TerraPass blog

Hybrids a rare bright spot for the auto industry

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 18:13:18 -0800

by Erik Blachford

I was struck by the August U.S. car sales reports, and couldn’t help making a quick comparison to the same reports for hybrids.

The bottom line: overall car sales through the end of August are tanking in the U.S., down 11.2% from the first 8 months of 2007. Light trucks are the heaviest anchor here, down a phenomenal 22.1% from the same period last year. Hybrids, on the other hand, are a bright spot for the industry, actually notching a 0.4% increase over the first eight months of last year.

What’s causing this disparity, beyond the obvious gas savings in a hybrid over a truck or regular sedan? It’s not as though hybrids are being deeply discounted, the way other vehicle classes are (anybody want 40% off on a Dodge Ram pickup? Anyone?). In fact, with Prius inventories down, apparently because of battery scarcity as far back as May, and prices no doubt rising to compensate for the scarcity, it seems there’s more going on than meets the eye.

My guess? Though some hybrid buyers are surely buying to save gas and money, many more continue to buy to lower their carbon footprints, and perhaps to make a bit of a statement while they’re at it. I think it’s the same dynamic that leads so many people to buy carbon offsets, actually — though some TerraPass buyers ditch their cars altogether, for an awful lot of people it’s just not practical to do that in the short run, so they start looking for other ways to mitigate their impact.

However, since our handy customer survey tells me that almost 20% of our TerraPass customers own a hybrid, I thought I’d ask — what was your primary motivation for buying? And are you happy with the result? Let me know in the comments. And congratulations to all of you who have taken the plunge since we ran our survey back in early July!

TreeHugger on the ScanGauge: tames teenage drivers

Thu, 04 Sep 2008 14:45:28 -0800

by Adam Stein

John Laumer at TreeHugger recently put the ScanGauge II car computer through its paces. The first phase of the test was one of the most grueling journeys known to man: a cross-country trip with teenage drivers. The device performed admirably from installation to destination:

Taking turns driving on our cross country trip, I were able to demonstrate at our rest stops, with hard numbers, who the most efficient drivers were and who the least efficient drivers were. Let us just say there were some grimaces and no argument about the costs and benefits of cautious, slow acceleration.

That by itself would seem to justify the purchase, but John notes that the gas savings will also quickly cover the ScanGauge’s cost. Further experiments with the device have helped John’s family coax better mileage out of the family sedan.

For gearheads, the ScanGauge offers the useful ability to monitor your car’s on-board error codes. Read John’s full review here. It’s worth checking out the comments from other satisfied owners. You can also read our original review here.

And, of course, buy a ScanGauge here.

Last chance to name the blog

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 21:22:42 -0800

by Pete Davies

You’re a choosy bunch. Apparently you’re not so keen on Green Torpedo or Hot Air as new names for our blog. But TerraPress, TerraTalk and The [TerraPass] Footprint are in a three-way tie for your favorite.

Which do you prefer? Vote now or forever hold your peace…

And remember: one lucky person that votes for the eventual winner will get a gift certificate to the TerraPass green store.

Plan for a new water heater before your old one fails

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 20:34:38 -0800

by TerraPass

Most people don’t think about their water heater until it suddenly dies. Then the priority becomes replacing it as quickly as possible. In the long term, this can be an expensive proposition. Water heaters vary greatly in efficiency, so know in advance which one is right for your home.

How this helps

Water heaters come in a wide variety of sizes and types. When you buy in a rush, you risk getting the wrong one for your house, which can result in a ton of wasted energy over the years. Know in advance which one you want (and if your heater is old enough, consider replacing it before it breaks).

More information

The U.S. Department of Energy offers great advice on choosing a water heater.

Related tips

Wrap your water heater with an insulation blanket.
Set your water heater no higher than 120° F.

Practice? Preach? Both?

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 19:54:38 -0800

by Erin Craig

A few of our recent blog posts have ignited micro-firestorms among our readers. We are thrilled to have readers with such diversity of opinion and even more gratified that they choose to spend time making comments. We have pretty thick skins here at TerraPass and we take sharp criticisms as heartfelt expressions rather than personal attacks, so keep ‘em coming.

The firestorms make me wonder, though, about the effectiveness of strident advocacy as a tool for bringing about a greater sense of stewardship across the general population. At the American Psychological Association’s meeting earlier this month, several papers were presented which examined links between “sustainable” behavior patterns and various external stimuli. USA Today summarized some of this research here.

One study in particular examined the effect of negative feedback on people’s inclination to take action later on. They used an ecological footprint calculator jury-rigged to provide distinctly negative or positive results, then asked people to write a letter on any topic at all, to a politician.

Interestingly, people who entered the study with environmental values were more likely to take positive action after receiving negative feedback about their practices than if they received positive feedback; if they were told their footprint didn’t look so good, they wanted to take action. Conversely, the less-environmentally inclined did just the opposite. Negative feedback made them react negatively, positive feedback inspired positive action.

Since our blog readers tend to be environmentally inclined, it’s no surprise we see a lot of criticism in our blog comments; our readers are trying to inspire action, and apparently criticism works for people like us.

But the same criticisms may have an opposite effect on the sizable population that isn’t already standing in the choirbox. Are we doing ourselves a disservice with our bumper stickers, our environmental license plates, our occasionally self-righteous attitudes, our not-so-subtle jabs that scream, “Whatever you’re doing, it’s not enough!”

We have a big mountain to move here. Lots of behaviors need to change. Personally, I try not to proselytize too much, at least with adults. In my spare time, I work with a local non-profit which provides hands-on environmental education to grade-school kids, and at that age, we don’t need hard-core advocacy: they believe what we teach them. Maybe it isn’t enough, but I do sleep well at night.

Car-free adventuring

Tue, 02 Sep 2008 18:11:28 -0800

by Tom Arnold

I’ve recently been inspired by the new blog Post-Car Adventuring, which details great trips you can take in the Bay Area with just a bike, some patience and an accurate watch. I’ve been itching for the chance to do a mini bike tour. A friend’s visit led to an impromptu day off work and a car-free adventure to Santa Cruz, CA and back.

Our plan was to bike the 65 miles there, taking our time, spend the night, and then return in time for work the next morning.

The nice thing about this type of adventure is that you don’t have to carry very much. My last bike tour was heavily loaded. This time, I simply shoved a change of clothes, toiletries and a Frisbee in one lightly loaded pannier. If you’re traveling with young or inexperienced riders, ditching the cargo removes the hassle of load balancing a bike, and helps prevent riders from tiring out too quickly.

I’ve lived in the Bay Area for quite a while and most trips to Santa Cruz involve speeding down 280 and then praying that you don’t get stuck in stop-and-go traffic on Highway 17 with all the other beachgoers. Bike touring couldn’t be more different.

We popped over the mountains behind Stanford University and cruised down Highway 1. Along the way, we stopped at the San Gregorio General Store (the only place to see Lycra and leather together), Pigeon Point, Ano Nuevo, and even my favorite strawberry farm, Swanton Berry Farms. Our pace was leisurely but not that different than other folks in cars doing similar things. In fact we started to recognize a few cars that had passed us more than once.

Cruising into Santa Cruz late on a warm summer evening was stunning. We hadn’t arranged any hotel, so we rode around until we found something workable near the boardwalk. The hotel clerk didn’t bat an eye when we told her the bikes were coming with us.

The most amazing part was the ride home. A 6:20 AM Highway 17 Shuttle took us and our two bikes to the train station in San Jose. From there an express train whisked me past morning commute traffic to my home, where I grabbed some bags and breakfast and then took my normal train into work. Hard to believe, but I had arranged a totally car-free adventure, eliminating the stress of driving all that way home.

The next time a hooky day comes my way, I’m inspired to do another trip without the car. Anyone else have great car-free trips (anywhere)? Let us know in the comments.

Fill up your fridge

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 17:57:03 -0800

by TerraPass

The fog has cleared around TerraPass towers and we’re feeling the heat. Here’s a way to save energy used by your fridge or freezer during the summer months: keeping your fridge and freezer at least three-quarters full to reduce the amount of energy they use.

How this helps

Items in your fridge have been already been cooled, so they help to keep the overall temperature down when you open the door. The more of them, the better. Still not convinced? Try putting one ice cube in a cooler and see how much more quickly it melts than if you filled the whole thing with ice.

More information

Don’t need all that food? Try a brick.

Related tips

Clean the coils of your fridge and freezer.
Ditch the second fridge. You only use it at Thanksgiving, and it’s probably really old.
Buy an Energy Star fridge.

Plug in and drive

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 16:32:26 -0800

by Adam Stein

There’s a lot to chew over in Wired’s profile of Shai Agassi, the entrepreneur engaged in an audacious experiment to electrify an entire nation’s transportation system, and in the process rewrite the automotive industry’s business model.

The nation in question is Israel, with Denmark and Hawaii possibly to follow. Agassi’s idea is that electric cars should be sold on a subscription model, like cell phones, with fees used to underwrite a network of intelligent electric outlets that ensure batteries are always topped up.

The plan is quite a bit more complicated than that, but in essence Agassi is trying to solve the same problem that plug-in hybrids and the Chevy Volt are meant to address: batteries have a limited capacity and take a long time to charge up. Hybrids work around the problem by bolting a gasoline engine on top of the electric motor. Agassi’s start-up, Better Place, hopes to cut gasoline out of the picture altogether by remaking the electrical grid. It’s an audacious vision, and the company has the financing and the partnerships in place to upgrade their prospects from pipe dream to long shot. They hope bring their all-electric cars to market in 2011.

Like I said, there’s a lot to chew over here. A few thoughts come to mind:

Agassi doesn’t like plug-in hybrids, but his criticism seems overstated. In fact, plug-ins could fit nicely into Better Place’s model. Or, just as likely, plug-ins could co-exist as a competitive mode of transport. It’s even possible that the market will segment geographically. Better Place’s strategy of focusing on small, isolated locations — real or virtual islands — is both ingenious and self-limiting. Plug-ins might fill the gaps in the grid.
Agassi has hinted that his company would be willing to purchase green power to fuel its fleet. This is like placing a tax on transportation to fund the build-out of renewable energy. Which actually seems like pretty good public policy. (It’s also an interesting commentary that such a system might come out of the private sector, rather than the government.)
Although electrification of the transport sector is a clear benefit to the environment, the subscription model realigns incentives in ways that may alarm some greens. Remember all those conspiracy theories about how Detroit and the oil companies had teamed up to keep Americans driving huge, inefficient cars? Well, consider the implications of the pay-as-you-drive model for electric cars.

There’s a lot more to be said on this last point. It’s an article of faith among many that “car culture” itself is a problem, and that a green future will involve a lot more walking, public transportation, and bikes. While such a scenario may come to pass, it’s by no means a certainty (nor, it should be said, are such solutions incompatible with Better Place’s vision). The advent of the electric car could mean that the future looks a lot like it does now, only without any gas stations. It’s notable that under Better Place’s model, the cost of car ownership actually goes down, which means miles driven should go up. As alarming as this prospect may sound, it isn’t necessarily a problem. Personal mobility is a wonderful thing, a luxury for many and a necessity for most. If we can have mobility without the environmental cost, then so much the better.

Don't judge a wine by its box

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 15:46:46 -0800

by Adam Stein

Tyler Colman, aka Dr. Vino, takes to the pages of the New York Times to report on the latest developments in green wine, one of our favorite topics here at TerraPass. Boxed wine, you might recall, is more environmentally friendly than wine shipped in heavy glass bottles. And, contrary to popular impression, not all boxed wine is terrible.

The Italian government just announced that some wines that receive the government’s quality assurance label may now be sold in boxes. In the south of France, most fridges are stocked with a box of rosé during the summer months.

This makes sense. Boxed wine is not just environmentally friendly. It’s also consumer friendly. Boxes are cheaper, easier to handle, and neatly eliminate the problem of wine waste when you can’t finish a whole bottle. The large majority of table wines aren’t meant to age, making them perfectly well suited to box packaging.

Of course, most boxed wines in the U.S. aren’t of a very high quality. But this, as Dr. Vino notes, is a solvable problem. America will soon be the largest wine market in the world. Put better wine in the box, and consumers will surely come around. (Could this be a job for Wal-Mart?)

Vote for the winner in our blog-naming contest

Tue, 26 Aug 2008 12:22:44 -0800

by Pete Davies

Wow. We were totally impressed by the number of submissions for our blog’s new name. We received over 500 suggestions, many of them great options for our blog and newsletter.

We’ve come up with a shortlist of eight names and now’s your chance to vote for the winner. One lucky person that votes for the eventual winner will also receive a gift certificate to use at the TerraPass green store.

To see what made it onto the shortlist click here and vote. We’ll update with a progress report next week.