If you enjoy getting lost in maps, it’s a lot of fun to explore Google Earth. To get started, all you have to do is go to the Google Earth website and download the free program. After it’s installed you can start exploring, or add additional layers. (See the Google Earth Outreach page for options.)

Many of the layers have an environmental theme, and they're all intriguing. Explore the Earth’s oceans! Find fair trade products! Check out the melting polar ice caps!

I looked at a few different layers related to renewable energy, but the one I found most interesting was this Protected Areas and Energy Development Map, which was developed by Audubon and the National Resources Defense Council. It’s a map of 13 Western states, which plots significant wildlife areas in an effort to avoid conflicts with energy development.

On a similar theme, the EPA has a Google Earth layer called the Renewable Energy Interactive Mapping Tool that shows former mining sites and brownfields, where renewable energy development would be welcome. I admit, I found this layer a little more difficult to use, although it's still interesting. Take a look!

On Monday the Environmental Protection Agency recognized 20 Green Power partners for generating the most green electricity on site.

The amount of renewable electricity generated by these partners could power 61,000 American homes annually.

The top five partners from the list of 20 are Kimberly-Clark Corporation, Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, City of San Diego, San Jose/Santa Clara Water Pollution Control Plant and CalPortland. The entire list is available on the EPA website.

“These companies are leading a nationwide move to the clean energy economy, one that can create million of jobs, reduce our dependence on foreign oil, and protect against global climate change,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.  “Our Green Power Partnership leaders are setting the standard for our clean energy future.”

The green power generated by the partners came from renewable resources such as solar, wind, geothermal, biomass, biogas and hydropower. The partners then use the on-site energy directly rather than sending it to the central power plant.

The EPA said that the 20 partners are generating and consuming more than 736 million kilowatt hours annually.

Last month, we said that the state of Vermont had introduced a feed-in tariff (FIT) policy that will encourage home and business owners to set up small renewable energy systems. FIT policies allow small renewable energy producers to sell excess energy from their home or business to utility companies at guaranteed rates, shortening the return on investment. Now, The New York Times reports that FIT policies are spreading to other areas of the country.

Last week, the Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD) approved a policy that will allow owners of solar, biogas and Combined Heat and Power (CHP) generator systems to sell the energy they produce back to SMUD. The SMUD provides service to 1.4 million people. The Times article says that rates will “depend on the time of day the power is generated, ranging from a low of 5 or 6 cents a kilowatt-hour to 30 cents on a hot summer afternoon.” According to an SMUD report, the policy will cover systems up to 5 megawatts, with an entire program cap of 100 megawatts.

The Times article also states that Hawaii is now considering a similar policy.

Photo by Mountain/\Ash/Flickr

If you’re considering installing solar-electric panels or a home wind turbine, one of the first questions to ask is whether you want to be on the grid or off the grid.

What’s the difference? A grid-tied system connects to the local electric utility, so you can sell power to the utility, or buy power when you need it. A grid-independent system does not connect to the local power lines. Instead, you produce all the power you need for your own home.

Both options have their pros and cons.  First, a grid-connected system is usually cheaper. For one thing, you don’t have to produce all your own power, so you can choose to purchase a smaller system. You will also need to purchase less equipment, because a grid-tied system doesn’t require batteries.

However, for some people off the grid is the only way to go because it allows you to be truly independent of the utility. During a power outage, your lights stay on. And who needs fossil fuels? You’re producing all the power you need from clean renewable energy. Also, if you live in a remote area that doesn’t already have electric service, an off-grid system can end up being cheaper than extending electric lines to your house.

So, tell us what you think. If you installed solar-electric panels or a wind turbine, would you want to connect to the grid? If you already have a home renewable energy system, what did you decide about a grid connection, and are you happy with that decision? Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.

This is Tom and his Geo Metro. Tom is holding the Metro’s crumpled left fender. The front bumper got so bent up that Tom had to take it off to drive the car here to the shop.

Tom works summers at Kinetic Vehicles. I've known him since he was an auto shop student at the local high school, where he graduated this June. He spent last week getting a beater of a Geo Metro running and legal, got his driver's license on Friday, and Monday he ...

I'll let you guess what happened. Here's a clue: He lives on Deer Creek Road.

As you can see, Tom is fine, but the deer he hit is currently scampering around in deer paradise, telling the other deer spirits, “Honestly, they should have named it Car Creek Road, they're just everywhere out there.”

All I can say is, I'm glad Tom wasn't driving MAX.

MAX is on the inactive list for a few days while — by amazing coincidence — we work out mounting an auxiliary roll bar behind its windshield (see Update No. 30). I wasn't expecting to be able to say, “See, I told you so!” so soon, but there you have it.

Combine this lesson with the one I learned a year ago (see Update No. 4: Crash Test Dummy), when shiny new MAX got rear-ended before its paint was even dry, and I'm now convinced there's no “grace period” or “honeymoon” where driving is concerned. The risk is there every time you turn the key, starting with the first time.

Tom plans to build himself a MAX-like sports car next summer, but you know, the car he has now is a perfect first car, particularly for a young man in college. His Metro gets good gas mileage and his school is a 50-mile round trip from home — it should take him little more than a gallon to get there and back.

His car isn’t a hot rod, so he's not going to get lured into what the police of my youth referred to as an “exhibition of speed.”

And best of all, his car is totally bereft of any class, style or status. If he can make it a year being green instead of green with envy, maybe he'll miss out on the urge to define himself by the car he drives, the urge that got our culture into this gas guzzling mess to begin with.

Photo by Jack McCornack

Browse previous MAX Updates.

Read the introductory MAX article, Here Comes the 100-mpg Car.

Visit the Kinetic Vehicles website for more technical details on MAX.

After a short break for the Fourth of July, Congress is back at work.

Shortly before the week-long break, the House passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act, which included a cap-and-trade system and was the first U.S. bill to regulate greenhouse gases.

Today the Senate started working on its own version by holding a hearing in the Senate Committee on Environment and Public Works. The committee, chaired by Sen. Barbara Boxer of California, heard testimony from Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lisa Jackson and Energy Secretary Steven Chu, among others.

On Wednesday, July 8, the Senate Finance Committee will hold a hearing on international trade issues and connections to global warming – the House bill increased trade regulations with countries that produce high numbers of global warming gases – and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee will look at the effectiveness of the European Union’s cap-and-trade system.

Politico reported that any cap-and-trade legislation in the Senate bill is unlikely and that a floor vote will not happen before the long summer recess next month.   

The Car Allowance Rebate System, formerly known as the Cash-for-Clunkers bill, takes effect today, July 1.

Yesterday, President Barack Obama signed the bill into law that pays consumers up to $4,500 in credit for trading in their cars or trucks for more fuel-efficient vehicles. The $1 billion program is overseen by The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Details of how the plan will be rolled out are still being discussed. The full release is expected by July 24, but cars purchased between July 1 and Nov. 1, 2009 (if the funds do not run out before that) will qualify.

Here are some requirements listed from the CARS program website:

• Your vehicle must be less than 25 years old on the trade-in date.
• Only purchases or leases of new vehicles qualify.
• Generally, the vehicles you trade in must get 18 or fewer miles per gallon. You can check your current car's gas mileage estimate here.
• The new car being purchased must get a minimum of 22 miles per gallon and cannot exceed a price of $45,000.
• The vehicle you trade in must be drivable.
• Trade-in vehicles must be registered and insured continuously for the full year preceding the trade-in.
• The vehicle that you are trading in is required to be destroyed. Therefore, the value negotiated with the dealer for your trade-in is not likely to exceed its scrap value.

The CARS rebate does not count on top of the trade-in value of your vehicle. When you trade your car in, you do not need to do any paperwork with the government because the dealer will apply the credit when you buy the new vehicle.

The bill is designed for people with older, inefficient cars who are looking for new, more fuel-efficient cars. But there have been criticisms that the purpose of the bill is more for stimulating car sales than greening America’s fleet, since the gas mileage standard is just a 4 mpg increase.

Others, such as the Washington Post, are criticizing the bill for not providing enough money. The $1 billion of credits is only expected to increase car sales by 250,000 cars. Businessweek quoted Jeremy Anwyl, chief executive of Edmunds, saying that the program will not help the auto industry because auto sales would need to increase by 3 million vehicles more to get them out of the bad situation they are in now. But most automakers and auto dealers support the program.

What do you think about the new program? If you qualify, what kind of car would you get? If you don’t qualify, what kind of car would you want to get? Share your thoughts by posting a comment below.

Man, I sure hope I don't get kicked out of PETA for this.

I'm replacing MAX's aluminum windshield frame with something more substantial — a steel tube the same size as the roll bar. It will support the roof (coming soon) and provide a smidgen of side impact protection (more of that coming soon, too).

The trouble is that I live in deer country, on Eight Dollar Mountain in rural southern Oregon. It's bear country, too. I've seen bear in the Kinetic Vehicles driveway and our secretary, Jacky, shooed one away from her trash cans last winter, “Bad bear! Scat!” I suspect the bear ran away out of fear that Jacky was rabid.

It's even cougar country — my friend Dave, who has appeared in this blog a couple times, dang near tripped over one in his mud room this April.

But mostly it's deer country. Seeing a deer here is no more surprising than seeing a cow in Wisconsin.

I find deer charming. Every time I drive to my cabin and find them frisking about, converting my garden to venison, I can't resist calling to them, “I'm home, deer!”

Besides, they help the economy. I have a friend who is saving for his daughter's college tuition thanks to public interaction with deer: He drives a tow truck.

I hit a deer with a motorcycle once. We were both trying to dodge and we outsmarted each other. Although neither of us was killed, neither of us particularly enjoyed the experience. If I'd been driving MAX, the deer would’ve come over the hood and right into the cockpit with me, which wouldn't have improved either of our moods.

So MAX is getting what I call an auxiliary roll bar. But if local accident statistics are any guide, deer strikes are a lot more common than rollovers. I'm not sure how to discuss this in the brochure …

How's this? “The Kinetic Vehicles auxiliary roll bar helps keep wildlife in its natural environment.”

Photo by Jack McCornack

Browse previous MAX Updates.

Read the introductory MAX article, Here Comes the 100-mpg Car.

Visit the Kinetic Vehicles website for more technical details on MAX.