How green are you? Ecobot knows...

Do you know what your carbon footprint is? Friendly Computers found a program for Mac OS X that will help you calculate just that. Read more below…

The Wall Street Journal recently opined that "the inconvenient truth is that the earth's temperatures have flat-lined since 2001, despite growing concentrations of CO2," causing a greater number of scientists to question the science behind global warming. Whatever your opinion in the matter, it's certainly true that the world would be better off if we wasted less energy, which is what makes open-source Ecobot so useful.

While programs like Amee help businesses measure their carbon footprints, Ecobot offers a personal "carbon trainer" for Mac users.

Designed by Taxi, a Canadian corporation, Ecobot is derived from Taxi's participation in the "Green for Green" competition. The program "calculates your carbon footprint by measuring the fuel, power, and paper you use," and, importantly, does a lot of this data aggregation automatically. ("Automatically" is good - heck, if we weren't so lazy, we probably wouldn't need all these vehicles to power us from Point A to Point B.)

Not only does Ecobot keep track of how many pages you print from your laptop, but it also tracks the wireless networks to which you connect and works with you to figure out how you got from one to the other, and calculates the carbon emissions required to make the journey.

Pretty slick.

Even if you're not a tree-hugging, carbon-footprint-obsessed member of the Greenimati, Ecobot is an easy-to-use, unobtrusive way to monitor how much carbon your lifestyle requires. Of course, it only works if you're a Mac user.

Even so, despite Dell's insistence that Apple's Macs aren't as green as Apple claims, Ecobot lets you be as green as you want to be...and brag about it to anyone patient enough to listen to you.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/greentech/?tag=hdr;snav

How To Keep Cool Without Going Broke This Summer

Its summertime, which means it is time to try and stay cool. Friendly Computers found some information on how to stay cool and save money using some fans and air conditioners you may already have:

For many of us, air conditioning results in our biggest utility expense during the summer months. Well, summer is officially here, and so is Prof. Dealzmodo to lay some tips on you for keeping cool without going broke.

Fans

At the very least a regular fan, a twin window fan that takes advantage of cool night air, room to room fan, or even a bed fan could help save a little extra money—especially if the outside temperature cools sufficiently in your area.

If you have the option of installing a ceiling fan, it can be one of the simplest and most inexpensive ways to reduce energy costs in the home. The average price is around $100 per fan, they can be easily self-installed (as long as you have an existing ceiling light) and they can save you as much as 40% on your energy bills this summer. Take this example from Progress Energy:

...a 48", 75-watt fan used 10 hours a day at half speed or less would cost $.50 to $.90 a month to operate. For a 1,500-square-foot house with air conditioning using two ceiling fans and raising the thermostat setting could save about $70 to $200 over a six-month cooling season.

This is precisely why I just ordered four new fans for my home. Three of the four will be installed upstairs in each of the bedrooms. There will be absolutely no need for A/C at night, and I expect to dramatically lower central air usage on the upper level during the day.

Window A/C Units: Who Should Have One?

The bottom line is that window units use far less electricity than central air units. For example, a typical, medium-sized window unit might use 500 to 1440 watts of electricity per hour while a 2.5 ton central system might use 3500 watts over the same span. Because central air units cool an entire home, users often waste energy in areas that are not occupied. For example, if you live in a small apartment, a 12,000 BTU window unit could effectively cool a 640 square foot space for an upfront cost of around $300. This Fridgidaire model is also Energy Star certified, meaning that it should provide at least an additional 10% savings in monthly energy costs—making it a wise investment when compared to a traditional model. In an apartment around 800 square feet, that would most likely cover the main living space and could be supplemented with something as small as a 5,000 BTU unit for a bedroom. Hell, you might even be able to get away with only a fan—after all, bedrooms see most of their use after the sun has gone down.

Things to consider when buying a window A/C unit:

• Bigger is not better. Too many on/off cycles will reduce efficiency and add result in unnecessary wear and tear. Make sure your A/C unit is sized properly for your room by matching capacity with square footage.
• Make sure your unit has at least three speeds (low, medium and high).
• Buy a model with a thermostat to fine tune your comfort level and save electicity.
• Clean your filters regularly.
• Choose a model with a timer. This gives you even greater flexibility and ensures that the unit is only running when needed.
• Consider building a unit directly into your wall to eliminate the hassle of moving it every year. You can also put an insulated / weather-stripped cover on through-the-wall units in the fall. [HVACKey]

So, to answer the question "who should have one?," I would suggest that people living in small apartments or homes seriously consider investing in a window A/C unit or two. Even if you have central air, keeping it off in favor of à la carte cooling is going to save you some money. For those that have larger dwellings, individual A/C units might come in handy in a bedroom at night, or in rooms that you spend most of your time in.

Getting the Most Out Of Central Air

If you own a home or an upscale rental, you probably already have a central air unit. But simply tweaking the temperature dial now and then doesn't mean you are getting all of the potential cost savings out of your system.

Get a programmable thermostat. Those old-timey, temperature-only thermostats are a huge waste of money. Simply being able to program your thermostat to kick on when you get home, or run on 78 degrees instead of 72 degrees overnight can result in savings of around $180 per year for an average home. Also, keep in mind that each degree you set your thermostat below 78 degrees will increase your energy use by 3-4%. Plus, basic programmable thermostats can cost less than $30.
• If installing or replacing a unit, keep in mind that the higher the Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio (SEER) rating of your unit, the more energy efficient it will be. All Energy Star certified units must have a SEER rating of 13 or higher.
• Units with a thermal expansion valve and a high-temperature rating Energy Efficiency Ratio (EER) greater than 11.6 will be more efficient when the weather is at its hottest.
• Units with a fan-only switch allow for nighttime ventilation to substantially reduce air-conditioning costs.
• Make sure to check filters every month. [Energy Savers]

You may also want to look into a simple misting unit like the Cool-n-Save. It attaches to your central air unit in minutes and can reduce your energy bills by as much as 30%. Plus, the whole system only sets you back $100. On the downside, it does use a significant amount of water, and it may result in a mineral buildup.

Check For Leaks

The most important step in keeping your home cool is making sure that the structure itself isn't working against you. Obviously, if your house or apartment is leaky or poorly insulated, a lot of cash is going to fly out those holes along with the cold air. Furthermore, If you have a central air system, an average of 20% of the air moving through the duct system is lost because of leaks, holes and poor connections. Even if you can't afford insulation upgrades or a blower test to detect leaks, a few DIY tests and some cheap fixes like weatherstripping could save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars in the long term.

Alternatives

They aren't feasible in every situation, but there are a few cost-effective ways to cool a home that break from the norm. These methods include evaporative coolers (swamp coolers), attic fans, and geothermal systems. However, for most of us, just putting up some shades, adding a ceiling fan or two and/or a window A/C unit or programmable thermostat could result in substantially lower utility bills during the hot summer months. And, if all else fails, there is always air conditioned shirts and ice saunas.

 

Source: http://gizmodo.com/5300062/how-to-keep-cool-without-going-broke-this-summer

Six Flags, in the Red, Goes for the Green

Six Flags recently filed for bankruptcy but in hopes of eventually reducing their operating expenses are considering going green in many areas of their parks. Friendly Computers thinks you may find this interesting: 

It's a sure sign of summer around these parts when I start getting announcements about green initiatives emerging from those bastions of summer vacations: amusement parks.
Today, Six Flags announced a new, company-wide green initiative that aims to reduce the impact and waste of its 20 theme parks in the U.S. Canada and Mexico.
It's a broad list of projects, and spans a good deal of the park's operations:

• Harnessing the magic of the Six Flags dining experience, all vehicles and trains that currently run on diesel fuel will be switched over to run on used vegetable oil generated in the food courts of the company's theme parks;
• Six Flags theme parks are also switching over to LED lamps and lighting as a way to cut energy use (earlier this week the company finished the conversion of its famed Big Wheel at the Six Flags Great Adventure to LEDs);
• The company is ramping up its recycling efforts as well; in addition boosting paper recycling programs, Six Flags has partnered with Coca-Cola to add more than 3,000 recycle bins in the amusement parks;
• Water-saving efforts at Six Flags parks include the addition of low-flow water fixtures and plants and groundcover on park grounds that reduce the need for watering;
• Finally and least concretely, Six Flags is exploring the possibility of installing solar energy facilities on land surrounding some parks to power the roller coasters, rides, and buildings.

I'm still awaiting word from Six Flags on some more details of the project (will the roller coasters also be powered by greasel? Will that make the parks smell even more like french fries?), but what I love most about this is how it so perfectly illustrates one of our key principles of the benefits of green business practices: saving money.
Earlier this week, Six Flags filed for bankruptcy, seeking Chapter 11 protection as it manages its debt load. And each of these green initiatives, while trimming waste, emissions and the company's overall footprint, will also likely save Six Flags a significant amount of money.
As we've seen in coverage on GreenBiz.com, businesses and cities alike have saved millions of dollars in electricity costs through LED upgrades. And using vegetable oil for fuel has long since moved from the domain of road-tripping hippies into a regular feature in restaurants.
And don't even get me started on how recycling helps companies.

Source: http://www.greenbiz.com/blog/2009/06/18/six-flags-goes-green

Solar tiles that offer style

 

Solar panels on a house can be an eyesore. Friendly Computers found out about this company that makes them in the shape of roof tiles. They essentially act as your roof and helps the environment at the same time! See below:

Will a better aesthetic tempt more people into going solar? SRS Energy is betting on it.

The company has partnered with US Tile, a leading manufacturer of Spanish, slate, and shake roof tiles, to design solar panels with the exact same shapes as their clay counterparts.

The result is solar tiles that can be seamlessly integrated with the terra-cotta tiles on your roof. Instead of the solar panels being on your roof, your solar panels are the roof. Instead of consumers going solar as aftermarket adaptation, the Philadelphia-based company hopes that solar will become part of the architecture and building of residences and commercial properties.

BIPV (building-integrated photovoltaics) have been around for a while, but many of them fail to visually blend in with the existing architecture. SRS Energy is trying to improve that by partnering with roofing companies to replicate existing roof tile designs into thin-film solar panel counterparts.

The Solé Power Tile system was unveiled at American Institute of Architects 2009 National Convention and Design Exposition this past May at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. On June 15, SRS Energy unveiled one of the first commercial buildings to implement the Solé Power Tile system. The Swiss chalet-like building is Zwahlen's Ice Cream & Chocolate Company, a family-run ice cream parlor in Audubon, Penn., owned by SRS Energy's CEO Marty Low.

US Tile's Solé Power Tile system will begin to be installed in homes this November 2009 by contractors that have taken the company's Solé certification class, the first of which will be held this July, according to Abby Nessa Feinstein, director of marketing for SRS Energy.

The company plans to move into other U.S. and European markets in 2010.

The look of the tiles aside, what about solar efficiency? That's where consumers will have to think about what's most important to them. The Solé Power Tile system, which is warranted for 20 years to generate electricity at a rate of 80 percent of capacity, incorporates triple-junction amorphous solar cells produced by Uni-Solar.

Cell efficiency for the tiles is between 8 percent and 10 percent, according to Feinstein.

That puts it slightly below what others in thin-film photovoltaics have been getting. Global Solar, for example, has said its existing flexible CIGS cells convert about 10 percent of sunlight into electricity, and has plans to get to 13 percent to 14 percent soon. It's also obviously far behind the 20 percent efficiency achieved by efficient traditional silicon solar panels.

Feinstein says the SRS Energy system's overall efficiency makes up for the difference in sunlight to electricity conversion figures.

"If a homeowner bought 4kW of crystalline silicon panels and then 4KW of the Solé US Tiles, they will get 10 to 15 percent more output in terms of a KWh (kilowatt hour) on their electricity," said Feinstein.

"You have three layers of semiconductor material and so it is essentially less picky about the light it converts into electricity so whereas crystalline starts and stops converting between 10 (a.m.) and 4 p.m., our tech will wake up earlier and work later. It converts a larger spectrum of light into electricity. It has less sensitivity to heat, most start to degrade in performance as they get hotter. Our tiles get less hot because the modular is curved and with any curved tile you have air beneath keeping them cooler," she said.

SRS Energy's statistics say the average homeowner with Solé Power Tiles can get 860 kilowatt hours per square foot annually living in an area with "5.8 peak sun hours" per day.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/greentech/?tag=hdr;snav

Aggies rethinking truck freight with electric train

 

Texas researchers are wanting to make train the primary fright mover in the U.S. Friendly Computers read on how they plan to do this using electricity:

 

A group of Texas researchers would like to resurrect the train as chief freight mover in the U.S.

The Universal Freight Shuttle is the brainchild of Stephen Roop, assistant director Texas Transportation Institute (TTI), a branch of Texas A&M University's system chain.

The automated train, which is designed to accommodate standard shipping containers and trailers, would move forward along a track by linear induction motors powered with electricity.

Roop and others at TTI have been working on the concept and design for eight years, keeping in mind not just the technology, but how such an infrastructure would impact federal and state transportation departments, freight companies, shippers, and border security.

In addition to providing a cleaner option for shipping freight, the UFS includes a conveyor-like system to screen standard shipping containers at ports and borders while they're in motion, and automatically divert suspect containers to an area for further human inspection.

"It's moving into a commercial phase with prototyping and proposals for application in both Texas and California. This system is designed to offer an alternative to over-the-road trucking for heavily congested corridors. It is of course an electric, zero-emission solution," Roop said in an e-mail.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/greentech/?tag=hdr;snav

Prototype Nokia phone recharges without wires

 

Nokia is developing a cell phone prototype that will use excess radio waves and turn them into electricity which helps charge the cell phone. Although the phone is still in development and unavailable to the public, Friendly Computers thinks this is a cool concept that can help the environment too.

Pardon the cliche, but it's one of the holiest of Holy Grails of technology: Wireless power. And while early lab experiments have been able to "beam" electricity a few feet to power a light bulb, the day when our laptops and cell phones can charge without having to plug them in to a wall socket still seems decades in the future.

Nokia, however, has taken another baby step in that direction with the invention of a cell phone that recharges itself using a unique system: It harvests ambient radio waves from the air, and turns that energy into usable power. Enough, at least, to keep a cell phone from running out of juice.

While "traditional" (if there is such a thing) wireless power systems are specifically designed with a transmitter and receiver in mind, Nokia's system isn't finicky about where it gets its wireless waves. TV, radio, other mobile phone systems -- all of this stuff just bounces around the air and most of it is wasted, absorbed into the environment or scattered into the ether. Nokia picks up all the bits and pieces of these waves and uses the collected electromagnetic energy to create electrical current, then uses that to recharge the phone's battery. A huge range of frequencies can be utilized by the system (there's no other way, really, as the energy in any given wave is infinitesimal). It's the same idea that Tesla was exploring 100 years ago, just on a tiny scale.

Mind you, harvesting ambient electromagnetic energy is never going to offer enough electricity to power your whole house or office, but it just might be enough to keep a cell phone alive and kicking. Currently Nokia is able to harvest all of 5 milliwatts from the air; the goal is to increase that to 20 milliwatts in the short term and 50 milliwatts down the line. That wouldn't be enough to keep the phone alive during an active call, but would be enough to slowly recharge the cell phone battery while it's in standby mode, theoretically offering infinite power -- provided you're not stuck deep underground where radio waves can't penetrate.

Nokia says it hopes to commercialize the technology in three to five years. 

 

Source: http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/null/143945

HID Labs brings IT smarts to industrial lighting

 

Commercial establishments will have more energy saving options when it comes to lighting. Friendly Computers found out about this lighting fixture which has a ton of earth-friendly features:

HID Laboratories is the sort of company you get when you cross IT pros from Silicon Valley with lighting experts.

The Menlo Park, Calif.-based company plans on Tuesday to officially launch and detail its light fixture, called the SmartPod Luminaire, which it says reduces commercial and industrial lighting costs by 40 percent.

High-intensity discharge (HID) lighting systems are typically used in street lights, warehouses, big box retail stores, sports arenas, and other industrial spaces.

HID Labs' SmartPod is a solid-state replacement for the ballast which holds the wiring and controls the current to lamps. The SmartPod's chip allows building owners to lower their electricity and reduce the significant amount of heat that metal ballasts generate, said HID Labs CEO Antonio Espinosa.

A replacement for traditional HID lamp ballasts can reduce energy consumption by 40 percent, according to HID Labs.

(Credit: HID Labs)

The lighting units can automatically dim lights based on set policies, such as turning a zone off at night. When used with sensors, lighting fixtures can turn on when somebody enters a room or dim to compensate for daylight. The replacement ballast also eliminates the long warm-up time for HID lamps, Espinosa said.

The company calculates that replacing the ballast in existing lights will give a building owner a return on investment within two years.

In the future, the company expects to introduce wireless networking, which would make centralized management of lighting and automated control easier, Espinosa explained. Right now, a person needs to connect a laptop to a light to adjust wattage across multiple lamps.

Better control and data gathering on performance, heat, and other factors will make it easier for utilities or demand-response companies to adjust the lighting load. Rather than fire up additional power plants, utilities are developing programs to lower electricity use, such as dimming commercial lights during peak times.

"When you can bring intelligence to the end point, now you can have a node on the smart grid. That's unheard of in the lighting industry," Espinosa said.

The trick to more efficiently managing the HID lamps is manipulating the frequency of the electrical signal, he explained. The company, which is less than two years old, raised $6 million in venture funding and now has about 15 customers.

There is growing interest in energy efficiency because it is often an investment that recoups the initial cost relatively quickly. But HID Labs faces the challenge of overcoming corporate inertia in adopting a new product. It also faces competition from compact fluorescent bulbs.

Espinosa said that the company's experience so far with customers is that they purchase the SmartPod to cut their utility bills. But because the ballast replacement gets more light from existing lamps, the benefit to workers becomes a selling point.

"People fall in love with the light. They had no idea that they were sitting in a cave. It quickly moves from energy efficiency and then the human element drives everything," he said.

Source: http://news.cnet.com/greentech/?tag=hdr;snav

ZETA to open doors to 'net zero' home

Friendly Computers read about ZETA Communities which is going build energy friendly homes. Take a look below and see what may be abailable to you in the near future:

There's a movement afoot to make homes greener, but the impact will be limited if only wealthy people can afford them. Start-up ZETA Communities is trying to expand that movement's reach by making market-priced, "net zero" multifamily homes.

In the next two weeks, the San Francisco-based company expects to complete its first demonstration building, a town house in Oakland, Calif. Using a variety of design choices, such as a passive solar design and very efficient windows, the energy load on the town houses will be 60 percent of what a comparable-size traditional building would require. Solar panels meet all its electrical needs.

The Department of Energy and National Renewable Energy Laboratory will be studying performance data on the building.

An artist's rendition of planned net-zero town houses going up in Oakland.

(Credit: ZETA Communities)

ZETA Communities can't claim it's able to build net-zero homes--buildings that produce as much energy as they consume--in every locale. But its construction techniques already work in California, according to CEO Naomi Porat, who founded the company last year. It has a pipeline of projects including a 30-unit student apartment project that is projected to cost 20 percent less than current construction methods.

So what's its formula? The company prefabricates multifamily buildings in a factory to save on construction costs. The buildings themselves are very well sealed and insulated, which lowers the heating and cooling load. Also, the company has developed a control system to manage on-site energy generation and keep track of consumers' electricity usage.

"This is disruptive technology in the sense that these net-zero homes at these prices are not possible without a control system that optimizes all the mechanical systems," said Porat.

ZETA, which stands for Zero Energy Technology and Architecture, plans to sell to developers and architects, rather than directly to consumers. ZETA employees take architects' plans and recommend a way to build the home in modular pieces.

For example, ZETA buildings have a single "utility core" where all the wiring and pipes for heating and cooling systems go. The building is constructed in a factory--90 percent complete--and then shipped to its location for assembly. The process is twice as fast and generates half the waste of on-site construction, Porat explained.

The other break from the industry status quo is an in-home controller that manages sensors and the home's mechanical systems--heating, cooling, etc.--and provides consumers with a display of its electricity usage in real time. That sort of feedback system can help a consumer cut electricity use by 20 percent, Porat said.

Its first planned homes will use solar electric panels for on-site power generation and efficient appliances, including air-source heat pumps and heat-recovery ventilators to provide clean air.

Retrofitting existing homes to be energy efficient represents a larger housing stock to work with. But ZETA is targeting new multifamily units, typically in urban areas, because that type of housing also has the potential to make a large-scale impact, said Porat.

"There's a lot of vanity green going on. Unless you do net-zero homes at market prices, it will keep the market to one segment of the population," she said.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/greentech/?tag=hdr;snav

The skinny on power management in Windows 7

Windows 7 will make it easier to manage your power consumption. Friendly Computers this useful information that you can use when Windows 7 is released:

Microsoft has made energy efficiency a key design element of Windows 7, focusing on better power management for end users and centralized tools for IT pros, company executives said Friday.

Company engineers sought to make power management features more accessible than previous versions of Windows while at the same time, giving people the ability to customize settings.

The operating system, which will be released in October, by default is more smart about what to turn on when, according to company executives. For example, the Bluetooth wireless services won't be activated until a device is connected and the DVD spindle will not fire up as often.

Juice meter: Windows 7 lets end users pick power management from the battery meter.

(Credit: Microsoft)

By default, there is an automatic sleep mode and laptop displays will dim after a short period of time. End users can adjust the power management settings from the battery meter on Windows 7 without having to go into the Control Panel.

"Just by providing that information when they hover over the battery and make a change with one click makes it really simple and we get the behavior we want," said Francois Ajenstat, director of environmental sustainability at Microsoft.

Microsoft is also working with hardware partners during the beta of Windows 7. The company will be sharing energy-related data in an effort to resolve driver conflicts that prevent a PC from going into sleep mode.

IT professionals, meanwhile, get enhanced tools for centralized power management, including a command line program that diagnoses why a specific PC is not running efficiently by identifying problems such as driver conflicts.

Windows Vista added 30 new features for energy efficiency and Windows 7 enhances some of those. For example, Windows 7 has a "wake-up LAN" feature so that Wi-Fi-connected PCs can get roused out of sleep mode to get software updates.

"We tried to make it so you don't have to change anything but if you have a specific-use case, you can make changes through group policies," said Jason Leznek, group project manager for Windows 7.

The savings for a business from active PC power management are significant. Continental Airlines, which has thousands of PCs, saved between $1.5 million and $2 million a year by using the tools in Vista, according to Microsoft.

Microsoft expects that there is still a need for third-party companies that also do PC power management. Verdiem, for example, generates reports and works with multiple versions of Windows, said Leznek

Because there are so many variables, Leznek and Ajenstat shied away from giving a specific number on how much more efficient a Windows 7 PC can be. But they expect a significant cumulative effect.

"Probably 70 percent of business users leave PCs on at night for various reasons. That's a lot of wasted energy," said Ajenstat.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/greentech/?tag=hdr;snav

Hybrid trucks strut on Capitol Hill

 

Shipping companies are a significant contributor of carbon dioxide emissions and now both FedEX and UPS have plans to start using hybrid delivery trucks. Friendly Computers thinks this information may be useful to you:

We often fret over our own gas mileage and that of our neighbors' cars, but how often do we stop to think about the commercial trucking industry's impact on the environment?

FedEx Express announced in November 2008 a plan to purchase vehicles that combine Azure Dynamics' hybrid system with a Ford gasoline engine and chassis. The company now claims to be one of the first to use gasoline hybrid-electric delivery trucks for commercial use.

Peterbilt began offering four hybrid models of commercial trucks in 2008.

UPS has begun using hybrid trucks containing Eaton's energy-saving Series Hybrid Hydraulic System technology.

But those changes barely made news outside of their industry despite the fact that commercial trucking is thought to be a significant contributor to carbon dioxide emissions in the U.S.

Perhaps that's why the Hybrid Truck Users Forum (HTUF) Incentive Working Group and Calstart saw fit to sponsor an event on the topic this Thursday.

And that is why Capitol Hill on Thursday is getting an upfront seat to the latest available in terms of hybrid commercial trucks at the "Hybrid on the Hill Day."

FedEx Express already has hybrid medium-duty trucks in its city fleets.

(Credit: FedEx Express)

Unlike other Washington, D.C., events that have highlighted hybrid cars and SUVs, Thursday's event features 17 medium and heavy-duty commercial hybrid trucks with participants from companies in the HTUF group that include Mack, Peterbilt, Freightliner, Kenworth, and FedEx Express.

The event taking place from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. EDT at the Capitol Reflecting Pool includes speakers discussing the benefits of hybrids in reducing emissions and cutting fuel use for the commercial trucking industry versus the initial cost layout of investing in new fleets during a tough economy, according to Calstart.

Duke University is also scheduled to unveil a report on the growth of the hybrid truck sector and what effects it may have on the commercial trucking industry.

 

Source: http://news.cnet.com/greentech/?tag=hdr;snav