New Energy Watch

Good Corp: Whole Foods

Whole Foods will be completely eliminating disposable plastic bags in its stores in time for Earth Day this year. The release on their website says:

"Paper or plastic?” is soon to be a question of the past at our stores. When you come to shop, bring any bags you have on hand. Really, any bag will do – old, new, paper, plastic, fabric, even backpacks or woven baskets! You’ll feel good about helping our environment and we’ll even give you a refund of at least 5 cents per bag. We make it easy by offering a wide selection of reusable bags for sale at our stores — check out our “Better Bag” — only 99 cents and it’s made from recycled plastic bottles. Helping the environment in two ways!

Also, have a look at the Whole Foods FAQ page on this matter. The writer covers the potential worries and gripes of Whole Foods’ customers very sensibly.

Meanwhile, New York City has joined San Francisco and other municipalities in addressing the plastic bag issue. In this case, the city council passed a measure requiring recycling of plastic bags in stores of 5,000 square feet or more, and in chain stores with more than five locations in the city.

Voting for Green Leaders

The single most important thing we can do to mitigate global warming and thwart terrorism is to elect officials who have the vision and commitment to promote – aggressively – conservation, energy independence, alternative energy solutions, green business incentives, and green industry employment. Both John McCain and Barack Obama understand how important this issue is. They have different approaches and timetables for success, but there's also a fair amount of overlap. The screeching fringes on right and left should have no say here. The decisions whether and how much to drill offshore, whether and how far we should go down the nuclear road, what we should require of Detroit, and what we should require of ourselves, need to be matters of negotiation and compromise. But let's get to that part right away, and git 'er done.

Here's John McCain's plan for energy reform and independence, called The Lexington Project.

And here's Obama's plan, New Energy for America.

~ Doug Logan, New Energy Watch

Chrysler ecoVoyager, Dodge ZEO, and a True Renegade

At the Detroit Auto Show, Chrysler opened a big green bag from its new environmental program (ENVI) and pulled out three good, realistic concept projects, one for each division. First, an all-electric sport wagon called the Dodge ZEO (for "zero emissions operation"). It has a minimum range of 250 miles before it needs to be plugged in, and it accelerates from 0-60 in under six seconds. Second, the Chrysler ecoVoyager (show here) a four-door, four passenger vehicle designed to maximize "elegance, simplicity, and serenity." Like the ZEO, it's driven by an electric motor, but also has a hydrogen fuel cell to extend range. Third, a Jeep Renegade with an electric motor powering each axle, and a small diesel engine as a range-extender. That's the best of all possible worlds.

Two other bits of good Chrysler news: The Dodge Ram 1500 pickup will be available as a hybrid in 2010, and -- more important -- Dodge's light-duty pickups will be available with a Cummins turbodiesel within two years. As we've said before in New Energy Watch, there's been a big, untapped market for small- and mid-sized diesel pickups in this country for years. Detroit has been selling such trucks in Europe, in Australia, in Indonesia -- pretty much everywhere but the U.S. Here, they say, there hasn't been enough of a market. This is because Detroit has long taken its cues from the gas-guzzling V8 faithful who come to the car shows and shout for more power, more power, more power. Meanwhile, the rest of us have been forced to buy non-Detroit. Which is fine unless you need a mid-sized diesel pick-up.

Yes, all of these projects should have been started sooner. We should be driving them now. But late is far better than never. As soon as there's a mid-sized American pick-up with a turbodiesel out in the world, whether from Ford, GM, or Chrysler, we'll buy it and run it on B80 in the summer and B20 in the winter. Meanwhile, our Subaru Legacy wagon (made in Indiana), with a trailer hitch, a Thule rack, all-wheel drive, and 112,000 very hard miles on it, can hold out.

~ Doug Logan, New Energy Watch