Millennials: The Core of the Clean Economy? Or Overhyped as the Green Generation?

May 5, 2015

Author: Jing Wei

Depending on your perspective, millennials are either the most globally aware, technologically savvy generation or the most distracted, dependent, self-obsessed generation.For many, those feelings about millennials extend to the environment. Some criticize their shallow engagement and say young people mistake Facebook "likes" and virtual signatures for actual action. Others believe millennials are much more sophisticated about the environment, pointing to the surge in green MBAs and cleantech startups working to solve big problems.In this week"s podcast, we"ll be joined by guest co-host Andrew Winston, author of The Big Pivot, to debate the role of millennials in the clean economy.

At the top of the show, we"ll discuss the correlation between corporate environmental strategy and rankings for the top-50 most innovative companies in the world. And then we"ll also chat about how the elections may impact utilities around the country.This podcast is brought to you bySMA, the world's leading solar inverter manufacturer.With more than 850 service experts, 90 service hubs, 30-plus gigawatts installed globally and thousands of commercial and utility projects completed worldwide, SMA is the partner of choice for your PV projects.The Energy Gang is produced by Greentechmedia.com. The show features weekly discussion between energy futurist Jigar Shah, energy policy expert Katherine Hamilton and Greentech Media Editor Stephen Lacey.To guarantee that EVs will have a total cost of ownership that"s cheaper than gasoline-powered cars, Vision Fleet studied Indianapolis" existing fleet using on-board telematics for several months. This analysis alone allowed the city to cut 100 unnecessary vehicles from its fleet.Vision Fleet also installed a custom-built telematics and analytics platform, Vision Fleet iQ, in each of its EVs as part of the Clean Miles Solution.

The platform helps a fleet to right-size vehicles to a particular task, enables reimbursement for at-home charging of take-home vehicles, and is able to track behavioral data. Similar to Opower's platform for utility customers, Vision Fleets shares data with fleet drivers to help them drive more efficiently, either by changing routes or speeds, or charging at different times.These capabilities help to maximize the number of electric miles and substantially reduce the costs to deploy electric vehicles by increasing driving fuel efficiency and plug-in rates, as well as reducing both the number of vehicles required and charging infrastructure needs. By transitioning a mile traveled on gasoline to electricity, the fuel savings can be as much as 80 percent, according to Vision Fleet.Each gasoline-powered sedan in Indianapolis" fleet would have cost taxpayers approximately $9,000 per year over the next decade, including purchase, fuel, maintenance and insurance. The new plug-in vehicles will cost approximately $7,400 per year, saving taxpayers $1,600 per vehicle.

Indianapolis signed a $32 million, seven-year contract with Vision Fleet. But in switching to a mix of pure electric and plug-in hybrid vehicles, including the Nissan Leaf, the Chevrolet Volt, and the Ford Fusion Energi, the city expects to save 2.2 million gallons of gasoline and $8.7 million over the next ten years.Vision Fleet will continue to roll out and monitor EVs in Indianapolis over the next year. The startup, backed by the Colorado-based, sustainability-oriented investment firm Vision Ridge Partners, is also working with the state of Colorado on a full assessment of its vehicles to find opportunities for alternative-fuel vehicle adoption. Vision Fleet is actively seeking to deploy its innovative contract model with other government fleets.see more at:12v 18ah lithium battery