The agreement comes less than two weeks after Better Place CEO Shai Agassi and the mayors of Northern California’s three largest cities unveiled a plan to build an electric car infrastructure for the San Francisco Bay Area. Better Place also has signed similar deals with governments in Australia, Denmark and Israel.

Agassi said the network of charging posts and battery swapping stations will be ready by 2012. That’s roughly the target date for Better Place’s other projects, which means the year-old startup will be simultaneously building electric car networks in four countries while raising billions of dollars in project finance.

Renault-Nissan will supply electric cars for the network. Better Place will own the car batteries and charge drivers for the miles (or kilometers) driven. By removing the battery from the purchase price of electric cars – the most expensive component – Better Place hopes to sell vehicles at prices competitive with their fossil-fueled counterparts.

Appearing with Agassi at a press conference at the capitol in Honolulu, Hawaii Governor Linda Lingle said the Better Place partnership offers the state the opportunity to slash the $7 billion it spends annually on imported oil and provide a market for renewable energy. Hawaiians pay some of the highest gasoline prices in the U.S. and the state has set a goal of obtaining 70% of its energy from solar, wind and other renewable sources by 2030.

“It’s not a simple goal – we’re looking to end our dependence on oil,” said Agassi, who shed his customary dark suit for a gray polo shirt and wore a lei. “Any form of renewable energy – wind, solar, geothermal – is here in Hawaii.”

“This will be the blueprint where six or seven million visitors will come and experience first-hand what it’s like to drive an electric car,” added Agassi, 40, a former top executive at business software giant SAP. “You couldn’t ask for a better advertisement.”

Utility Hawaiian Electric (HE), which supplies 95% of the state’s power, will generate renewable electricity equal to what the Better Place network consumes and work with the company on developing the charging infrastructure.

“The price of oil is irrelevant to us – we have to reach a clean and secure energy future,” Lingle said.

Better Place’s latest deal came on the same day that General Motors (GM) and Ford, which have asked for a multi billion-dollar bailout from Congress, (F) announced plans ramp up production of hybrid and electric cars.

“It’s a win-win-win – the only loser in the equation is oil and that’s ok,” said Hawaiian Electric executive vice president Robbie Alm. “Green cars will provide the market for renewable energy.”

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The credit union’s Go Green Auto Loan gives discounts for vehicles that are labeled "hybrid" or have at least 25 miles per gallon. Annual rates are 4.4 percent, and further discounts are given based on payment plans.

"In the face of rising gas prices, this program is one way to help our members meet this challenge," said Wallace Watanabe, president and CEO of Aloha Pacific, the first credit union in Hawaii to offer green-car incentives.

Aloha Pacific FCU is the third largest credit union in Hawaii with more than $450 million in assets.

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Honolulu ranked No. 27 and received a B for its number of fuel efficient vehicles, miles driven and other criteria, according to the July/August issue of Men’s Health magazine.

Seattle has the nation’s "greenest" drivers, while Arlington, Texas, has the nation’s least "green" drivers.

The magazine said it ranked 100 U.S. cities by using data including gas consumption, miles driven annually, air quality (ozone and particle pollutants), vehicle efficiency (size, age, and frequency of tune-ups), mass transit quality and usage.

Data was gathered, according to the magazine, from the National Transit Database, the American Lung Association, the Texas Transportation Institute at Texas A&M University, SimplyMap, and the Energy Information Administration.

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and the Nimitz Highway contraflow lane from two to three — a move expected to decrease the number of cars in the lanes by about 300 daily.

The change will go into effect July 8, and comes as many Zipper Lane users are actually seeing longer morning drive times, by as much as 20 minutes, than those in the general lanes.

Brennon Morioka, state Department of Transportation director, conceded that the minimum-occupancy increase will likely inconvenience people at first, especially those who have to scramble for another passenger or face steering clear of the Zipper Lane.

But eventually, he said, "we believe we’ll be able to move more people in fewer cars."

If the Zipper Lane change works, the new restriction could spread to other contraflow and high-occupancy vehicle lanes on Kalaniana’ole Highway, H-2 Freeway and Moanalua Freeway, Morioka added.

When it opened in 1998, the Zipper Lane required at least three people per car. The requirement was dropped to two people in summer 2005, after residents and lawmakers complained the Zipper Lane was being underused. The lane now carries about 3,800 cars every weekday morning (from 5:30 to 8:30 a.m.), up from about 2,300 cars in 1998.

Once the new requirement takes effect, the state expects to see about 3,500 cars in the lane.

national trend

Panos Prevedouros, a University of Hawai’i professor who specializes in traffic engineering, said cities across the country are moving from traditionally two-person requirements for high-occupancy vehicle lanes to restricting the lanes to cars with three people or more, largely to improve the appeal of HOV lanes.

He said the lanes have become flooded under the two-person system.

Requiring three people per car often means the lanes provide a sure bet of a faster commute.

But some drivers aren’t thrilled with the new rules. In Los Angeles, San Francisco and other large urban centers that are considering or have already moved to three-person restrictions, drivers are protesting the changes, arguing the benefits don’t outweigh the costs to those shoved into the general driving lanes.

"Most of California is at two people per car. That is the standard," said Prevedouros.

"They are having resistance" in efforts to change it, he added.

mixed reactions here

West O’ahu residents who use the Zipper Lane had mixed reactions yesterday about the switch.

Richard Oshiro, chairman of the Waipahu Neighborhood Board, said the HOV change will only further congest the other lanes.

"I think it works better the way it is," said Oshiro, who said he occasionally uses the Zipper Lane. "I think we should maximize all the lanes, then everybody saves more time. With the change, you’re going to have more people in the other lanes and less, obviously, in the Zipper Lane."

Kurt Fevella, vice chairman of the ‘Ewa Neighborhood Board, said he would support the change if the other HOV lane on H-1 Freeway west-bound, located next to the Zipper Lane, were converted into a general-use lane. It won’t be, Morioka said, but cars with only two people will still be able to use it.

The Zipper Lane change is welcome news for James Gowler, a driver in the Vanpool Hawai’i program.

The 60-year-old Mililani resident said the Zipper Lane has become increasingly congested.

"When schools are in, driving in the Zipper Lane doesn’t really make that much difference," he said.

Gowler has six people in his vanpool, all of whom work at Tripler Army Medical Center.

Morioka said the change was timed during the summer so commuters would get used to the new occupancy rule before thousands of students return to the roads. And he said he believes drivers will be more receptive to the changes now, with soaring gas prices spurring more people to carpool or take the bus.

The state also noted that taking the Zipper Lane isn’t always paying off.

From 5:30 to 6:30 a.m., it takes about 50 minutes on average in the Zipper Lane from Kapolei to Kukahi Street in ‘Iwilei, compared with 34 minutes in the general-purpose lanes. Starting out at 6:15 a.m. from Kapolei, it takes 80 minutes in the Zipper Lane to get to Kukahi Street, compared with 75 minutes in open lanes, according to state DOT statistics.

The Zipper Lane and Nimitz Highway contraflow lane stretch 15 miles from Waikele to Downtown.

Morioka said the state has been working with police to make sure the new rules are enforced.

Technically, officers will be able to issue fines for those with fewer than three people starting the morning of July 8. But Morioka said officers will be able to use their judgment and could issue warnings to those unaware of the change. As it is, police periodically patrol the Zipper Lane to make sure cars have at least two people.

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Car pooling, also known as ride-sharing or lift-sharing, can save you big bucks on gas, wear and tear on your vehicle, oil resources and reduce all the associated nasty environmental impact associated with driving. But wait, there’s more!.

When you drive to work, are you alone or do you have room for other passengers? Have you ever noticed how many others around you are driving on their own too? In Australia, 83% people who drove to work or study in 2003 did not have a passenger. (ABS Social Trends, 2003). In the USA, single occupant commuting is around 75% according to census data.
There are millions of us who engage in solitary travel to and from work; driving billions of miles each year, spending a stack of cash on gas and pumping tons of emissions into the atmosphere.

According to the SightLine Insitute (single passenger statistics):

- A small car emits around .59 pounds of carbon dioxide per mile
- A medium car emits around 1.1 pounds of carbon dioxide per mile
- An SUV/4 wheel emits around 1.57 pounds of carbon dioxide per mile

If public transport isn’t for you and you’ve rejected the idea of car pooling in the past for whatever reasons, technology has provided more far more choice, flexibility and efficiency to the concept – perhaps it’s time to consider it again?
As mentioned, you don’t necessarily have to have a car to participate in a lift sharing arrangement. In these cases you should plan to contribute cash to the driver to help cover his or her costs.

Formal carpooling is thought to have emerged in mid-1970s, likely due to the oil crisis at that time. It was a different sort of crisis back then and what we face now is far more serious. Our crisis isn’t so much about politics or oil cartels; it’s about a resource that’s running out and one that plays a major role in global warming – oil.

While the days of plentiful, easy to extract crude oil are just about over; there will be still enough around for some years to come to push us well over the brink into runaway global warming. Unavoidable change is already occurring to our climate, but it’s within the power of each of us to do our little bit to reduce emissions – and our collective efforts can make a difference as to how bad things get.

Car pooling advantages

Save money

Just putting aside the gloom and doom aspect of the environmental impact of fossil fuels; consider even the cost saving aspect. I’ve been reading a fair bit on car pooling today and it hasn’t been uncommon to read stories of people who save a couple of hundred dollars a month in transport costs by sharing a ride with someone else. In some cities, you can also save on tolls and parking if your vehicle has multiple occupants.

It’s not just the cost of gas, tolls and parking, but city driving is notorious for causing wear on vehicles – all the stopping and starting wears out engines, brakes and gearboxes, not to mention tire wear. According to the American Automobile Association, it costs an average of 26.2 cents per mile to drive a car; and that’s just gas and wear and tear combined.

Decongests roads

According to a recent US study, "Commuting in America":

- U.S. drivers wasted 4.2 billion hours sitting in traffic in 2005
- Traffic delays chewed through 2.9 billion gallons of fuel
- In Los Angeles, the average driver wastes 72 hours per year going nowhere.
If everyone car pooled, imagine the many hundreds of thousands of vehicles that would be off the road each day. This would lessen traffic congestion, making trips faster, cutting fuel and car maintenance costs even further. Some places even have roads with designated lanes for multiple occupant vehicles and I expect we’ll see more of this in the years ahead.

Social/emotional

Through sharing a ride, you’ll meet other people. Our online world is steadily disconnecting people and that can be unhealthy for many folks. For some people, there’s nothing like a pep session before the daily grind and a counselling session immediately afterwards .

Also, if you find driving to work stressful, car pooling can alleviate the frustration in travelling to and from the workplace. You may even find time to carry out other tasks during the drive instead, such as preparing for meetings etc.

Flexibility through technology

In the early days of car pooling, it was fairly restrictive and it could be difficult to find people you get along with to team up to share a ride. The advent of the World Wide Web has changed all that. Many online services have sprung up that provide a good choice of people to ride share with and therefore greater flexibility with your own timetable. Better online resources will offer the following matching:

Geographic –  matching departure and destination routes
Chronological – matching times of departure and arrival

Personal Preferences. – Points such as whether you wish to be a driver and/or passenger, gender preferences, smoker/non-smoker – some even provide matching for music choices. That’s quite a good idea; I know I would go absolutely nuts sitting through an hour of rap (no offense to rappers intended).
Here’s some online car pooling resources to check out:

USA
eRideShare.com
CarPoolConnect

Alternatively, try running a search on your favorite search engine using terms such as:

car pool town
ride share town
lift share town

…. where town is your town, suburb or city name

Splitting the words up will also find occurrences of single word occurrences on most major engines; e.g "lift share" will locate instances of "liftshare" also.

If you come across any particularly good online resources not mentioned above, please let me know and I’ll build on the list.
If you can’t find a service that really suits you; perhaps try to form a structured car pool at your place of work.

Car pooling precautions

Wherever humans are involved, there is *always* potential for things to go wrong and not everyone in the world is.. umm.. balanced. If you’re a newbie to the idea of car pooling with folks you don’t know, here’s some basic guidelines to bear in mind.

- Try to meet the your prospective new car pooling buddies in a public place first before making firm arrangements to travel together. Don’t reveal too much personal information up to that point.

- Ask some probing questions about driving habits. You don’t want to end up being stuck with someone prone to road rage or other habits that don’t suit you.

- Try to confirm your prospective travel partner’s identity. Ask to see their driver’s license or other state-issued ID and reciprocate the gesture.

- Trust your instincts. If something doesn’t feel quite right, don’t go ahead with the arrangement.

- Be sure you exchange emergency medical information once you’re comfortable and decide to go ahead with the arrangement. This is in case you’re in an accident.

- Make sure you settle on issues such as eating/drinking in the vehicle, stops along the way and flexibility in pickup times; i.e. how late can a person be before they’ll miss a lift.

- Have a backup plan as sometimes unavoidable situations will occur such as you become ill or the other person is ill.

It’s really important that everyone involved in the ride sharing arrangement is aware of and agrees upon the ground rules and it’s probably wise to have them written down. Winging it is a sure-fire recipe for disaster.
I can see a time in the not too distant future where vehicles with single occupants will become prime targets for higher tolls and other disincentives; so why not try giving it a whirl and ease yourself into lift sharing at your own pace? Your pocket and the planet will benefit!

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This 1987 Volkswagen Westfalia named Sedona rents for $105 per day.

Sharon and Gary Berg, owners of Hilo-based G.B. Adventures, rent out a fleet of pop-top camper vans that are ideal for touring the island’s stunning beaches, parks and volcanoes. With names like Whitey and Tolula Blue, the mint-condition Vanagons sleep four and are equipped with sinks, stoves, and mini-fridges — even beach towels and island maps.

"All you need is your swimsuit and flip-flops," says Sharon, who’s lived on the island for more than 20 years.

A week-long itinerary that circles the Big Island might go something like this …

After meeting the Bergs at Hilo International Airport and picking up the van, stock up on food at the farmer’s market (hilofarmersmarket.com). Head 40 miles south to the Volcanoes National Park and spend the night at Namakani Paio campsite, a free facility located off on Highway 11 (hawaii.volcanoes.national-park.com).

Next, drive down to Punalu’u Beach Park — it’s about 40 minutes away — and wake up on a black sand beach where sea turtles nest (hawaii-county.com/parks/punaluu.htm; $5 per person).

Cruise around South Point and stay the night at Ho’okena, which is 50 miles from Punalu’u. You’ll find a lovely white sand beach (hawaii-county.com/parks/hookena.htm; $5 per person). "Make sure to turn left off the parking lot to the dirt side of the park," Sharon advises. "You’ll be literally backing up right onto the beach for the night."

Continue 60 miles north along the island’s west coast to North Kona and set up camp at Spencer Beach Park (hawaii-county.com/parks/spencer.htm; $5 per person), which has a scenic trail that accesses small, secluded swimming spots. The hike is especially impressive during whale season.

Before returning to Hilo, pop the van’s top at Laupahoehoe (hawaii-county.com/parks/laupahoehoe.htm; $5 per person), about an hour’s drive from Spencer’s. There’s no swimming at this rocky beach, but the huge green lawn is a great place to hang out for the evening. From here, it’s a half hour back to Hilo.

To ensure availability, book the vans at least two weeks before arrival or six months if you’ll be traveling during the peak holiday season. The Bergs can advise on the best itineraries, campsites, secluded beaches and little-known hikes.

Most Big Island campgrounds require pre-purchased permits, so while it might be tempting to hit the road and just explore, some advance planning is a good idea (info at ehawaiigov.org.) Vans are rented for a minimum of four nights; from $95 per day.

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The statewide average price for regular unleaded reached a record $4.31 per gallon Wednesday, up from $3.41 a year ago.

Honolulu-area gas prices increased to a record $4.33, compared to $3.94 a month ago and $3.37 a year ago, according to AAA.

In Hilo, gas is $4.33, compared to $3.94 a month ago and $3.37 a year ago.

Wailuku gas prices hit $4.54. Fuel there is up from $4.26 a month ago and $3.75 a year ago.

The average price of a gallon of gas is most expensive in California, where it costs $4.60. Gas is cheapest in Missouri, at $3.83.

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Nice run. But unlike many automakers dabbling in greener product, Honda is already moving on to phase two, with cars such as its FCX Clarity hydrogen fuel cell sedan, which is emission-free.

“Our commitment is more for the long term,” says Barbara Ponce, manager of corporate advertising at Honda. Her job is to communicate Honda’s corporate philosophy for its cars, motorcycles and power equipment, and that doesn’t include bragging about every green trophy added to Honda’s shelf.

“Environmental advertising is not a box to check. It’s organic to the brand,” Ponce says, adding that Honda’s green messaging reflects its corporate philosophy and DNA.

Part of this strategic approach may come from the fact that Honda is no eco-newbie. For decades, the company has devoted r&d to advanced technologies, first resulting in early adopter vehicles such as the Insight hybrid and leading up to Honda’s latest green-inspired model, the FCX Clarity, available this summer via lease in California.

The Civic GX — fueled by compressed natural gas and billed as “the cleanest mass-produced sedan on the planet” — was ranked the greenest vehicle for the fifth straight year in 2008 by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. The GX joined the gasoline Civic, Fit and Civic Hybrid among the council’s 12 most environmentally conscious vehicles available.

Storyteller

In its advertising, Honda looks for the most compelling environmental stories to tell, Ponce says. Last fall, Honda launched a corporate site, www.dreams.honda.com, and loaded it with information about its technology, the FCX Clarity, the Asimo robot, solar efforts and an upcoming fuel-efficient, eight-seat jet.

“Consumers appreciate it when a company shares information with them and walks the walk,” Ponce says.

Honda also offers the gasoline-conserving Fit and Civic small cars, which help the brand tout its long-term fuel economy commitment in ads from RPA, of Santa Monica, Calif. “Reverse your thinking” is the tag for the current Civic Hybrid, which first arrived in 2002.

Honda promoted Keep America Beautiful’s Great American Cleanup through May. The automaker paired its car dealers with thousands of volunteers to beautify streets, roads and highways and awarded grants to the three organizations that collected the most litter and recruited the most helpers.

Last fall, Honda landed on top in CNW Marketing Research’s consumer survey on good citizenship, as a corporation with environmentally friendly products and clean plants.

Breathing room

The carmaker also says every one of its 2007 Honda and Acura vehicles designed and assembled in North America has achieved 90 percent or greater design recyclability. The com-pany has committed to introducing more efficient gasoline, gasoline-electric hybrid and clean-diesel-powertrain technologies in the next several years.

Honda has the breathing room to concentrate on green issues, even in the industry’s worst sales year in a decade.

Honda Division’s new-vehicle sales in the United States rose 7.1 percent through May vs. a year ago to 590,361 units. But American Honda’s upscale Acura brand saw sales fall 12.5 percent to 65,458 units.

Honda loyalists and even “die-hard Detroit buyers” have a relatively high perception of the Honda brand, says CNW President Art Spinella. And being recognized for environmental innovation builds stability in Honda’s base of people who intend to buy its vehicles.

When it comes to communications, Spinella says, Honda “appears as a humble manufacturer of competent products, and it does what it does well without patting itself on the back.”

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The statewide average price for a gallon of diesel fuel cost $5.22 in Hawaii on Monday, followed by New York at $5.13, and California, at $5.12. Those are the only three states to have surpassed the $5 mark, AAA said.

Diesel prices here are up 51 cents over last month, when a gallon was $4.71. Prices are up 46 percent, or $1.66, from $3.56 a year ago.

In Hilo, a gallon of diesel averaged $5.39, up from $4.59 a month ago and $3.50 a year ago.

In Honolulu, the current price for diesel was $5.18 a gallon, up from $4.52 a month ago and $3.48 a year ago.

And in Wailuku, a gallon of diesel averaged $5.26, down a penny from the day before, but up $4.82 a month ago and $3.72 a year ago.

Diesel is cheapest in Missouri, where the statewide average is $4.60 a gallon. The nationwide average is $4.79.

Pacific Business News (Honolulu)

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