Postcard from Iceland (2 of 2)

Tuesday, November 04, 2008
It's really hard to beat a week in Iceland.  With the conference over, we went on a tour tracking down electric cars and the clean electricity to power them. 

Blue LagoonHighlights the second half included an unlikely interview in the spectacular black lava "Blue Lagoon" hot springs. This is the place where tourists sometimes ask "...why did they build such a hot springs resort so close to a powerplant?!" The answer is the nearby geothermal powerplant is the very reason the spa exists. Why?? The Reykianes Peninsula geothermal plant uses the hot water it pumps up in three ways - first to to make nearly carbon free electricity, second to heat water in homes, and third to fill the Blue Lagoon resort lava fields with clean tourist-loving mineral water.  We can say from personal experience, however, that this is not an easy place to film in such a place especially in rain and high winds. We were lucky to get the interviews we were able to -especially with the President- as Iceland was under incredible financial stress. While we were there, the currency had lost half of its value, real estate transactions had stopped, and bankruptcy loomed thanks to rampant overseas speculation. 

Since we left, the country has taken over its 3 major banks and owes more then $60 billion dollars. Sound familiar? Flying back to the US, the Icelandic airport security was so friendly I felt like I was in an idealic scene from "Catch Me if you Can."  Ahh, to live in a country with a great President, relaxed but secure airports and green electricity. Big picture, one can't help thinking how much money Iceland could have saved by not importing gasoline all these years when it had ample supplies of free electricity for its vehicles.  That could definitely be in its future.
Comments (2) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

Postcard From Iceland (1 of 2)

Saturday, October 11, 2008
landscapeThe rumors are true. Iceland is beautiful. Sitting on the continental plates between Europe and North America, this volcanic island is home to a mere 300,000 people. I came as a guest for Driving Sustainability, Iceland's conference for the future of cars. They lined up an international and terrific schedule. Yet-Ming Chiang from A123 Systems in Cambridge, Bill Dube, from the Killacycle, Sven Thesen and John Proctor from Better Place, the MiEV team from Mitsubishi, and on and on. After the two day conference, we stayed on to film for "Revenge," because Iceland's electricity is 100% renewable — the perfect place for EVs. 

Chris and President

Thanks to its wise investment in geothermal plants, Iceland's energy is clean and practically free. The only oil that gets used here goes towards fueling our worldwide addiction (which Iceland shares) to the internal combustion engine. Thankfully this may all be changing — at least according to its President who met us at Iceland's White House (the Bessastadir). President Olafur Grimsson has a vision for his country that does not include oil. Facing bankruptcy, the country cannot afford to import oil when electric vehicles could meet the needs of most of its city drivers. After a failed experiment with hydrogen, the real issue is getting carmakers to sell electric cars and educating the public about their advantages. We toured the country with a local crew and got some fabulous footage. 

From the annual meeting of a 4x4 truck club in Iceland's glacial interior, to the steaming vents of its power plants, we tracked the story. Can Iceland use its clean energy to replace gasoline driving?




Comments (3) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

GM Detroit Shoot (2 of 2)

Sunday, October 05, 2008
tech centerEarly wakeup calls in Detroit continued as our grand tour picked up speed.

We shoot at the Tech Center campus where engineers ran tests on Volt battery packs. To our surprise, some of the industrial battery testing equipment came from Aerovironment, the company who had built the SunRaycer and Impact EV prototypes back in the early 1990s.

GM Vice-chairman, Bob Lutz invited us to their private test track about an hour outside of Detroit. After an off-camera briefing about all their alt energy car efforts, we took a high speed run in the Volt "mule" vehicle. It was as nearly as quick as their EV1 and every bit as smooth. EVs are just incredible. The only cloud that hung over a picture-perfect day was whether GM had the money and time to regain the edge it had ten years ago.

On the morning of the new Volt introduction, about a thousand people gathered in a four story atrium in the Renaissance Center in Detroit. There were many journalists we recognized there from the LA Times, the Wall Street Journal and so on.

GM divisions from around the world checked in live on the jumbo screen to underscore that GM was a global company, not just an American company because the overseas story has been good lately.

The live video feeds crescendoed from the top of China's largest skyscraper, the Shanghai World Financial Center. Champagne poured at midnight and the company celebrated. As footage of Buicks and Western cars cruised down Chinese streets, it reminded me that only a few years ago Chinese cities were known for their bicycles, not Western cars and skyscrapers.

100thIt all came back to live in Detroit where Bob Lutz drove the new Chevy Volt from under the TV screens onto the stage. As journalists rushed Bob and the car, the Volt looked much better then the pirated photos that had surfaced on the internet. GM was putting the electric car front and center of its 100 year anniversary.

From what I could see in our few days of our official tour, GM is running a very serious engineering to build the Volt and PR program to change the public's perception of its corporate vision. Whether the company can stay solvent, keep its team on-track, and get Volts actually built and sold in numbers is the rest of the story.

Comments (5) | Trackbacks (0) | Permalink

1 2 Next