In an attempt to make San Francisco the electric vehicle capital of the world, the city is currently playing host to the Charge Across Town campaign’s EV Week – an “exposition of the coolest plug-in and electric vehicle and EV charging stations” with partners including SF Environment, PG&E and City Car Share.

“Charge Across Town is catalyzing the effort with consumers, nonprofits and the business community to get San Francisco EV-Ready,” said San Francisco Mayor Edwin Lee.

“EVs have the power to reduce dependency on oil, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, save people money, and revitalize the economy here in San Francisco and across the country,” Mayor Lee continued.

The event will include some of the best EVs on the market (listed below), all of which will be available for test-driving. The goal, according to director Maureen Blanc, is to show drivers how “practical, reliable and cool these vehicles really are.”

Models available for test driving include:

• Toyota’s RAV4 EV and Plug-in Prius
• Tesla Model S
• Nissan Leaf
• BMW’s Active E
• Marin Luxury Car’s Fisker Karma
• Ford Focus
• Mitsubishi MiEV
• Honda Fit EV
• Coda Automotive

And if that’s not enough corporate support for environmentally friendly travel, SunPower Corp. is also part of the demonstration, showing how its solar array can power EV charging stations.

In many ways, San Francisco already is the EV Capital of California, boasting 110 charging stations at 42 locations around the city, more per capita than any other city in this very green state. The home team, the SF Giants, is also getting in on the action – with the already environmentally friendly stadium unveiling four new charging stations.

So will EV week bring more drivers into the EV, emissions-free fold? We’ll have to wait and see.

Main photo credit: Olga Besnard / Shutterstock

The post Charge Across Town Campaign Wants to Make San Fran the EV Capital appeared first on REVMODO.

The last plant was discovered by chance, when a biologist happened to be driving past a construction site. Workers had cleared large areas of vegetation, which revealed the manzanita. The shrub was big—eight feet wide and twelve feet long, though only two feet high. It turned out to be directly in the path of the construction, but as soon as the scientist realized what it was, the work was temporarily halted. The shrub was carefully moved to a secret location.

Before the discovery, the Franciscan Manzanita had been considered extinct for 60 years. The plant is uniquely suited to life in San Francisco, having adapted to local sandy soil and foggy, windy air. In 1947, the last known patch of the plant was bulldozed at a city cemetery. A local botanist saved two plants and brought them to the Botanical Garden in Berkeley. Those specimens are still alive, and cuttings were reproduced and sold as ornamental plants. But no plants were known to be left in the wild, and the nursery version was slightly different.

Around the world, there are just over 100 species of manzanita, with 95 of those native to California. Only a few species are native to San Francisco. The Presidio manzanita, like the Franciscan, is very rare, with only one specimen left in the wild.

The Franciscan manzanita found in 2009 has been used to create several new plants, which were introduced throughout the Presidio, a large park in San Francisco. Now that the plant has been added to the Endangered Species list, the original “mother” plant is well-protected; anyone who tries to harm it will face criminal charges.

Image by Flickr user USFWS Pacific Southwest Region

The post Native San Francisco Shrub, Franciscan Manzanita, Added to Endangered Species List appeared first on REVMODO.

Known as “The Rock,” Alcatraz is on a small island in the San Francisco Bay, not connected to city power sources. For more than 75 years, power for the island has come from dirty, polluting diesel fuel. Alcatraz hasn’t been a prison since 1963, but more than 1.4 million visitors a year come to the island, requiring significant amounts of diesel to generate electricity.

The new solar PV array produces 400,000 kilowatt-hours of electricity a year, and reduces CO2 emissions by about 337,000 kg a year. Generator usage has been cut 60 percent. A solar battery system stores power for foggy days. In addition to cutting pollution, the system is also saving money for the National Park Service, which operates the island.

The project was funded by the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act, and supported by the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory. It wasn’t easy to implement, because the island is a historic landmark, and the National Park Service had to ensure that the solar panels wouldn’t be too visible. The cellhouse roof was chosen because it can’t be easily seen from the ground, or from the Bay.

The cellhouse, seen from below. The roof now holds 1,300 solar panels.

The solar panels are just one part of the park’s plan to become more sustainable. Alcatraz is also pioneering the use of hybrid ferries that run on a combination of solar, wind, and diesel power. To help reduce the transport of water to the island, gardens are irrigated with rainwater, and toilets are flushed with saltwater. The park also sorts recycling and compostables from garbage.

Main image credit: Flickr user Shiny Things; secondary image credit: jdnx

The post Alcatraz Goes Solar appeared first on REVMODO.