News Roundup
News Roundup for August 31
ON TRACK FOR FIVE MILLION
Toyota Prius
Toyota Motor Corp. expects to reach cumulative sales of five million hybrid vehicles by 2015, according to its latest environmental plan. The world’s biggest automaker said it has sold more than 2.68 million gasoline-electric hybrid vehicles since it first launched the line in 1997. The company has a goal of selling at least one million hybrid vehicles a year in the early part of this decade and plans to introduce a hybrid option across its whole lineup in the 2020s. Toyota also said it would improve its vehicles’ average fuel efficiency by 25 percent compared with 2005 levels.
UNDER THE MICROSCOPE
The Maryland Public Service Commission is ordering an outside review of Pepco’s reliability and wants the investor-owned utility to hand over internal records related to service restoration following this year’s storms. Regulators called for an independent review of the utility’s reliability and said they are interested in Pepco’s overall track record in this area, not just its responses following storms. They also asked the IOU, which serves the District of Columbia and its Maryland suburbs, for information on how it communicates with customers on reliability.
ENERGY ATTITUDES
Americans don’t realize what they really have to do to conserve energy, according to a study by Columbia University’s Earth Institute. Only 2 to 3 percent of Americans cited major energy-saving steps such as purchasing energy-efficient cars and appliances and weatherizing their homes as being important to reducing energy use. Nearly 20 percent said turning off lights is the best way to conserve energy. The researchers said most Americans focus on what is cheap and easy at the moment, and believe that after doing one or two things to save energy, they’ve done enough.
GREEN MOUNTAIN GRID
The Vermont Public Service Board has approved a $68 million plan by the state’s largest electric utility for a smart grid program. The SmartPower plan by the Central Vermont Public Service Corp. will include automated metering, two-way communications systems and other strategies, reducing demand during peak usage times. The first new meters are expected to be installed next year.
―Based on news and wire reports
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