Cascadia Center

Consortium On Verge Of Owning Eastside Railway Land

This article, published by The Seattle Times, quotes Discovery Institute Fellow Bruce Agnew: “I think these other governments stepping up to share the cost is a great, remarkable development. I was concerned that if we didn’t get the deal closed by the end of this year, BNSF might say enough is enough. It’s very timely — an early Christmas gift,” Read More ›

Seattle Expected To Be Key Market For Electric Cars

After years of hype, it looks like the mass-produced, all-electric car is really on its way. Puget Sound is poised to become one of the key markets for the initial wave of electric cars, in part because of plans to begin building next year a network of more than 2,000 charging stations throughout the region. Funded by part of a $100 million federal Department of Energy (DOE) economic-stimulus grant, the charging stations are to the electric car what the cellphone-tower network was to the cellphone. Just as the phones needed towers to make them functional, the network of charging stations will make it practical to own a car that does not use gas. By December 2010, drivers in our area should be able to buy mass-produced, plug-in electrics that create no emissions and run for pennies a mile. "It's going to blow people's doors off how fast this transition is going to happen," predicted U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee, who took a spin around the Microsoft campus Friday in an all-electric Ford Focus. As part of the DOE grant, the Puget Sound area has been promised 1,000 Nissan LEAF all-electric cars, which will be sold here beginning in December 2010. But that's only the start. Because of the charging network, the Seattle area will be one of the major markets for other brands of electric cars, said Steve Marshall, a senior fellow at Discovery Institute's Cascadia Center, a Seattle-based transportation think tank. Ford, for example, plans to bring an electric commercial van to the area in 2010, one that will run for about 3 cents a mile and is designed for small-business owners and package-delivery fleets. The electric Focus will hit the market in 2011, as will the Chevy Volt, a car that can drive the first 40 miles on electricity before a gasoline-powered engine kicks in, driving a generator that provides electric power beyond 40 miles. Inslee predicts that within a decade, a significant portion of the American car fleet will be made up of electric cars, and "we're trying to make Washington the epicenter of this revolution," he said. The car companies know it. "Washington is a lot more aggressive and more hep on this than any part of the country," said David Berdish, manager of sustainable business development for Ford Motor Co. Meeting at Microsoft On Friday, state and federal officials and business leaders gathered at the Microsoft campus for a Cascadia-sponsored conference called "Beyond Oil." They talked about building sustainable communities and ensuring the electrical grid could handle the power draw if thousands of people all tried to recharge their cars at the same time. Outside, a half-dozen Tesla roadsters — all-electric sports cars that cost about $100,000 — were lined up in the parking area. But it was the somewhat homely Ford Focus, which arrived on a flatbed truck after an overnight trip from San Francisco, that attracted the buzz, in part because it's price is expected to be within the reach of the average family when it comes to market in 2011. The Seattle area is expected to be a leader in electric cars for a couple of reasons. (More) Read More ›

Electric Car Industry Pulls In For Quick Charge At Microsoft

This is the transcript of an interview about Discovery Institute’s Cascadia Center Beyond Oil Conference: Co-anchor Dennis Bounds: “The electric car industry pulled in for a quick charge at Microsoft’s Redmond campus today.” Co-anchor Jean Enerson: “And as KING 5’s environmental specialist Gary Chittim shows us, some of the nation’s biggest companies are ready to plug in to this technology.” Read More ›

Seattle Getting 2,500 Electric Car Charging Stations

This article, published by Seattle PI, discusses a conference put on by the Cascadia Center of Discovery Institute: So it was with great enthusiasm on Oct. 23 that 300 people attended a conference hosted by the Discovery Institute’s Cascadia Center entitled: “Beyond Oil: The Sustainable Communities Initiative and Clean Cities Conference.” The rest of the article can be found here.

Cascadia Blog Article Highlights Teleworking Green, Productivity Benefits

This article, published by TMCnet.com, mentions the Cascadia Center of Discovery Institute: The Cascadia Center which works on regional transportation and sustainable development issues for the Discovery Institute, has taken a strong interest in telework. The rest of the article can be found here.

Crapo On Amtrak Numbers

CRAPO QUESTIONS AMTRAK’S NUMBERS Will also forward comments from Idahoans in response to Pioneer Route study Washington, DC – Idaho Senator Mike Crapo is questioning the cost figures cited in a preliminary report Amtrak commissioned on the feasibility of restoring passenger rail service to Idaho along the former Pioneer Route. Tomorrow is the deadline for interested parties to comment on Read More ›

Snohomish Leaders Spent A Day In San Francisco

This article, published by The Snohomish Times, mentions the Cascadia Center of Discovery Institute: The Cascadia Center for Regional Development sponsored the tour to provide Puget Sound leaders an opportunity to meet with Northern California counterparts involved in the development of the Sonoma Marin Rail Transit (SMART) system that voters in that area approved for tax-supported funding in 2008. The Read More ›