Green Expo in Plano, Texas?
Thousands attended a Green Expo in Texas of all places!
Delta Flyer
CleanMPG - May 16, 2007
I had low expectations for the Green Expo in Plano, Texas (
www.livegreeninplano.com) but was pleasantly surprised with the variety of Green technologies on display as well as the many presenters' skills. With over 2,500 attendees and even higher at days end I was truly surprised. Who would have thought a Green event on the scale of HybridFest would ever surface in the Dallas/Fort Worth area? It was oriented more to residential products than to vehicles but still, most interesting.
Dan and I met at a Dennys on Saturday for breakfast a couple of miles from the Expo. By 9 AM, nearly all 1000 parking spaces were
full!
(
Short video panning from the Convention Centre to the parking lot).
Admission was free.
There were at least
75 businesses represented - not including the speakers and their presentations. You could tell it was Dallas with the ample refreshment stands and the mall-like atmosphere inside the Plano Convention Centre. While hybrids were part of Live Green Expo, the focus seemed to be on green homes and organic gardening.
The Main Event
One of about eight tents outside --------- I took the 999th parking spot next to John73c's Civic --------- The event was very well attended
Dan asking about solar flexible solar panels for his Prius --------------- Hybrid Camry on display. ----------- Live entertainment inside the Plano Convention Centre
A group from Fort Worth had a VW bio diesel on display:
Also inside, there was a booth by
BioDiesel Industries - the Denton, Texas affiliate serving Dallas/Fort Worth (
http://www.fryoiltofuel.com/):
The Bio Beetle -------------------------------------------- A sample of chicken-derived biodiesel
The conversation with the bio-diesel people had an interesting turn as they stated they were vegans. I don't mind using restaurant grease that would be disposed of anyway for biofuel (plenty of it in Dallas), but using livestock expressly for biodiesel disturbs me (and them).
Dan and I also met an 80-something year old man who lived in Brooklyn during World War II. I've been having a hard time finding information about people who hypermiled before it was called that. He confirmed that during gas rationing, people did coast in neutral to maximize their tank of gas.
Test Driving the Hybrids
A couple local dealers (
Hondacars of McKinney and
Pat Lobb Toyota of McKinney) let attendees test drive hybrids in the parking lot.
Dan drove the 2007 HCH-II, and I drove the 2007 Camry Hybrid. Dan provides his thoughts on both cars below.
John73c, Dan and I
---------------------- Dan in the 2007 Honda Hybrid Civic
It was interesting to try out the Honda. I've been reading some amazing highway numbers coming out of highway drivers and envy the ability to FAS at any speed. Toyotas in many cases try to do what you meant, not what you said. As a result, an attempt to FAS will simply get the car to beep at you as it smiles, knowing it prevented you from doing something you couldn't have possibly meant to do.
To say we were in a closed course is an understatement. There were only three rows of parking lot cut out for us to drive on. If you look closely at the picture you will see me fighting the urge to throw the tranny into neutral for a NICE-on glide. Since my Prius is currently sans-EVmod, NICE-on has become second nature to me.
One thing I really like on the Honda is the gauge readout. The photo above gives you a nice view of the heads-up speedometer that the new Civics have. I wish I didn't have to look at the middle of my dash to get the MFD data from my Prius. I have noticed that Toyota has started putting some of the energy display info right near the spedo for the Highlanders.
I haven't played much with the NAV systems. We have a portable one my wife and I share so I bowed out of getting the NAVI kit on the Prius. All in all, very useful tech. If only they'd develop a Hypermiler NAV system:
"Moron approaching at high velocity from the rear. Veer right to ridge ride glide now"
All in all, the Civic was a great ride, and I might go Honda on our next car. Just depends if the first Hybrid Minivan is IMA or HSD
Dan's experience with the TCH:
Under the hood of the TCH
----------- The display inside the speedometer is a nice touch
Honestly the old muscle car enthusiast in me longs for the TCH. It is overpowered, but that is a market segment that they are trying to tap. One interesting thing shown in the left photo above is that the fabled orange cables (high volt lines) are clearly visible. In the Prius they are tucked back by the fire wall so you have to look for them.
The above right photo is of the dash. This provides you all the info that the Energy display does on the Prius
(angelic choir sings "Gloria" here). So finally you can have Energy data on dash, while you have comsumption info on MFD. Can't wait till they work this into the Prius (hopefully sooner rather than later).
Chuck driving the TCH
------------------ MFD and climate control
The limited track served as a great spot to play with golf-carting. As long as you're soft on the throttle you can get quite a ways without firing up the ICE. Chuck did great on it (even though he is still overwhelmed by the MFD - he is a Honda guy) -- only on the fourth lap around the parking lot did the TCH go out of EV mode.
Note the radio dial climate control. I've heard many wishes for this in the Prius, but I get by fine from the steering wheel. Not visible in the left picture (but directly below it) are the rear seat air vents. This was the one thing I really could have used in my Prius. If I could shut down the front vents and kick up the imaginary Prius-rear-vents, I could run on a lot less AC. As it is I know I have to dump a lot more power than I'd like, just cooling down the cabin to keep the kids cool. Score another point on the Camry!
I noticed quite a few advances of the TCH over the Prius and they really stand out. Seems they've re-written all the Consumption display software with some much needed improvements. First and most touted is the one-minute consumption bar readout. In the Prius display we only get resolution down to 5 minute intervals. So it draws the graph by calculating the distance traveled over the last interval, divided by how how much gas was burned over the same interval. Sometimes you get a real low bar, and just can't figure out why. One-minute displays would allow you to realize it was the light you missed or the pulse you overshot. Another bonus (and my personal favorite) is the high-score display. If you look next to the Energy button you will see at "Best" MPG display. I love it! Only thing better would have been an arcade type highscore page that popped up when you hit Park
"You got highscore... Enter your initials"
Dan made a couple of excellent presentations - one on the case for hybrids and the other on hypermiling. Lots of slides - see them here.
He was in EV mode longer than I.
-------------- Free CFB compliments of Green Expo
Here's Dan trying to talk the Segway driver off his personal transport. I've long wished for a segway, and it's on the top of the list of things to get if I win the lottery -- after the Prius! But I did get a free matching CFB -- it'll replace the one that just burned out.
Linear Mode
