PRESS RELEASE: 11/12/08
Three initiatives to dramatically decrease reliance on oil at Automotive News Green Car Conference in Detroit
Rocky Mountain Institute to convene a summit to bring together high-profile “off-oil” plans, launch “Project Get Ready” a 20-city initiative created at RMI’s Smart Garage Summit, and establish a clean mobility project in India.
Rocky Mountain Institute announced three initiatives today, including a summit to find common ground among the best features of several plans and foster consensus on national policy recommendations. Other initiatives will help lead the automotive industry’s transition towards lightweighting and electrification.
In his keynote address to the Automotive News Green Car Conference in Detroit, RMI Vice President and Practice Leader of RMI’s MOVE team, Michael Brylawski described the automotive industry as being on the verge of its fourth major shift—a shift toward lightweighting, electrification, and advanced digital technology that will fundamentally change the industry.
“The automobile industry dramatically shifted to mass production in Henry Ford’s day and then dramatically shifted again to manufacture tanks, planes, and other materiel during World War II,” Brylawski noted. “Later, in response to oil shocks and global competition, the industry shifted toward smaller cars—despite a brief SUV respite in the 1990s. The auto industry is about to witness another dramatic shift—to lightweighting and electrification. This shift, though, is fundamentally different for the industry because it will involve other large industrial sectors, notably our utilities and our buildings.”
Brylawski told conference attendees that this fourth shift is being driven by high oil prices and carbon dioxide emissions—two looming challenges that he said are pushing harder on the auto industry than any other sector. The outcome, he suggested, will include lighter products (for greater fuel efficiency) and electrified or partially electrified vehicles that will connect to the grid via homes and offices.
At the conference, Brylawski also announced three Rocky Mountain Institute projects aimed at reducing U.S. dependence on oil: The RMI/Brookings Oil Solutions Initiative, Project Get Ready, and RMI’s India Initiative.
The RMI/Brookings Oil Solutions Initiative is an effort to find common ground among the best features of several plans and foster consensus on national policy recommendations. “Project Get Ready” will work with a number of cities to break the barriers and build the alliances necessary to accelerate the adoption of plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (PHEV), and create an electrified, grid-tied infrastructure. RMI’s India Initiative is an effort to work with stakeholders in India to address the next generation of mobility problems with innovative design-based solutions—which would be ultimately applicable in the United States.
“The important thing to remember about this fourth shift in the U.S. auto industry is that it’s going to have some truly positive outcomes—reducing greenhouse-gas emissions, reducing dependence on foreign oil, and creating an entirely new American industry: green cars,” Brylawski added. “Americans are watching Detroit go downhill at the moment, but there could be a very bright lining to this economic crisis if the American auto industry can make the fourth shift.”
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