Conference Calling

The restaurant/hotel/resort industry fondly refers to the next two months as as “conference season.” While it sometimes seems like conferences and forums are a year-round business, especially in the federal policy sector, there nonetheless are a few taking place over the next few months that have caught the interest of many of the authors of Climate Change: What You Can Do Now (meaning we’ll be sharing thoughts on a few of these events over the next few months via this blog).

Julian Bentley, who led the development of the chapter on fleets and vehicles, is heading to Los Angeles this week for the EVS26 (the 26th International Electric Vehicles Symposium). This event attracts an international audience of stakeholders, with more than 200 speakers, more than 160 companies exhibiting (Toyota, for example, will unveil their new RAV4 EV), and approximately 3,000 electric drive industry leaders, government representatives and energy officials in attendance. Their goal is to further the discussion of how the market for electric vehicles can be increase, and with a wider worldwide deployment.

One of the hot topics that Julian believes will be a source of much discussion, given the event’s location, includes California’s emissions policies, and how energy use in transportation can be shifted to low-emission electricity.

You can literally see California's emissions challenges.

A new article in Issues of Science and Technology raises that very issue. Noting that transportation accounts for more than 40 percent of California’s emissions (evidenced by the state’s ubiquitous freeways and smog), the authors discuss the multitude of challenges facing the state in meeting an ambitious 80 percent reduction goal of 1990-level greenhouse gases by 2050:

The 80% goal cannot be met without dramatic change in driver behavior and transportation technology. Researchers and companies have made rapid technological progress in recent years in improving conventional and advanced technologies. Performance-based regulations for gasoline-powered cars are expected to double fuel economy between 2010 and 2025, and rapid advances are being made with advanced lithium batteries and vehicular fuel cells. With greater emphasis on energy efficiency and low-carbon technologies, dramatic reductions in oil use and GHG emissions will occur. A key ingredient in reaching this goal will be government policy to stimulate innovation, encourage consumer behavior changes, and direct society toward large reductions in oil use and GHG emissions.

Like many issues related to climate change, there’s a clear absence in federal policy to dictate action. Much of the burden (or opportunity) falls on the states and local governments, along with the various stakeholders and industry partners. And as with most action, innovation makes the path substantially easier to travel down.

One of the themes in the book is the idea that direct action often represents the path of least resistance. In the case of vehicles and fleets, one idea might be the substitution of alternative fuels for conventional fuel, and likewise, electric vehicles within traditionally powered fleets. Clearly, policy is driving some of the changes in California, but it remains up to the private sector to innovate new technologies that make these ends possible through profitable means.

That’s why events like EVS26 are critical to that process. Even with all the sharing of ideas that happens through the internet, there’s something about face-to-face interaction with industry peers that spurs the mind to greater things. I expect some of the reactions we’ll be hearing from our authors over the next few months will have some pretty interesting insights.