Forewords

Greenhouses at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center

I often talk about how Enterprise partners with auto manufacturers to help them bring the latest alternative fuel technologies to consumers through our neighborhood network of more than 5,500 local offices.  The network puts us in an ideal position to test the viability of these new technologies.

But we partner with other kinds of organizations as well. A great example is our company’s owners’ $35-million investment to establish the Enterprise Rent-A-Car Institute for Renewable Fuels at the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center – one of the world’s leading plant science research facilities.

On June 4, the Danforth Center and our oldest automotive partner, General Motors, will join us to discuss the future of local mobility. This discussion will be led by sustainability journalist and expert Marc Gunther. President of General Motors North America Mark Reuss and our Chairman and CEO Andy Taylor will share their perspectives about how critical it is to look beyond the present and invest in the future – the only way to ensure the kind of innovation needed to keep passenger vehicles acceptable to society.

General Motors is the largest automaker in the world, and Enterprise purchases more vehicles than any company in the world, so this match-up promises to deliver a one-of-a-kind, thought-provoking conversation.  I’m looking forward to the event and sharing the unique insights that will come from it. Stay tuned for more details.

As previously mentioned, I had the pleasure of accompanying our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Andy Taylor, to 2012 Fortune Brainstorm GREEN in California last week.  Andy was in great company as an invited speaker – the roster included the CEOs and sustainability chiefs at some of the world’s largest and most respected companies.

Commenting on the opportunity presented by the mainstreaming of electric vehicles, Andy said, “I am optimistic …there is going to be a change here, a massive change.”  The video (see below) includes portions of his discussion with Brian Dumaine, Fortune’s senior editor at large, about how [...] Continue Reading…

As previously noted, I attended The Wall Street Journal’s ECO:nomics conference in Santa Barbara several weeks ago, where I led a luncheon roundtable discussion about “Urban Mobility and the Integration of Alternative Vehicle Technology.”  The conference included many presenters, including Daniel Yergin, chairman of the IHS Cambridge Energy Research Associates and Pulitzer-Prize-winning author. Yergin has followed up his bestseller, The Prize, with another provocative book, The Quest: Energy, Security, and the Remaking of the Modern World. 

So it was no surprise that, a week after the ECO:nomics conference, Yergin’s work was noted in the Financial Times, highlighting his focus [...] Continue Reading…