We had the chance to meet Steve Burns when he came to the North American International Auto Show in Detroit earlier this month. Steve Burns is the CEO of AMP Electric Vehicles, a Cincinnati, OH-based company that is creating electric vehicles without building cars themselves. AMP believes in electrifying vehicles, but doesn’t think you have to build an entirely new car in order to to do it.  Instead, they are converting a stock Saturn Sky to run on electric power by removing the internal combustion engine and gas tank, and putting in batteries and direct drive electric motors, and entering it in the XPrize competition to be run later this year.

Steve has founded a number of companies over the past decade, most recently iTookThisOnMyPhone.com, a mobile photo and video-sharing technology company, as well as now serving as CEO of AMP.

We asked Steve Burns to be our EcoGeek of the Week and to tell us more about the AMP approach to building electric vehicles.

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Toyota’s Camry: Drive carefully! (Flickr/ASurroca)

If the Toyota recall and “stop sale” order is confusing you, you’re not alone. The sudden acceleration problem is something you probably have never experienced and most likely never will. But you need to be aware of it, and be ready to respond — because if it happens you’ll have nanoseconds to make decisions. Here’s what you need to know:

What did Toyota do?

Shortly before it suspended sales of eight very popular models, Toyota issued a massive recall of 2.3 million vehicles whose gas pedals may get stuck or become slow to return. It then followed up with another 1.09 million more. The cars affected by the first of those two recalls are all Toyotas (no Lexuses or Scions): RAV4, Camry, Corolla, Matrix, Avalon, Highlander, Tundra and Sequoia. Check dates, because it’s not all years. Most recently, Toyota added the Venza and the Pontiac Vibe.

Late last year, Toyota was forced to recall 4.2 million cars for a related problem–gas pedals that can get fouled by the floormats. Affected there are the Prius, Tacoma, Avalon, Lexus ES350, IS250 and IS350, Camry and Tundra. Yes, there is some overlap in these recalls.

Toyota says new gas pedals are on the way to replace the “sticky” ones. On Thursday, Toyota said it was extending the recall to Europe, though an assessment of which models are affected is still going on. With Europe added, there are now nine million cars likely to be recalled. It’s unclear how long the U.S. sales suspension will last. Two House committees are holding hearings on the issue.

Here’s a Toyota FAQ page on the issue.

What do I do if sudden acceleration happens to me?

Hundreds of drivers report their cars suddenly taking off on them, and there’s no clear pattern — some are at stop signs, others cruising on the highway. Here’s one way it played out: “The car accelerated without driver input on two separate occasions. The last event resulted in smashing through the plate-glass window of a travel agency, injuring one employee. The car ended up totally in the agency, halted by an interior wall.”

It can occur anytime, anywhere; the important thing is to be prepared. The natural response is to hit the brakes, and that is indeed the right idea — but it’s important to maintain firm, even pressure and to not pump them, because, as Consumer Reports points out, that can lead to a catastrophic failure just when you need the brakes most. (Pumping the pedal when the engine’s racing will cause the brakes to lose the vacuum that sustains them.)

Shifting into neutral is another really useful tactic and, if you can, take a moment to practice that maneuver in a parking lot. Neutral should be one notch up from drive, but not all of today’s automatic transmissions (some with manual-shifting functions) are set up that way.

Finally, you’ll be tempted to turn off the engine, but don’t do it until you’re safely parked. Shutting off (a challenge on some cars with pushbutton start) will disable power steering and brakes — again, when they’re needed most.

Is sudden acceleration a problem only for Toyotas? What causes it?

It would be a mistake to see this problem as limited to one company. For one thing, CTS Corp., the Indiana-based company that made the pedal assemblies in the recalled Toyotas, also supplies a host of other manufacturers, including Ford (which recalled Transit Classic trucks in China for that reason), Honda and Nissan.

Eco Factor: Toxin-free range of desktops eases recycling.

Wipro Infotech has launched a new range of eco-friendly desktops, which are being claimed to be the first of a kind in India. Dubbed the Wipro Greenware range, the new computers are free from carcinogenic materials, including PVC and BFRs.

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Wipro debuts India’s first eco-friendly desktop computers

Many of us were disappointed by the State of the Union address Wednesday night.  Sure the president stressed the importance of a climate bill and clean energy development, but he also committed to pursuing more nuclear energy, new offshore oil drilling and “clean” coal.

That makes today’s announcement that the Federal Government will reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 28 percent by 2020 very welcome news.  The largest energy consumer in the U.S. will cut its emissions by making gains in efficiency and using more renewable energy.  The government spent $24.5 billion on electricity and fuel in 2008 alone and hopes to save $8 – 11 billion over the next decade through this initiative.

Each agency had to submit a 2020 emission reduction target from their 2008 baseline and the 28 percent reduction goal is an aggregate of those reports.  The Office of Management and Budget will validate and score each agency’s plan and annual progress will by reported online to the public.

You can check out some of the emission cutting projects that are underway here.

via White House release

Last year, the government promised $10.5 billion in funds for high-speed rail development and the first state to receive some of that money is Florida.  Tomorrow, President Obama will be awarding $2.5 billion to the state to jump-start the first phase of their train system that will run from Orlando to Tampa.

Phase 1 will run along the heavily traveled  I-4 corridor and take passengers to Orlando Airport, Orlando, Disney, Lakeland and Tampa at speeds above 120 mph – not a bullet train, but still faster than a car.   Phase 2 will connect Orlando to Miami by two different routes (I-95 and the Turnpike).  The system will eventually connect all the major cities in the state and points in between.

The first phase will cost $3.5 billion, so after the government funds the state will still have to raise $1 billion from private investors to complete the project.  The state expects the first trains to be running by 2014.

Ideally, Florida’s train system is just the beginning of a much larger train network linking the whole East Coast and the nation.  With $8 billion left to be doled out, I’m excited to see which area is the next recipient.

via Inhabitat

Toyota’s Corolla: With the Camry, 650,000 were sold in the U.S. last year. (NightRPStar/Flickr photo)

Toyota is facing every manufacturer’s nightmare scenario this week, as its “sudden acceleration” problem escalated into a shutdown of eight popular product lines, affecting 57% of the company’s models (including the ultra-popular Camry and Corolla). I’ve been following this situation closely for The Daily Green, and it’s clearly been building to this kind of drastic solution.

The problem is that many, many people have reported that their cars (definitely not all Toyotas) just suddenly take off with the pedal to the metal. There are hundreds if not thousands of such cases in recent years (many that ended in fatalities), and it is defying a quick fix.

I’ve done my own research into this problem, including fielding emails and calls from many people who’ve lived through this horrifying experience. Here’s one such email:

I have a 2008 Camry LE, bought brand new in November 2007. I experienced unintended acceleration on my way to work, on Thursday January 24, 2009 riding in rush hour traffic on a major highway. The car started accelerating on it’s own and forcing the brake pedal down and pumping it wouldn’t stop it. After about 5 minutes it settled down and went at regular speed.

And another:

I own a 2005 Toyota Tacoma. It is my daily driver and my husband drives it on occasion. We have both experienced the truck surge in RPMs while sitting at a stoplight. The truck feels like it wants to take off on its own. We both responded with pressing harder on the brakes.

But I have also heard from drivers of Acuras, Fords and even old Volkswagen Rabbits. It’s clear that this is a problem with a variety of causes, including floormats fouling gas pedals, sticky pedal assemblies, balky throttle cables (in older cars), and more. And it’s industry-wide, not restricted to Toyota.

Eco Factor: Zero-emission vehicle powered by electricity.

Wheego has unveiled the Whip LiFe, an upgraded version of the company’s NEV at the Washington Auto Show. According to its name the zero-emission car is propelled by an onboard 28KWh lithium iron phosphate battery pack and will be available on the market later this year at a price of under $35,000.

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Wheego unveils all-electric Whip LiFe at Washington Auto Show

With all of the conflict over Cape Wind and the constant reduction in scope of T. Boone Pickens’ wind projects, it’s easy to feel discouraged, but here’s something to lift your spirits.  Great news came from the American Wind Energy Association today.  During 2009, 10 GW of new wind power capacity was installed in the U.S., enough to power 2.4 million homes.  The last quarter of 2009 saw the installation of 4 GW alone.

The association gives credit to the American Recovery and Investment Act’s $80 billion investment in clean energy for the largest installation for any year so far. You can read the association’s full report on the year in wind here (PDF).

With big wind projects on the horizon for the next few years, and if all goes as planned, that annual number should keep going up.

via Energy Boom

Algae has seemed like a great biofuel candidate because it’s extremely efficent at creating energy from sunlight and it could potentially form closed loops for power plants – absorbing exhaust while creating new fuel – but a recent study has knocked algae off its pedestal.

University of Virginia researchers have found that the life cycle of algal biofuel produces high levels of greenhouse gas emissions — much more than it sequesters.

The culprit is the large amount of fertilizer used to produce the algae.  The fertilizers come from petroleum-bases sources and emit nitrous oxide.  The researchers propose using fertilizer from sewage plants as a way around the problem.

It looks like we’re still far away from an ideal biofuel, if there is one.

via Yale e360

Eco Factor: Renewable power plant to develop 2.5GW of electricity by 2016.

Samsung C&T and Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) have signed a contract to develop a new $6 billion renewable power plant complex in a small rural town near Toronto in southern Ontario. The companies hope to generate 3.7KWh per square meter from solar plants at the site and harvest wind energy as well.

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Samsung and Kepco come together to develop a $6 billion renewable power plant