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Students use 3D glasses to view the color spectrum.

PUD experts help students make sense of science

Attention Cashmere Middle School parents: If your seventh grader asks you for permission to ski behind a solar-powered car over the frozen highways of Canada, blame Jim White.

White, a Chelan County PUD engineer, and Eric Sydenstricker, PUD technician, are helping students in Bob Martin’s seventh grade science class build their own solar-powered model cars. To introduce the concept, White showed the class a YouTube video of him ice-skiing behind a car that operates totally on solar energy. Not to be outdone, Sydenstricker led the class outdoors, putting his radio-controlled monster truck through a parking-lot snow bank to show off its road skills.

Pretty cool stuff, huh?

The Cashmere demonstration in January kicked off a pilot program that’s bringing PUD employees into classrooms at four middle schools this year. Ruth Erwert, recruiting program manager and Bob Bauer, communications specialist at the PUD, brought the idea to the North Central Educational Service District (ESD). Mechelle LaLanne, ESD science coordinator, worked with teachers and ESD staff to develop the program. Erwert’s goal is to make students aware of career opportunities and “build a pipeline of future workers,” she said. LaLanne’s goal is to place experts in the classrooms to complement the curriculum, which in seventh grade focuses on energy, machines and motion.

The other middle schools and their projects are:

Entiat, where students are working with teacher Kevin Jones to learn about electrical circuits and how they operate mechanical devices. PUD experts offering help and encouragement are John Sagerser, Paul Resler and Cheryl Hobson.

Pioneer in Wenatchee. Under teacher Carolyn Dotter, students plan to investigate the challenges of underwater welding and mechanics. PUD divers Donnie Lane and Brent Thrapp are assisting.

Orchard in Wenatchee. Teacher Dan Myers is working with his students to build a working model of Rocky Reach Dam. PUD employees on that project are Dan Martyn, Tim Halliday, Andy Lolos and Eric Ostrom.

PUD staff will be in the classrooms once a week for six to eight weeks. Then as soon as school is out, students can attend the Action Academy at Rocky Reach. For four half days during the week of June 18, they’ll show-and-tell about their projects, take tours of the dam, talk about how their classroom work correlates to work at the dam, and hear from more PUD staff about career options in other fields.

“Whether students attend a four-year college, a technical school, or stay in the community and apply for an apprenticeship or entry-level job, we want them to realize there are opportunities with our utility,” Erwert said.

But he won’t be going far. He’ll become the new director of Plug-In North Central Washington. It’s essentially the same job he’s held for the past six years but with a new salary (none to start) and under the auspices of a different agency. 

The North Central Economic Development District is becoming the umbrella organization for Plug-In North Central Washington, formerly known as the Advanced Vehicle Initiative (AVI) Consortium. The district covers Chelan, Douglas and Okanogan counties. 

That momentum includes installation of electric vehicle charging stations at Stevens Pass and at Sleeping Lady Resort near Leavenworth. Both are Level 2 stations, requiring four to six hours for a full charge. The City of Leavenworth has applied for a grant to set up a Level 3 station, with a fast-charge time of 20 minutes. Several businesses, including the new Marriott Springhill Suites in Wenatchee and Icicle Ridge Winery in Peshastin, plan to install charging stations in the next year. Eventually, Johnston-Rodriguez said, there will be an extensive network of charging stations available from Seattle to Wenatchee. 

Johnston-Rodriguez serves on the Washington State EV Task Force which has applied for a $500,000 federal grant for infrastructure planning.  Corporate sponsorships, membership fees, and revenue-generating events and services will augment grants and other sources for the new Plug-In North Central Washington, he said.  

He predicted 2012 will be a big year for electric vehicles. More all-electric Nissan Leafs, delayed due to the Japanese earthquake, will become available. State and federal funding will kick in to build the much-anticipated fast-charge stations on both sides of Stevens Pass. Businesses will learn more about EV and install their own charging stations. And consumers will be looking for information to help them decide whether to charge ahead with EV. 

The development of practical electrical vehicles and consumer acceptance of them is gratifying for Johnston-Rodriguez. Establishing a new Plug-In Center as a limited liability corporation under the regional economic development district makes sense and assures a permanent home for EV efforts, he said.

“We’ve had 30 people (in the AVI Consortium) here who’ve been working on this for years,” he said. Members of the consortium performed ground-breaking work, including transforming the port’s white Toyota Prius into Washington’s first plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

The port’s goal – and Johnston-Rodriguez’s job – has always been to enhance economic development. But the focus has evolved. Initially the AVI group hoped to make Chelan County an important testing ground for plug-in hybrid vehicles. Now the push is to make the area friendly to eco-conscious tourists driving EVs and to attract visitors to demonstrations of EVs operating in real-world applications. The fact that the area’s electricity comes from clean, renewable hydropower is an added benefit, he said.

Nick Chambers of Wenatchee drove this Nissan Leaf past its expected range -- and enjoyed every minute of it.

Nick Chambers of Wenatchee was among five Americans invited to Nissan headquarters last year to drive a prototype all-electric car. You might say he turned over a new Leaf.

Chambers is a freelance writer and green car expert who serves as AutoTrader.com‘s green car specialist and is a contributing writer for New York Times and Popular Mechanics. He has helped build two websites about the future of transportation from scratch: PluginCars.com and Gas2.org. There are only a dozen or so journalists in the world who focus on sustainable transportation, so they’re well known in the automotive industry, he said.

As a result, Chambers was invited to Yokohama, Japan last year to test drive what he called a “pre- pre-production model” of the all-electric Nissan Leaf.  The date included lunch with Carlos Ghosn, Nissan CEO.

Chambers said he found driving the Leaf “indistinguishable from driving a regular car,” except that it’s so darn quiet. Without the noisy trappings of a combustion engine, motorists can move into “Zen driving,” he said. But the lack of engine clatter creates challenges for carmakers because rattles, squeaks and wind noises that normally aren’t noticeable become more obvious and obnoxious.

At a national media launch in Tennessee last October, Chambers was invited to test the range of the Leaf. Under average conditions, the car’s battery is expected to last about 100 miles, he said. Chambers drove from the Nissan plant in Smyrna to the landmark Jack Daniels distillery in Lynchburg – a round trip of 116 miles. (And no, he didn’t stop at the distillery for a drink.) He drove on back roads with climate control running, keeping his speed between 50 and 55 mph except for the last eight-mile stretch, when he  dropped down to 45 mph to conserve power.

Chambers is a green-car advocate but said he’s not afraid to point to problems when he sees them. Driving an all-electric or plug-in hybrid (which uses gasoline in addition to electricity) is not for everybody, he said. He’s not planning to buy one – yet.

He and his wife share one car. They have two young children. They like to go camping in faraway places. Sometimes Chambers’ work takes him to Seattle or other cities out of range of an all-electric car.

“It’s not for everybody,” he said. “As soon as there’s a vehicle that’s four-wheel drive, or a mini-van with sliding doors, that’s a plug-in or electric… then I’ll buy.”

Still, he sees electric cars as key to diversifying transportation. They’re part of inevitable change that will need to include biofuels, natural-gas and plug-in vehicles, he said. It’s important to reduce the country’s dependence on oil for natural security and economic reasons. “It’s about consumer choice, security, diversifying the energy supply in this country, and the environment.”

Nissan: Quake in Japan will delay Leaf deliveries (green.autoblog.com)

Sleeping Lady's charging station will look much like this one from the Coulumb Tech website.

Sleeping Lady Mountain Resort has purchased an electric vehicle (EV) charging station that will be available to both guests and visitors at the Leavenworth resort. 

Lori Vandenbrink, director of sales and marketing, said Sleeping Lady supports sustainable practices and the resort attracts environmentally conscious consumers. With 1,000 all-electric Nissan Leafs coming to Seattle and other major car manufacturers promoting electric and hybrid-electric vehicles, the need for a charging station seemed clear, she said. 

The resort purchased a 240-volt Level 2 station capable of charging vehicles in 3-8 hours, depending on the vehicle. The Coulomb Tech CT2103  station will be installed at Sleeping Lady this spring. 

The state departments of Commerce and Transportation are creating the nation’s first “electric highway” along Interstate 5. That’s being extended to include Highway 2, connecting Monroe, Leavenworth and Wenatchee to a network of public access EV charging stations, Vandenbrink said. 

Overnight guests of Sleeping Lady will have free use of the station, which can charge two vehicles at a time. Visitors will be able to use the station for a fee yet to be determined. 

Vandenbrink said Sleeping Lady is the first resort in Eastern Washington to purchase an EV charging station.

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Related story: Plug and glug? Winery hoping to offer car-charging station (Wenatchee World)

Idle reduction program saves fuel, cuts emissions

New technology is helping the PUD reduce idling time and cut emissions from its diesel trucks. The technology, which is still being tested, allows the engines to be turned off while enabling PUD crews to run electric power equipment from the trucks and keep vehicle systems operating with enhanced battery power.

Initial tests on a sampling of trucks show engine idling time  reduced by about a third and engine life extended by an estimated three years. Watch the video (below) to learn more.