Hasta La Ideas

pIt’s an understatement to say it will be tricky to fully convert America’s drivers to alternate-fuel or electric cars, largely because of infrastructure; there are gas stations everywhere, and the cost of laying down new electricity-charging points, hydrogen stations or what-have-you seems insurmountable when viewed in macro./p

pI also think that a large part of the problem is perceptual. I’d argue that the majority of Americans use their personal cars for fixed commutes within well-defined boundaries (encompassing home, school, work, shopping, and extracurriculars, the very definition of a community), and a minority use cars for long-haul road trips where you need remote refueling stations. Until a solution emerges for that latter problem, it seems obvious that a good way for alternate-fuel cars to make inroads–the kind of “I see those things everywhere” mentality that may lead to greater mass uptake–is to appeal to the former group. /p

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pThat will admittedly be a tough sell to the average American, who likes to feel like they can pick up and go whenever they like, even though they may never do so. So the step before that is to start converting fleets./p

pAll cities have fleets, scores of identical cars that drive within tightly-defined limits, whether they’re government cars for official use, police cars, ambulances, or postal trucks. There are also scores of commercial fleets–to use New York City as one example, there are hundreds of thousands of taxis, delivery trucks and repair vehicles that live their entire lives within the five boroughs–i.e. a charging station would never be far off, if the city or dispatchers themselves decided to invest in one./p

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pNew York City has taken some small experimental steps with electric and hybrid cars for police, taxis and sanitation, which you can read about in greater detail at A HREF=”http://www.evdriven.com/new-york-city/” this link/A, and is even A HREF=”http://www.allcarselectric.com/blog/1040766_new-york-citys-first-solar-charging-station-built-from-recycled-cargo-containers” testing out a solar-powered electric vehicle charging station/A (photo above) built by the Beautiful Earth Group. But these are baby steps. /p

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pI’m more interested to see things like A HREF=”http://electriccarstocks.com/2010/07/06/electric-car-company-inc-awarded-contract-to-build-limobuses-for-don-brown-bus-sales/” this morning’s news about the Electric Car Company Inc./A, which has just been awarded a contract by the humble-sounding Don Brown Bus Sales Inc. to convert 25 bus chassis into electric-powered limo buses. The contract is admittedly small–a “mere” $750,000–but since ECC Inc.’s subsidiary Imperial Coach Builders (the company A HREF=”http://www.limoland.com/electric-conversions.aspx” doing the actual converting/A) is “well known to be one of the premier designers of limobus interiors in the United States” and the Don Brown company carries one of the largest bus and van fleets in the Northeastern United States, I’m hoping that this blossoms into a major trend./pa href=”http://www.core77.com/blog/business/we_need_electric_fleets_and_limobuses_will_do_in_the_meanwhile_16881.asp”(more…)/a
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A l’occasion d’une séance pour le magazine WAD, le photographe Matthieu Deluc et Le Creative Sweatshop ont pu mettre en avant leur talent de composition avec ces clichés sur fond noir, doté de 5 accessoires très réussis avec du papier Arjowiggings. Plus d’images dans la suite.

Previously on Fubiz

• Tom Hoops
• Oleg Duryagin
• The Underwater Project

Borrow or rent equipment, tools, and reusable goods from your neighbors through the new NeighborGoods site. Instead of buying a specialized item, first check to see if you can save your money (and storage space) and get it on loan from a neighbor.

Since the NeighborGoods site is new, there might not be many items yet available in your community. If you’re interested in building up your community, don’t be shy about spreading the word to your friends and neighbors. The more people using the system increases the likelihood that you’ll find what you need.

Like this site? Buy Erin Rooney Doland’s Unclutter Your Life in One Week from Amazon.com today.

Following last month’s news that the Fayetteville Museum of Art was closing its doors forever, July brings more proof that the recession still isn’t over in the museum business. The Chapel Hill Museum in North Carolina has announced that its final day of operation will be this Sunday, July 11th. Like in Fayetteville, the 17 year-old museum was hit hard financially over the past couple of years. However, that’s not the whole story with Chapel Hill. The closure is in large part related to a battle between the museum and the local town council, who had pledged support for both the operating costs and general maintenance, but not to the level the museum’s board felt they needed to continue on. There’s also the issue of both parties’ plan to eventually have the museum taken over completely as a city-run entity, which according to the Chapel Hills News has apparently gotten muddled. Also according to the paper, the museum’s sudden decision to close has caught most of the city officials completely off guard, and that a meeting is planned for the 21st to see if something can’t be worked out. So is it goodbye forever, or just a clever play by the museum to get what they need to continue on? We shall see.

New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Here are the first official photos of the 10th Serpentine Gallery Pavilion in Kensington Gardens, London, designed by French architect Jean Nouvel. (more…)