You’d expect Doug Fox, the cordial co-chair of the North American International Auto Show, opening to the public on Saturday, to have some good spin on how this event will rise above the stench of economic panic in the Motor City, and the country.

Not only does he have the goods, by the end of our conversation Tuesday, I was convinced that this is a pivotal, but not hopeless time for the car industry.

Fox thinks this is not just an important, historic show, but “the most significant show without a doubt” in the 21 years since the NAIAS became a designated international show.

The automakers, he believes, are thoroughly jazzed by the technological road race in front of them and ready to turn out more energy efficient vehicles faster than “even they thought they could.” (Good point there. But then what are the alternatives for the American makers? Sell the remaining inventory of Navigators to the residents of Dubai and take early retirement?)

From his perch in the balcony above the convention, Fox pointed to the evidence supporting his premise: GM’s all-electric Volt, on target for market in late 2010 (as far as we know), and soon to generate new American jobs in batteries; the Prius, enough said; the Insight, back from the dead and touted as economical too; and the promised Chrysler EVs (Fox hadn’t spotted those on the floor, but suspected strongly that they’ll be surfacing).

And don’t forget China’s whimsically named Build Your Dreams (BYD) cars, keeping the pressure on our flabby U.S. flank to build hybrids and all-electric cars in big numbers, but with smaller price tags.

“I think clearly there were some people coming here, arriving thinking this would be a gloomy funeral like atmosphere,” said Fox of the NAIAS convention. “But when they walked into that hall and heard some of the announcements being made…there’s no other show anywhere in North America like this show.”

“The word I use is hope. That’s what this show has shown us. There is hope on the horizon,” he said.

So maybe all we have to fear is fear itself? We’ll see how that flies, or drives, in the months to come.

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

The North American International Auto Show in Detroit, that perennial display of motor muscle, finds itself in a serious mood this year.

With every top automaker in the U.S. reporting double-digit sales declines for 2008 (and GM still teetering on the precipice) it is a safe bet that the tenor at times will be more matte gray than Corvette red.

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But for those who seek the light at the end of the tunnel, there is much to celebrate — or at least laud — at this year’s show. And most of it is green, green, green.

“It’s the most important year ever for hybrid vehicles. We’ve had most of our major press conferences completed, and probably 80 percent of the major press conferences all revolved around hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles,” said Doug Fox, co-chair of the 2009 NAIAS, which opens to the public on Saturday.

“That’s what it’s all about,” he said. And it’s not just the press coverage. The automakers in attendance — and that includes pretty much ALL the automakers at what remains the biggest auto show on the continent — are showing everything from cars to batteries to tires that improve energy efficiency.

“There is an incredible revolution underway,” Fox said, citing some key unveilings, such as the first glimpe of the BYD (Build Your Own Dreams) E6 all-electric vehicle from China (pictured top) and the announcement by General Motors that it will open the first domestic lithium-ion battery factory to supply its upcoming all-electric Volt.

The Detroit show does appear replete with eco-events. Michelin will be displaying new more energy-efficient tires, and on Monday announced a design contest for even more efficient tires.

Toyota has brought its environmental darling, the Prius, newly designed for 2010 with better aerodynamics, solar components and higher gas mileage (50 mpg compared with 45 mpg).

Honda will be premiering its 2010 Insight (pictured here), nosing its way back into the hybrid-electric market with estimated 40 to 43 mpg, and expected to be available in the U.S. in April.

“A lot of the excitement used to be about styling and design. This year, it’s really under the hood. That’s where they’re concentrating, on engines, transmissions and batteries,” Fox said, noting that the next step, developing an alternative fuel or battery infrastructure, is also part of the buzz.

At this show, the red carpet for frilly concept cars has been replaced by a green track, literally, to showcase the next new thing.

The Detroit show will help patrons envision the great big, green future by letting them ride in electric cars on an “Eco Experience Track,” a demo driving area with a panoramic “natural background” that aims to simulate a clean emissions jaunt.

As more and more individuals and groups set out to re-introduce gardens to urban areas — often citing WWII’s “Victory Gardens” as proof that a large percentage of our food can come from our back yards and vacant lots — the Detroit-headquartered Urban Farming wants to push edible plants into new spaces — like walls.

The Urban Farming Food Chain is a “vertical farming” project that retrofits the sides of buildings with irrigated panels capable of growing all sorts of produce. Intent on making this food useful instead of a mere eco-novelty, the group has put its first four installations in Los Angeles locations where fresh, healthy food can be scarce: places like Skid Row, for instance.

“These are in protected/courtyard locations,” program developer Joyce Lapinsky clarifies.

Though the group first targeted purely public spaces, she says, “once we realized that the vegetable/fruit plants would grow out approximately one foot/foot and a half from the wall panels, it was clear to us that we wouldn’t likely find appropriate locations in the environments that we wanted. It would have required us to have unrealistic and inconsiderate expectations of the people we wanted to serve.” Lapinsky explains that, in areas with large homeless populations, you can’t really ask people “Please don’t lean on the wall,” or “Please don’t sit on the sidewalk.”

What you can ask is that those who benefit from a project like this learn how to keep it going. So while “anyone can in fact go up and pull a fruit/vegetable off of the wall” in these four test sites, local residents are expected to take organizers’ expertise (and the pre-grown plant panels, which are organically cultivated at Cal Poly’s Sustainable Agriculture Resource Consortium) and learn how to implement it as a group.

As a story in the Los Angeles Times pointed out in August, formerly homeless people on Skid Row had seen mixed results with their own earlier attempts at farming; but Lapinsky says that these walls of food “have fared very well.”

People from around the country have contacted Urban Farming about the project, she adds, “and we’re hopeful that with our efforts to highlight vertical farming that people will do this in their communities, whether as an Urban Farming partner and ‘link’ in the Urban Farming Food Chain, or on their own.”

Copyright © 2008 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media