The women of the Chevy VoltQuestPoint

The most eagerly awaited car of the year is the Chevrolet Volt, the first next-generation extended-range electric car to hit the road. General Motors has a lot riding on the car, and it took a lot of workers to make it. Many of them were women in what has been traditionally the boy’s club that was yesterday’s auto industry. GM pulled together some biographies of some of the key women involved in the design of the Volt. Interestingly, each one is a mom. Here is what GM wrote about them:Design
Nina Tortosa, is the lead aerodynamicist on the Volt team. Her team has spent more than 500 hours of time in the wind tunnel with the Volt, often testing and tweaking changes in 1 millimeter increments. While their work is done in small measures, the cumulative impact is significant: Nina estimates that aerodynamic development on the Volt extended the electric-only range by almost seven miles at highway speeds. She has two children, ages four and five. Nina was born in Barcelona, Spain, and graduated from Mounds View High School, just outside Minneapolis.

Britta Gross is director of Global Energy Systems and Infrastructure Commercialization. She is working to prepare utilities and to get communities across the country “plug-in ready,” not just for Volt but for the wave of electric vehicles predicted to be on the horizon (Global Insight estimates that plug-in electric vehicles and battery-electric vehicles could represent 20 to 60 percent of the market by 2030). This includes working with state and local governments on purchase incentives, with utilities to develop smart-grid and smart-charging technologies, and companies and municipalities to iron out home charging processes and to install charging stations at work places. Britta has two children, age 12 and 17; growing up, she lived in Kansas City, Chicago, and Baton Rouge. Read more

San Diego and SunEdison sign solar deal

SAN DIEGO, AT&T* and SunEdison today announced that SunEdison, a leading worldwide solar energy services provider and subsidiary of MEMC Electronic Materials, will expand AT&T’s national solar initiative by activating a new roof top solar power installation in San Diego. San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders as well as executives from AT&T and SunEdison were on hand to officially flip the switch on the solar power system. In addition to this installation in San Diego, AT&T has contracts with SunEdison to deploy five other solar power installations in California by the second quarter of 2011, equating to approximately 2 megawatts (MW) of total solar capacity for all six sites. The additional California solar deployments will be located in Dunnigan, Commerce, Mojave, Santa Ana and West Sacramento.

The solar power installation in San Diego is a 296 kW rooftop mounted photovoltaic system that will generate an estimated 420,000 kWh of energy in its first year of operation alone. Over 20 years, the power installation will generate more than 7.7 million kWh of energy – enough energy to power more than 720 US homes for one year. The environmental attributes associated with the solar power installation will avoid more than 8 million pounds of carbon dioxide during the initial 20 years of operation – the equivalent of taking more than 800 cars off the road according to SunEdison projections. “Partnerships such as this one between AT&T and SunEdison show why San Diego continues to be the national leader in solar energy,” said San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders. “Our residents and businesses have embraced clean energy, which not only benefits our environment, but also our region’s economy.”

The program is made possible through a strategic power purchase agreement (PPA) between SunEdison and AT&T under which SunEdison will construct, monitor and maintain an additional five solar power installations in California. In return, AT&T will buy the energy produced from the solar systems to offset their grid demand. Once activated, the six systems will total an estimated 2 megawatts of solar capacity and will generate over 3.2 million kWh of energy within the first year of operation. According to SunEdison projections, the environmental attributes associated with the six systems will avoid an estimated 62 million pounds of CO2 over 20 years of operation.

GREEN FOR ALL – PROTECT THE 360 – JOIN

CHICAGO – Green For All – in partnership with the Dew Tour – announced the launch of Protect the 360°, a campaign to engage and activate the action-sports community in efforts to curb climate change. The initiative is a direct response to fans’ concerns over global warming and its impact on outdoor sports.

“Climate change is real,” said Dave Mirra, BMX legend. “It affects everything from snow quality to quality of life. But doing little things – like turning off your lights or riding your bike instead of driving – can add up to make a difference. I am doing my part and I hope fans will join me in doing theirs to protect the 360°.”

The Protect the 360° campaign includes an interactive website that provides simple, useful information about how people can make their lives greener.

“Green For All works to educate new audiences about the benefits of going green,” said Phaedra Ellis-Lamkins, CEO of Green For All. “2010 is the hottest year on record and we all have a part to play in curbing climate change.”