Paris Announces Autolib' Car Service On Demand

Modeling itself after the successful Autolib' service already in practice in Lyon, France, Paris announced earlier this week that by March 2012, at the latest, their Autolib' service will be fully in play.

AutoLib', the electric car rental program, is modelled after the wildly popular Velib' program, whereby citizens, tourists and visitors alike can pick up a bicycle at numerous points around the city, use it for a half an hour, half a day or longer, and then drop it off at another station when they're finished with it. The pick-up and drop-off stations, which function as one and the same, are nearly as numerous as Metro stations.
The program is designed for short-term use for both the bicycle and Auto usage. They're available 24/7. And it is ridiculously cheap. To use an Autolib' car in Lyon prices start at 2,10 Euro for basic car models from Citroen, Peugeot, Toyota. You first purchase a membership for a minimum of one year and on top of that you pay a deposit to cover any possible damages. But you can even take a car between the hours of 11pm and 7 am for free.
On this program, Paris is worlds ahead of, for example, Santa Monica, a city in California, the nation's greenest state, that prides itself on its green transportation policies.
On December 16th the California Air Resources Board (CARB) voted in favor of California's nation leading Cap-and-Trade program under AB 32.
Here is what California's Governor had to say about it: 

And I'm so proud of this team here because it's one thing when the legislators get together and say AB 32  and here's the bill  and they give you these documents that are 1,000 pages long and all this stuff. And then the governor goes out and talks about it and I sign it and we have bill signing ceremonies and all of those things that we had. But then someone has to follow through and make it become a reality  and the people you see in front of you here are the people that make this become a reality. I know today, even though we are 10 years away from 2020 but I know today that we will have a reduction of 25 percent of greenhouse gases by the year 2020, only because I have such an excellent team here.

I am thinking that California may just need to take some pages from Paris's playbook on public transportation policy. Especially in cities such as San Francisco, Santa Monica, Pasadena and other such coastal cities that are already readily adaptable to something like the Autolib' and the Velib'.

Follow Us On Twitter@GreeningHollywd

The Green Blog Network

Green Blog Network * Greening Hollywood

Greening Vancouver

Greening Beauty 

Facebook/GreenBlogNetwork

Posted via email from The Green Blog Network

Paris Announces Autolib' Car Service On Demand

The Climate Change Bill = The American Power Act

It would be nice to think that the much awaited Climate Change Bill, actually called The American Power Act, were just that: a powerful act towards mitigating environmental damage to our country and its resources. But that may be wishful thinking.

"This bill is more industry-friendly, very different from the bill that passed in the House," stated Washington Post's reporter covering the issue, who says this Climate Bill "is an Energy Bill." The Act was introduced today by U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-MA) and Joe Lieberman (I-CT).

For one, this bill, backed by zero Republicans, makes expanded drilling possible in Gulf of Mexico, Alaska and South Eastern U.S.  It would not open up drilling off the Coast of California.

The American Power Act also provides R&D funding for carbon capture and sequestration, a technology that the coal and oil industries are fond of pointing to as a means of lessening their industries' environmental impact but which is as yet an unproven technology, for the most part. The Bill also provides for a Cap And Trade system for the Utilities.

The photo was taken in the Vanderhoef Studio Theater at the Robert and Margrit Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts in Davis, California, 5/12/10.

Governor Schwarzenegger had this to say about it today,

"I am encouraged by this new effort by Senators Kerry and Lieberman to address the challenges of clean energy and climate change at the federal level with a comprehensive energy policy. California has been an unparalleled leader in clean energy, pioneering policies that have benefited the entire nation, and we must be able to continue our important, groundbreaking work that will both improve the environment and help our economy.

I continue to believe we need a bipartisan, national climate change commitment that will reduce our dependence on oil, protect our environment, grow our economy and put Americans back to work. I look forward to reviewing the American Power Act and working with Congress and the Obama Administration to ensure it builds on the progress states have made, like here in California."

Governor spoke today at a University of California (UC) Davis Graduate School of Management Dean Steven C. Currall as part of E3: Economic Prosperity, Energy and the Environment -- A Roundtable to Set the Agenda on Clean and Sustainable Paths to Economic Prosperity, an event hosted by The CTO Forum's Energy Council and UC Davis.

Noteworthy is Minister of The Environment, Canada, Jim Prentice's response to the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill: "I think it's always been clear that the oil sands provide a safe, stable, secure supply of energy and they need to be developed in an environmentally responsible way. The risks associated with the oil sands, the environmental risks, are significantly different than, and probably less than the kind of risks associated with offshore drilling,” he said."But we still have to be on our game in terms of the environmental regulations for the oil sands as well."

The business supporters backing the American Power Act include:  Honeywell, Dow Corning, Duke Energy and the Edison Electric Institute, BP and Shell. BP is the oil company involved in the Gulf Oil Spill.

 

Follow Us On Twitter@

The Green Blog Network

Greening Hollywood

Green Blog Network *  Greening Vancouver

FaceBook/GreenBlogNetwork

 

Posted via web from The Green Blog Network

The Climate Change Bill = The American Power Act