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Written by Joanna Hoang   
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Tuesday, 19 October 2010

Hybrid Cars and Clean Living in Silicon Valley

At the forefront of the cleantech revolution, many residents of Silicon Valley are utilizing technology for sustainable living practices. Many local businesses, including tech companies, hotels, etc. are remodeling their buildings to be LEED certified, installing solar power panels, buying wind/water power, as well as adding charging stations to their parking lots for hybrid and electric vehicle owners.

Frequently referred to as the “new Detroit”, Silicon Valley is making great strides towards more eco-friendly roads through hybrid and electric vehicle innovation. Highly educated, environmentally conscious individuals are pushing for a higher production and increased efficiency in the hybrid car.

Many companies, such as Google, Hyperion, Bank of America, and Fairmont Hotel offer incentives to their employees and/or consumers to buy and use hybrid cars. These incentives include free parking, reimbursements, and a variety of discounts. By enticing others to purchase these vehicles, the companies are supporting green practices in and outside of the workplace, depicting the importance of sustainability practices to members of the community.

Hybrid Parking Only

Since the first 4-door sedan hybrid made its debut in the United States in 2000, the average fuel consumption per person in Silicon Valley dropped by about thirteen percent whereas the entire state of California as a whole only experienced a drop in fuel usage per person by only two percent. Based on new car registrations in 2008, California has the highest number of hybrid sales. The San Francisco area including Silicon Valley has the most new hybrid sales after Portland, Oregon. Also California has about twelve percent of licensed drivers in the United States but holds a significant percentage, roughly twenty percent, of hybrid car owners. Over at Berkeley, the land of the liberal and radicals, about one out of every six car buyers purchases a hybrid vehicle—making Berkeley the city with the highest number of hybrid car owner rate in the state. Californian residents, specifically those of the Bay Area and Silicon Valley are statistically more likely to purchase hybrid vehicles.

Top 10 Hybrid States

In Silicon Valley, not only is there support for private consumer hybrid vehicles, but there is also support for hybrid taxis, buses, and trains. Silicon Valley Companies such as Atria Controls Inc. (Los Altos), Wrightspeed Inc. (Palo Alto), and Zap (Santa Rosa), are looking to create and widely distribute efficient subsystems for new hybrid cars. The subsystems such as lithium phosphate battery packs are to be distributed to taxi, truck, and bus makers.

As an alternative to purchasing these cars, there is always public transportation, carpool programs, or the ZipCar program where you rent a car as you need it. Arguably once the public transportation is perfected and made efficient it may prove to be a more sustainable practice, such as the subway system in Japan or the railways of Europe. To emulate the reduction in emissions, other locations can begin with the purchase of hybrid or electric vehicles, and Silicon Valley certainly has taken this environmentally progressive mission head on!

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1 http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4088581/Entrepreneurs-drive-Silicon-Valley-toward-Detroit-2-0
2 http://www.hybridcars.com/corporate-incentives.html
3http://www.hybridcars.com/history/history-of-hybrid-vehicles.html;
http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_14435769?nclick_check=1&forced=true
4 Id.
5 http://www.eetimes.com/electronics-news/4088581/Entrepreneurs-drive-Silicon-Valley-toward-Detroit-2-0




Comments (7)
RSS comments
1. 23-01-2012 23:31
Hybrid and electric cars are becoming more and more popular and it's good to have the common charging station at the parking lot, so that the cars get charged while those are parked in the parking , it minimizes the efforts to charging it separately and saves the charging time. 
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2. 03-09-2011 01:30
Good Option
Hybrid technology is the best technique to develop the automotive industry, and to do well. Hybrid cars good for the environment because they increase pollution daily. 
 
 
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3. 12-08-2011 01:06
Good Option
Hybrid technology is the best technology developing in automotive world and doing great. Hybrid cars are the future cars, In future every automobile company will focus on these cars, So no one knows who will be the next leading Company. May be the Toyota will be the Next!! 
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greeniac12083
4. 26-04-2011 19:21
Good Option
The now days are the Hybrid cars good for the environment because they day day increase the pollution..The Hybrid cars better options use more more natures resource use... 
 
[URL=http://www.remarkableatvs.com]Atv For Sale[/URL] :)
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5. 21-03-2011 23:03
Japanese used cars
Hybrid cars are also good for the environment not only because they are preventing pollution, but because they are using up less of our natural resources. It has been shown that if we continue to use oil at the rate we are presently using it, it will not be long before there is no oil left.  
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6. 17-03-2011 02:25
Good Option
Now a days Hybrid car is good option if you want to keep your city clean and pollution free.[URL=http://www.remarkablervs.com/usedrvsforsale/used_rvs.php]Used Motorhomes[/URL]
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7. 25-01-2011 15:12
Good Option
There is a lot of environment and car enthusiast alike patronizing this hybrid cars. More and more [URL=http://www.carparts.com]parts of a car[/URL] are being configured to meet this new electric technology. Its no wonder most of the Silicon Valley residents are patronizing this cars. The most centralized technology center of America is doing i, why not we do it to our own local areas. This will lessen the fuel emissions and fuel importation from other country. Let make this also for the betterment of our economy.
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