!?? Coal, breaking

 Thu, 10/29/2009 - 07:33 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
Heh Anon !!?? Coal, breaking grids.. heh man, you are a dinosaur. Of course the broken down, neglected, outdated US system is not going to solve the problem...BUT that is the whole point DUH !! We have thousands of miles of coastline..wave power, hundreds of thousands of square miles of desert where the sun bombards the earth with jigawats of potentiel power.. have you ever seen pics of the guysers in the west?... ever heard of geothermal. The present energy system in the US is a reccomendation only for change. IMAGINE has it right, job creation, ecological process, and then energy independence. Electricity is the future and electric cars an important part of the formula. Let's get our country out of the industrial revolution and into the 22nd century !!

Congratulation ! Great

 Thu, 10/29/2009 - 09:40 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
Congratulation ! Great article and very nice website, thank's a lot for it ! Sylvain Vente vtt

Electric cars are not more

 Thu, 10/29/2009 - 11:45 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
Electric cars are not more efficient unless they produce their electric power directly. Each time energy is converted from one form to another there is a loss of energy. Currently, and ignoring the fact that we do not have the capacity in place to provide power to replace gas with current technology electric, powering a plug-in rechargeable car requires energy conversion at least 3 times, not counting the various voltage changes involved in getting the power to your house. By the way, the broken-down, neglected, outdated US system is still the most advanced system in the world. I guess 7:33 would be willing to pay for this complete changeover?

Hi 11:45 Don't know where

 Thu, 10/29/2009 - 18:47 β€” 7:33 (not verified)
Hi 11:45 Don't know where you are getting your info, but you need to do some research. The electric grid is in the US is in horrible condition. The West coast can't even send electricity to the east. The whole country is divided into many unconnected areas. Where do you think the brown-outs in the summer come from. The most modern grid in the world is in Europe. The countries trade electricity from England to Poland. The Europeans also have the most modern medical system by the way. It is time to bring our soldiers home and take care of our own "home". Of course it will cost a lot of money to rebuild the energy system, but will certainly create more jobs than "cash for clunkers" and will create more stable economic fundamentals than the bandit banks have. It is indeed a monumental task, but it is time to get started ! There is so much to do everybody should have a good paying job !!

I am all for electric cars,

 Fri, 10/30/2009 - 06:45 β€” Anonymous (not verified)
I am all for electric cars, so long as I am not forced to pay for them (e.g. government green programs etc.)

Electric vehicles aren't for

 Fri, 10/30/2009 - 16:18 β€” ectopet (not verified)
Electric vehicles aren't for everyone and for every situation. However, there is a definite demand for them. Since the market didn't have what I wanted, I built my own plug-in vehicle from a kit. I did it more for the reliability and ease of maintenance than for the fuel savings. It was not a zero effort exercise but I did learn a lot about the process of making a vehicle road-legal. In my opinion, plug-in electric cars are where PCs were in the early 80's. Not everyone has them yet but soon you'll see them everywhere! http://ev4me.blogspot.com

ER's post at the top says it

 Fri, 10/30/2009 - 18:02 β€” ER fan (not verified)
ER's post at the top says it so well - we are spending our money on the wrong things. "World peace" sounds like a stupid cliche of beauty pagents, but it IS possible, AND we could save ourselves from the trouble that global warming will be bringing us if only we switched to "electrification" instead of fossil fuels. The military industrial complex has indeed got too much "unwarranted influence" over us; electrification would be our choice if we saw it in action... look to Denmark!!

Automobiles? Who's idea is

 Sat, 10/31/2009 - 02:10 β€” Garrett Connelly (not verified)
Automobiles? Who's idea is that? Very soon, nine billion people will be modern and see transportation as part of their way of life. Will automobiles cross the divide into a sustainable human culture? Modern economics has discovered that sustainability requires Liberty and Justice for All. Automobiles do not contribute strongly to a sustainable human culture and economy.

In Italy something in

 Thu, 11/05/2009 - 09:59 β€” Rosita (not verified)
In Italy something in finally moving. According to Terna web magazine ( http://tiny.sm/ecoturin ) Turin will open some kind of shop/showroom in order to show people how to save energy and how new environment technologies work.