Once we knew we liked this short video format we started working on it in San Jose. There were so many opportunities and we videotaped segments in front of booths including PG&E, Sacramento Municipal Utility District, and Plug In America where “Professor Plug-In” was able to interview the President of Plug In America, Linda Nichols.

Later Dr. Frank was able to show Andy Grove Trinity, the PHEV flex fuel car that he has been working on. TK and Dr. Frank gave Eva and Andy Grove a test drive and they were surprised at the power this car had. Lucky for our audience that EnergyRushTV had more multiple camera to catch the action. The former governor of Washington Gary Locke and Kyle Wang of Global Energy Exchange also traveled to San Jose to be there.

The SMARRT Challenge is an annual event sponsored by Progress Energy and next year there will be a plug in hybrid for high school students. We loved this event and the people. As one southern gentleman looked at all these cars and trucks he was bemused and rhetorically asked us “if these high school students can do this how come the car companies can’t do it?”

A sizable display of alternative vehicles was lined up outside the facility, and an impressive group of speakers was scheduled to enlighten the gathered masses. Our team was able to interview a number of interesting attendees, some for the first – but certainly not last – time.

Our first target was Rich Rudman of Manzanita Micro. We would later encounter Rich on many occasions, including a visit to his home base in Kingston, Washington, but we’ll cover that in a subsequent post. Rudman is a leading technologist in the world of batteries, chargers, regulators and plug-in hybrids. He gave us the lowdown on the current crop of hybrid vehicle batteries and how their costs will be driven down while quality will steadily go up.

Next was Mark Spain from Microsoft, who told us what his company is doing in terms of digitally enhancing the vehicle experience.

Then we cornered Roger Duncan, deputy general manager of Austin Energy of Austin, Texas. Energy Rush TV is no stranger to Austin Energy. We spent time with representatives of the company when we were at the Alt Car Expo in Santa Monica, California in December of 2006. Duncan told us about how energy production is shifting from “middle eastern oil to west Texas wind” as well as how rapidly electric utilities are jumping on board with entities like Austin Energy and other green energy companies.

Another fascinating interview was with Dr. Gal Luft, executive director of the Institute for the Analysis of Global Security (IAGS), a Washington based think tank focused on energy security. Luft noted that 97% of transportation in the U.S. is petroleum based, which leads to his premise that “every car we make from now on needs to run on something other than petroleum.” We also interviewed Anne Korin, IAGS’ Director of Policy and Strategic Planning. She noted that we continue to be increasingly dependent on foreign oil, and that dependence is directly related to the transportation sector. In other words, persistence with the manufacture and use of gas-guzzling vehicles is most definitely not in our best interests.

We also spoke with Bill Kinney, who came to the conference from his home base in eastern Washington State. Kinney drives a Honda that averages 87 miles per gallon. He’s done a few things to his vehicle to attain such a stellar fuel efficiency. For instance, he removed the side mirrors for aerodynamic flow improvement, and installed a mini-camera next to his taillights to see behind him. Now that’s going the extra “mile” for fuel savings.

The Cascadia Conference marked our first of several meetings with Atul Deshmane, president of Whole Energy, a biodiesel and alternative fuels company headquartered in Bellingham, Washington and Vancouver, Canada. Deshmane was born in India, attended college in Missouri, got his professional start working for Ford Motor Company, and is now an energetic entrepreneur with an up-and-coming biodiesel business. We would meet with Atul on other future occasions, and will go into detail on that in other posts.

Finally, we interviewed Jordan Smith of Southern California Edison’s electric vehicle tech center. Jordan is another example of someone we’d be running into on numerous occasions. We also interviewed him in Santa Monica, California and Wenatchee, Washington. He gave us a summary of what’s up in southern California with alternative energy sources, fuels and vehicles.

Thanks to Microsoft for hosting a great event and to all the interviewees who shared their thoughts with our crew.

In fact, the organizers of the event, King County, Washington, asked us to help them scout the location in preparation for the big day. We got a behind-the-scenes look at one of the nation’s most impressive sports venues. When the “Clean Vehicles Now!” show happened, Energy Rush TV had an information booth placed right next to the registration tables.

We had multiple High Definition cameras covering the event, with camera operators Eric Bishop and Mark DuMond shooting interviews and footage from one end of the stadium to the other. Producer/Director Paul Steinbroner was on hand to conduct interviews and interact with King County and City of Seattle officials. It was an indoor/outdoor event, with lots of hands-on displays of vehicles inside, and a test-drive track out in the parking lot.

Here is a partial list of people we had the opportunity to speak with at this oh-so-subtly titled alternative vehicle show:

• King County fleet manager Win Mitchell, who showed off the nations first hybrid electric big rig service truck (the first of what will eventually be many, we hope).
• Our old friend Dr. Andrew Frank of the University of California-Davis, who went for a test drive with one of our cameramen in the Viking 32, a cutting edge car built by the Vehicle Research Institute at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Washington.
• Former astronaut Buzz Aldrin, the second man to step foot on the moon, who was a keynote speaker. It turns out Aldrin is part of an expedition to the South Pole using alternative fuel vehicles. Hey, if they can get to the South Pole with alternative vehicles, we can use them pretty much anywhere.
• Mark Simon, director of the alternative fuels program for New York City. We asked Mark what kind of car he drove, only to find out that he doesn’t have one. (Oh yeah, we forgot that people who live in Manhattan don’t drive cars.)
• Dave Moore, who gave us yet another ride in his customized plug-in hybrid electric Toyota Prius. We had interviewed Dave twice before, once at his home in Snohomish and again in downtown Seattle. He’s averaging close to 180 miles per gallon driving around the Seattle metro area. More on that in another post.

At the end of a long day, we were able to look back on a productive and rewarding experience. We got lots of great footage, and got to ride in some pretty amazing vehicles. A special shout-out goes to Ron Sims, the King County Executive who came up with the idea for the annual “Clean Vehicles Now!” event. Sims has been talking about alternative vehicles and fuels for decades, to pretty much anyone who’ll listen. (We had previously videotaped his testimony to the Washington State Legislature in the state capitol of Olympia.)

The Energy Rush TV team will continue to file reports about their travels throughout the world in search of stories related to the future of energy.

The VRI was founded by Dr. Michael Seal in 1972. Over the years, more than twenty cars have been designed and built from the ground up by teachers and students, starting with the Viking 1. The Energy Rush TV crew took a ride in the Viking 32 recently in Seattle. The Viking 32 is described as a clean natural gas electric safety vehicle. It’s unique in that it’s operational with methane gas that’s manufactured on-site from cow manure run through an anaerobic digester. That’s right, a hybrid electric that runs on cow poop.

We interviewed Michael Seal at the VRI, where he told us about the institute’s history. Dr. Seal is an old friend and contemporary of Dr. Andy Frank, another Energy Rush TV frequent collaborator. The two have been running concurrent (and at times competing) alternative vehicle research facilities for decades. Seal speaks with candor, and at times expresses what might seem like audacious views. For instance, he predicts that the price of gasoline could reach as high as $100 per gallon. (There’s a scary thought for those of you who are frightened by the thought of four dollar a gallon fuel.) He also spoke of how production of ethanol is morally controversial, as it’s essentially “burning food” to power cars. Now in the twilight of a long career, Seal says his goal is to “produce more cars than Tucker did” – a reference to the number of automobiles built by the entrepreneurial carmaker Preston Tucker of the 1940’s.

The man who has taken over as chief of the VRI is Eric Leonhardt, who is actually a graduate of WWU and the VRI program. Leonhardt spoke with us at length and gave our crew an up close look at their newest vehicle, the Viking 32, and the anaerobic digester. He said that in the area surrounding their campus, there are enough cows to produce the equivalent of 30 million gallons of gas via the conversion of manure to methane fuel. That’s a lot of cow poop!

After our visit to Western Washington University, we traveled south and made a stop at the Whole Energy refinery near Mount Vernon, Washington. Whole Energy is a biofuel company which started in northwestern Washington and is gradually expanding throughout the west coast. We interviewed one of the facility’s engineers, who showed us biodiesel samples from many different feedstocks.

We also interviewed Atul Deshmane, CEO of Whole Energy, who is clearly a dynamic and vibrant leader in the industry. Atul was born in India, and he told us the story of how his grandfather had a farm there and became the first biomass producer in that country. Deshmane spoke to us about the great team he’s put together at Whole Energy, as well as the potential new sites and clients he’s looking at.

Both the Vehicle Research Institute and Whole Energy are still very much on the Energy Rush TV radar screen, and we’ll bring you updates on new developments as they happen.

When the time came for the official grand opening event at the new refinery, naturally our team had to be there. On August 15, 2007 we traveled to the event which was attended by U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, U.S. Representative Norm Dicks, as well as representatives of Governor Chris Gregoire, the Port of Grays Harbor, and the National Biodiesel Board. Hundreds of people came from as far away as the East Coast to attend the kickoff event, and we were there to shoot it all on High Definition video.

The top executives at Imperium addressed the assembled crowd. First, Martin Tobias, the company’s CEO, welcomed the group and introduced the dignitaries present. (Note: Tobias has since left Imperium.) This was followed by remarks by Imperium president John Plaza and additional comments by several of the VIP’s. Then the moment of truth came: They all pressed the magic “GO” button and the first bit of biodiesel fuel came flowing through a spigot and into a glass beaker. Tobias dipped his finger into the mixture and exclaimed, “Hmmm, tastes like canola oil!” – referring to the feedstock used to create the biodiesel at Imperium.
Prior to the formal ceremony, we got to take a full tour of the huge facility. The company has developed and continues to develop proprietary technology and processes in both the production facility and oil feedstock areas of the biodiesel value chain. Made from renewable vegetable oils, Imperium’s B100 biodiesel fuel is a non-toxic, biodegradable and safe fuel that works in any conventional diesel engine. Biodiesel improves air quality by reducing harmful pollutants, and provides a domestically grown fuel that benefits local economies while leaving them cleaner and greener.
Imperium Renewables offers a safer, cleaner fuel for the future. The company now has plans to build biodiesel refineries in Hawaii, Argentina and Pennsylvania. You can be sure the EnergyRushTV team will be at those locations when the new facilities have their grand openings.

We’ve been covering the activities of the engineering school at the University of California, Davis for the past couple of years. The man in charge of their alternative vehicle research program is Dr. Andrew Frank, Professor of Mechanical and Aeronautical Engineering. We’ve met with and interviewed Dr. Frank all over the country, but this time we were interested in the vehicle his team of students was prepping for the Challenge X.

The 2005 Chevrolet Equinox is equipped with state-of-the-art lithium ion batteries for energy storage, and has a 1.5-L Atkinson Spark Ignition engine running on E-85 ethanol. The plug-in hybrid has a continuously variable transmission which was custom-designed by the UC Davis team. The team’s advisor, of course, was Dr. Frank, and the student team leaders were Terrence Williams and Christian Reif. We spent a day at the campus in Davis, California, videotaping the final work on the SUV, including the load-up into the big rig for the journey back to Detroit.

We next met up with the team at the General Motors Proving Grounds in Milford, Michigan, outside of Detroit. The event took place in the first week of June and featured the following universities competing for the top prize:

• Michigan Technological University
• Mississippi State University
• Ohio State University
• Pennsylvania State University
• Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology
• San Diego State University
• Texas Tech University
• University of Akron
• University of California – Davis
• University of Michigan
• University of Tennessee
• University of Texas at Austin
• University of Tulsa
• University of Waterloo
• University of Wisconsin – Madison
• Virginia Tech
• West Virginia University

Our team of videographers, reporters and audio technicians had access to the entire event and were able to capture some great images of the “pit” area where the teams of students were working fast and furious on their various alternative vehicles.

The “Challenge X” event headline sponsors were the U. S. Department of Energy and General Motors. The competition was judged on a point system in many different areas by a group of dozens of experts.

You can bet that EnergyRushTV will be there when the next “Challenge X” happens.