In the race to save the planet, the technology powering Virgin Hyperloop potentially could lead the charge in reducing the carbon impact of global transportation, one of the largest contributors to climate change, by more than 25 percent, according to Virgin Hyperloop CEO and co-founder Josh Giegel.
"Transportation is the largest emitter in the U.S., it's about 29 percent," Giegel told Cheddar. "So things like electric vehicles, last mile, ride-sharing, all of those things are making a dent."
Virgin Hyperloop uses an electric propulsion system to transport pods from one place to another through a low-pressure tube. Giegel said that the pods can transport people or goods at the speed of conventional airplanes while consuming 10 times less energy.
"But we need to look at mass transportation systems for people, for cargo and that's the opportunity for hyperloop, is that we can live in this century and the next century with technology that allows us to move at these speeds and save this amount of time without having to, i'll say, destroy the planet around us," he said. "It's really sustainability without sacrifice."
The pods also would be able to seat 25 to 35 passengers, take them directly to their destinations without making additional stops, and the service would be "on-demand," allowing passengers to move at their own pace without sticking to a strict departure schedule, according to the CEO. Giegel and colleague Sara Luchian were the first live passengers to test the technology in November of last year.
As global communities continue to seek transportation options that are more climate-conscious, Giegel said he expects technologies similar to Virgin Hyperloop to become more mainstream. He pointed to the coronavirus pandemic's impact on the environment, which led to a reduction in greenhouse gas pollution and even exposed a need for speedier, efficient transportation for vaccine distribution.
"The focus on sustainability, I think, is really, really refreshing and that there's opportunity like here in the U.S. or wherever it might be to 'build back better,' to use the technology of the future to, I'll say, enable the future that we want, which is fast, it's electric, it's clean," he said. "I'm just seeing a much more rapid view on getting people into sustainable modes of transport a heck of a lot faster."
Events and media company Emerald X has acquired Colorado-based news company Marijuana Business Daily for $120 million, which includes the live business conference, MJBizCon. David Doft, chief financial officer at Emerald X, and Chris Walsh, CEO at MJBizDaily, joined Cheddar to talk about the deal and what it means for the growth of the legal cannabis industry. As cannabis becomes more mainstream, Walsh noted that part of the industry's growth will come from major corporations that now "feel more comfortable" conducting business with the industry.
General Motors rolled out the newest addition to its EV fleet with the all-electric Silverado pickup truck. Deborah Wahl, chief marketing officer at GM, joined Cheddar to talk about the latest EV offering and how it matches up to its past gas-powered versions. She said she expects demand to soar after the "first-level truck" sold out in just 12 minutes and talked about steps GM plans to take to regain its title as top U.S. auto seller after being dethroned by Toyota in 2021 with emphasis on the EV market. "I think this is an exciting new inflection point for the market overall, for [an] idea of an all-electric future, and certainly shows that we're extremely committed to the idea of everybody in an electric vehicle," said Wahl.
With the annual CES convention underway amid COVID, HP unveiled rolled out a number of new products virtually this year, including new gaming PCs and 4K display monitors. But as industries look toward a greener future, HP is working with the climate crisis in mind. James McCall, chief sustainability officer at HP, joined Cheddar's Kristen Scholer to discuss the company's climate goals, which includes reducing its carbon footprint to net-zero by 2040. He admitted that reaching the ambitious goal will be difficult because much of the company's emissions totals come from third parties. "A large part of our footprint is outside of HP's direct control. A lot of it comes either from our incoming supply chain, the materials, our manufacturing process, or about 30 to 40 percent of it comes from our consumer-use base," McCall told Cheddar.
Jared C. Bass, senior director for Higher Education at the Center for American Progress, joins Cheddar News to discuss how schools are navigating the Omicron variant.
Martin Fischer, president of technology supplier for cars and commercial vehicles ZF North America, joined Cheddar to discuss the company's solutions for next-generation mobility in autonomous vehicles and its plans to usher in the next phase of electric vehicles. He also talked about the rising demand for self-driving technology on a global scale. "Whereas we are really active also there for passenger cars and commercial vehicles, what we showcase at CES now virtually is our autonomous shuttles," he said. "So, what that means is we bring these vehicles to busy city centers and can take traffic levels down."
Pfizer and BioNTech are working to develop an mRNA-based shingles vaccine following the success of the COVID-19 shot. This latest collaboration will mark the third time the pharmaceutical companies have worked together on a vaccine.
