Amarillo signs letter of intent for partnership using kinetic energy with city vehicles
Rich Gagnon, assistant city manager and chief information officer for the city of Amarillo, addressed the Amarillo City Council last week and the media at Wednesday's Amarillo Lunch and Learn event to talk about the city’s proposed project with Ecolution, which would work to transition the city's vehicle fleet to electric while creating self-sufficient energy to save on energy usage costs for the city.
Ecolution is a company introducing systems that create electricity from the motion of vehicles; this energy would be stored and then used to supply charging stations. The proposed partnership would be at no cost to the city.
Ecolution’s Module Active Response System (MARS) harvests kinetic energy from moving train cars and truck trailers to generate affordable clean energy, which is transferred into a microgrid location at a train yard or at a central location to be collected.
Gagnon addressed the council and media to talk about the proposed project.
“The city spends millions every year on fuel, and that leads to two simple questions: How do we drive efficiency there so that money can be used in other ways, and as the world moves toward more and more electric vehicles, how do we as a city stay ahead of that trend and develop a plan that gets us the most efficient moving forward?” Gagnon inquired of the council.
Craig Bouchard, executive chairman, spoke last Tuesday at the council meeting about his company Ecolution and its business proposal.
“We are not here to ask your city or state for one penny. We would like to come and build our business with our own money to help make your community healthier and hopefully save your city money on energy,” Bouchard stated.
Bouchard said that his company already had a deal in place to work with the city of St. Paul, Minnesota, as its first city partner. He said that Amarillo was the perfect match for his business due to its central location.
He spoke about the possible efficiency of using kinetic energy being greater than wind and solar energy combined, for the production of energy in this country long term. He also said the reduction of emissions from vehicles due to using electric vehicles would be significant in its health and green benefits. The energy produced from the project could be used to power within the city as well.
“Our goal is to start very small and be conservative in our scope before expanding,” Bouchard said.
Gagnon spoke about how the city and Ecolution will start with using one solid waste truck, and the program might be expanded as the effectiveness of the program is measured to include more vehicles, including city buses. Currently, the city's waste management division has more than $2 million in fuel costs per year. So any reduction to those costs, according to Gagnon, will save the city money.
“We are starting small and moving from there; there will be many opportunities to expand,” Gagnon said. “In the end, the goal is to drive down our costs and become self-sufficient.”
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: Amarillo signs letter of intent for partnership using kinetic energy
