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Colorado CarShare is pulling our weight to mitigate climate change in an even bigger way now, thanks to the vehicle-to-building partner project with Fermata Energy and Denver’s Alliance Center.  

To reduce energy use and costs, along with carbon emissions, the pilot was designed to stream electricity between one of Colorado CarShare’s electric vehicles (EV), and one of downtown Denver’s historic buildings, The Alliance Center. Fermata’s vehicle-to-building (V2B) technology allows the Leaf’s battery to charge from the building when needed and at other times, the building receives excess electricity stored in the Nissan Leaf’s battery. By gathering usage data, the system learns how to ensure that the building’s stored energy charges the EV during the vehicle’s window of peak energy usage, and vice versa. Both regain charge without tapping into the electric grid, therefore reducing energy consumption.

In just five short months, the project is already exhibiting great success. As of December, the system “has resulted in over $950 in savings on its electricity bills in just four months using one Fermata Energy 15kW bidirectional charger and one Nissan LEAF. This savings was generated by reducing the Center’s demand charges by nearly eight percent. At this rate, the annual economic gain at this location is projected to be over $3,000 just through demand charge management” (Fermata Energy).

Since The Alliance Center now utilizes stored energy from the EV’s battery, it extracts less energy from the electric grid. Helping power this highly used establishment, combined with providing an alternative to car ownership, means Colorado CarShare is further reducing the carbon emissions that are so destructive to our planet.

 

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About Colorado CarShare: Colorado CarShare is the state’s first, only – and one of the nation’s longest-running – nonprofit carshare organizations. Our mission is to empower our community to live a car-free lifestyle and have a positive impact on our health, wealth, and shared environment. We aim to make Colorado a “cooler,” healthier, and more socially equitable place to live. This includes setting the goal to become the country’s first nonprofit Electric Vehicle (EV) carshare program, while providing subsidies to low-to-mixed income (LMI) communities that are typically underserved when it comes to affordable mobility options.

For more information, visit https://carshare.org/, and follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

 

About Fermata Energy: Fermata Energy’s proprietary vehicle-to-everything (V2X) software and bidirectional hardware technology turns EVs into energy-storage assets, and makes it possible for EVs to combat climate change, increase energy resilience, and reduce energy costs. For more information, visit www.fermataenergy.com, and follow us on Twitter (@FermataEnergy), LinkedIn, Facebook, and Instagram.

 

About The Alliance Center: The Alliance Center is a Denver-based co-working space, event venue, and nonprofit harnessing the power of collaboration to create a more sustainable future. We demonstrate sustainability in action and mobilize change agents to accelerate equitable climate solutions. Our Living Lab pilots innovative solutions to sustainability challenges, while our Regenerative Recovery Coalition works across sectors to create shared prosperity on a healthy planet. The Alliance Center is a model for green building practices, collaborative working techniques, and capacity building programming—all designed to scale up the sustainability movement. For more information, visit thealliancecenter.org and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Instagram.

 

Today it was announced that Occasional Car was bought by Enterprise Holdings. This leaves eGo CarShare as the sole local carshare provider in the Denver – Boulder metro area. It has been exciting to see the continued growth of carsharing as a segment of our transportation system in the Denver region and eGo CarShare is proud to be the first in the region to offer this service.

eGo began over 13 years ago, in Boulder, as a grassroots effort to reduce our carbon footprint, while offering an alternative to personal car ownership. With the assumption that if you have a car parked in your driveway, you will drive it, eGo CarShare pioneered carsharing in Colorado as a means to provide access to transportation while encouraging walking, biking or transit first.

In 2009, eGo accelerated its growth by launching in Denver around the same time  as Occasional Car. eGo CarShare and Occasional Car were the sole carshare providers in Denver until 2012 when Enterprise CarShare (previously branded as WeCar) came to the University of Denver campus. During the summer of 2013 other international short-term car rental companies including Zipcar (Avis), car2go and Hertz 24/7 (formerly Hertz On Demand), all came to the Denver market when Denver Public Works approved an on-street parking permit program.

As our transportation system expands and options diversify, eGo CarShare will continue to fulfill our mission to provide and promote alternatives to personal car ownership, thereby reducing the environmental and social impacts associated with motor vehicle use. We are committed to remaining an independent local organization and to providing the lowest carsharing rates possible.

eGo CarShare is the only carshare provider in the Denver-Boulder metro area that has agreed to follow the CarSharing Association’s Code of Ethics. The CarSharing Association works to maximize the environmental and social impact of the carsharing industry. Member-organizations are committed to providing sustainable, transit-oriented urban mobility for the benefit of the communities that they serve.

eGo CarShare is also a proud member of the Mile High Business Alliance. We recognize and appreciate the interest many Denver residents have in supporting our local economy and businesses.

Thank you for sharing with us!

– eGo CarShare