Alliance to Save Energy Joins Launch of National Campaign Advocating Development of Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles
The Alliance to Save Energy News
Alliance to Save Energy Joins Launch of National Campaign Advocating Development of Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles
Washington, D.C., January 24, 2006 – The Alliance to Save Energy today joins the city of Austin and its public utility, Austin Energy, in launching the Plug-In Partners coalition encouraging automakers to develop plug-in hybrid vehicles.
The broad-based Plug-In Partners coalition, which includes Los Angeles, San Francisco, Seattle, Denver, Baltimore, national security and environmental groups, businesses, and electric utilities, is undertaking a year-long campaign to build grassroots demand for production of plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles (PHEVs). A website, www.pluginpartners.org, provides a full listing of all coalition members, information on plug-in technology, and a consumer petition calling for commercialization of PHEVs.
PHEVs combine today’s gas-electric hybrid technology with a larger battery that can be recharged by plugging into a standard wall socket. The larger batteries allow vehicles to travel 25 to 35 miles before requiring recharging or the use of gasoline, allowing U.S. consumers to significantly reduce their gasoline consumption and costs, as well as their vehicle emissions.
“Drawing energy from existing power plants, plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles have the potential to cut a vehicle’s petroleum consumption and fuel costs by about three-fourths and to reduce a vehicle’s greenhouse gas emissions by two-thirds,” said Alliance President Kateri Callahan. “Indeed, with 97 percent of our transportation sector dependent on oil and practical application of hydrogen technologies decades away, plug-in hybrid-electric vehicles are the most immediate and practical alternative to petroleum and represent a ‘bridge technology’ to a sustainable transportation future.
“As we increasingly turn to alternative technologies to improve the fuel economy of our vehicles,” Callahan added, “we will realize benefits to our economy, our environment, and our national security.”
In 2003, the Alliance honored the city of Austin and Austin Energy with its highest honor, the Charles H. Percy Award for Public Service, in recognition of their annual investment of nearly $15 million in energy-efficiency programs and their electricity savings, since 1982, equivalent to the annual output of a 500-megawatt power plant.
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