Welcome to our new eSolutions Journal

Dear RMI Supporter,

Today we launch the new eSolutions Journal, an electronic, twice-a-year version of our regular Solutions Journal. In our new publishing cycle, we'll be producing two eSolutions each year, opposite the paper version we do in the spring and fall.

This Summer 2009 issue offers stories on a variety of areas that the Institute regularly works in (sustainable development, education, and automobile efficiency) as well as a relatively new area for RMI within recent years, freight—in this case trucking efficiency.

Enclosed you'll find articles by Molly Miller, Nar Brach, Ben Holland, and Kelly Sweitzer. Molly introduces us to The Canyons, a 3,500-acre development near Castle Pines, Colo., centered around an organic farm. RMI is analyzing The Canyons' energy requirements, and advising on ways to trim those demands. Nar describes RMI's spinoff of Bright Automotive (our fifth for-profit to leave the nest) in January 2008. Bright's founders are aiming to create an automobile that will address the complex challenges of economy, air pollution, and diminishing oil supplies. You've likely already heard of Bright's IDEA concept car: an affordable plug-in hybrid electric light-duty vehicle that can achieve the equivalent of 100 miles per gallon.

As Ben outlines in his piece on Environmental Defense Fund's Climate Corps program, RMI helped EDF train its Fellows in energy efficiency before they were sent off to work with major corporations where they help inspire energy ideals and, hopefully, demonstrate the value of energy efficiency for businesses. Meanwhile, Kelly writes about our efforts in the trucking sector, specifically, our April Transformational Trucking Charrette, held in Denver. Several innovative initiatives that could at least double trucking efficiency in the United States were born at this event.

I'm always surprised and delighted at the wide range of challenges RMI takes on, and the way our clever staff delves into them. At RMI we're on a quest to find every way we can to reduce the world's reliance on fossil fuels. Here, you'll read about our concrete efforts, and I hope these stories will encourage you to support us in these game-changing endeavors.

Sincerely,

Michael Potts, CEO, Rocky Mountain Institute®