(lighthearted music) (lighthearted music) - Climate is the most serious challenge.

The Secretary General of the United Nations stated very clearly, "If we didn't make the changes, negative impacts would be permanent."

The most important way to fight climate change is to convert transportation from petroleum-based to electrically powered and have the electricity created by the sun and wind and other sustainable devices.

- [Narrator] "Bay Area Bountiful" is about agriculture.

It's about feeding us.

It's about land and water.

It's about the health of our planet.

It's about stories that matter.

(bright upbeat music) "Bay Area Bountiful," cultivate, celebrate, connect.

- [Announcer] "Bay Area Bountiful" is made possible in part by Rocky The Free Range Chicken and Rosie The Original Organic Chicken, the Sonoma County Agricultural Preservation and Open Space District, Made Local Magazine and Sonoma County Go Local, and through the generous support of Sonoma Water.

(lighthearted music) - [Narrator] This fall in San Jose, the Rotary Club convened a summit on greener power and transportation.

- Hello, Rotarians.

I'm honored to join you for this environmental summit.

Allow me to give a big thank you to Rotary International Foundation for making combating climate change a priority.

Our strong climate policies are not job killers, they are job creators.

(audience applauding) - [Narrator] Longtime public transportation advocate, Rod Diridon, Sr., led the proceedings.

- And now, let's get into a final stretch run and- - [Narrator] Attendees in person and online considered transportation and climate change.

- We've got state funding, and we've also got action focusing on green transportation, the shift to public transit first as a model for urban development and for building out our transportation infrastructure.

We've got technology wins on the EV cars.

Not only are they getting better, but we also have many more manufacturers coming into the marketplace and offering a wider range of models.

- [Narrator] Before leaving on field trips, summit goers had EVs to check out.

But alternative transportation takes many forms today.

(upbeat music) In recent months, we've seen efforts from both the state and federal governments to address climate change and invest in our future.

The Inflation Reduction Act and California Air Resource Board's Advanced Clean Cars II rules will both help reach the goal of zero emissions by 2035.

While most people are familiar with battery electric vehicles, did you know that California is the only place in the US that you can currently buy a zero emissions hydrogen-powered vehicle as well?

- Electric vehicles come in two flavors; battery and fuel cell.

Most people understand how a battery electric works.

For the most part, you plug it in and you get your electricity from wherever you get it from.

Whether it's your solar panels or from your electric utility or some other source.

With fuel cell vehicle, you're going to make the electricity onboard your electric car inside those fuel cells.

So you will go to a gas station that has a hydrogen pump.

Right now, we have more than 50 that are open across California and more are coming.

You're going to fill up in about three to seven minutes, depending on how much you need, and then you're set to go.

- [Narrator] Passenger cars aren't the only ones running on hydrogen though.

- Hi, my name's Joe Callaway, I'm the director of Capital Projects with AC Transit, and as part of my responsibility as the director of Capital Projects includes the development, design, and implementation of the hydrogen fueling infrastructure, which goes to support our Hydrogen Fuel Cell Bus program.

The reason we're here today at our Emeryville facility is that this is one of our two hydrogen refueling facilities within AC Transit's operating districts.

We operate a fleet of 35 hydrogen buses that refuel daily.

Each one has a range of about 300 miles, and they're operated in regular service every day.

So what you see behind us right now is a refueling operation replenishing our onsite storage with liquid hydrogen.

Hydrogen, to maintain a liquid form, has to stay very, very cold.

Minus 423 degrees.

So as it passes through the pipe, it freezes the moisture in the ambient air and creates that fog.

Not to be confused with a hydrogen leak or anything like that, it's just fog.

This hydrogen fueling plant supports our hydrogen fuel cell electric bus fleet.

We have currently have 35 hydrogen fuel cell electric buses.

(bright music) What you see behind me now is one of our newest fuel cell buses.

It's a fifth generation fuel cell bus.

It's a battery-dominant fuel cell bus, which means it uses the power from the batteries to drive the electric motor, but the fuel cell actually then serves as a recharger for the battery.

So this bus is almost identical to battery electric buses except the battery electric buses have a whole bunch of batteries and they charge from the grid.

Where this bus has fewer batteries and they charge from the onboard fuel cell.

So it's almost like a battery bus with an onboard battery charger.

First thing you got to remember, this is not an internal combustion engine.

Some people think that we burn the hydrogen as a fuel in an engine and that's not how this works at all.

This is actually just like a battery electric bus.

We don't actually burn the hydrogen in the engine as a fuel.

What we do is the hydrogen mixes in a fuel cell with oxygen, the air, and as oxygen and hydrogen mix together, it excites the molecules and it causes the molecules to spin off the electrons and the protons.

- And as a result, it creates a very powerful current that drives your motor, out the back end comes water vapor.

So that's your only emission and that is why both these types of vehicles are described as zero emissions.

Well, I've been driving fuel cell cars now for about almost nine to 10 years.

And when I'm at public events talking with people, I tell them these are damn fun cars to drive.

Fuel cell vehicles really mimic a lot of the same attributes that you have as your gasoline vehicle.

The fueling time, the ranges, the size of the vehicles.

Fuel cell electric cars make sense for a number of people who may not be able to charge at home, who live in a multi-unit dwelling where there's not enough charging available.

These cars are really ideal for people who have longer commutes, who live in extreme temperature environment.

So if you are living in an area that gets snow a lot or if you're living in desert areas where it gets over 90, over 100, fuel cell technology performs really well under those conditions.

- [Narrator] Those reasons, along with some pretty hefty tax incentives and fuel subsidies were persuasive enough for Dublin California resident and retired school teacher, Sue Scott, to purchase her fuel cell vehicle in 2017.

- Okay, so our mission is today to go to one of the fuel stations and see if it's open.

Looks like we check the app and it looks pretty good.

And fueling is probably one of the bigger challenges of this car.

All right, let's go.

So this fuel station is about seven miles from the house, which is, was also what made me to buy this car 'cause I thought that really isn't that far.

But it always hasn't been operating.

So that makes it a little bit of a challenge.

It gets to about 300 miles for each fueling and you really have to pay attention how close you are to a station.

And I really never let this car get under a hundred miles if I can because if I have to go look for a fueling station, I like that hundred-mile cushion.

- This hydrogen fuel cell bus can operate in service for 300 miles before it needs to be refueled.

So on a single fueling.

That 300-mile range allows us to operate this bus on virtually every route AC Transit has.

The end result is in one year's time, this bus reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 135 metric tons.

- Well, this is really a Bay Area car.

You, there's many fuel stations throughout the state, but I probably would not take the risk of driving much, much further south than 200 miles because if there was a fuel station and it wasn't operating, then you're kind of stuck.

So I did purchase this car with the idea that I use it mostly just within the Bay Area.

I understand now that they're expanding and that's exciting.

I would like to drive this car further than just what I use right now.

- We can build the buses, we can build the infrastructure, we can build the stations.

The wild card for it in it is the availability and cost of the fuel long-term.

In order for this sort of technology to become everyday technology, we're going to need to have some sort of legislative support with regard to fuel production to make liquid hydrogen locally available to every transit operator.

- We're now beginning to see at the national level huge investments in hydrogen.

Over the last year, the infrastructure law, and most recently, the Inflation Reduction Act have funded hydrogen production to the tune of many billions of dollars.

We are now in the earliest stages of development of hydrogen hubs.

So the federal government allotted $8 billion for the development of at least four and probably six to maybe eight hydrogen hubs across the US.

So there's a lot of work going on, a lot of actually groundwork that's already been laid for producing low-cost renewable hydrogen.

In fact, the US Department of Energy has set a goal of a dollar per kilogram by the end of the decade.

So it's really an exciting time.

- Some of the things that would make this car more appealing would probably be the cost of the car itself and also the reliability of the fueling stations and the cost of the fuel.

I understand that those are being addressed and I believe a lot more people would be interested in a fuel cell car If that were the case.

- [Narrator] With the massive federal level investments, the availability and cost of hydrogen fuel will continue to go down.

And while the cars and buses are zero emissions, the largest source of hydrogen fuel is still coming from natural gas-powered plants.

So to truly reach a zero emissions future, the technology to acquire hydrogen must also continue to improve as well.

(upbeat music) - That comes in here.

Close the cap.

Otherwise, you cannot start this car.

And you also have to make sure that this is closed.

Otherwise, it will not start.

A lot of safety features on the car around the hydrogen.

- [Narrator] But hydrogen is well on its way to providing a valuable asset and the effort to decarbonize our transportation.

(lighthearted music) Green travel does not have to be high-tech.

- Bicycles are great for the environment, they're great for your health, they're a great hobby.

They get you out in nature.

I mean they're probably most people's fondest memory is it's their first sense of freedom is when you're able to get your bike and get down that road and see the world.

- I recycle the community bikes for the community.

So they give us the bikes.

Don't worry, we don't buy anything, we don't trade or anything.

We take the donated bikes, we fix them up, sell them back to the community for a fraction of the new price.

Or we also donate bikes.

So like community group homes, Christian services, Department of Rehab, anybody with a letterhead with a name on it saying, "I need a bike to live," gets a bike.

- So there's a real connection to the history of bikes in the area.

Schwinn history, mountain bike history, recumbent history.

So if you need information about any of those things, you can come in and talk to one of our people who have background in that, and we'll walk you through the local history.

- The bike is one of the most beautiful and everlasting inventions for human beings.

I think you use a bike for everything.

You don't have to use fossil fuels.

They're fairly easy to fix.

They've been around a long time.

They're not complicated.

They can be, but they're for everybody, pretty much.

You know, as long as you got some legs and a hand.

You know, there's three wheels too if you don't have good balance.

And a small community like Santa Rosa where everything's flat, nothing's far, it'll save you gas, it'll make you feel better, right?

You get out, you smell the air, you get the B vitamins, you get D, you get everything.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] For cyclists on the peninsula, taking the train has always been an option.

For over 150 years, passengers have ridden along the peninsula rail corridor, a route that has changed very little in all that time.

But one big change is happening now, electrification of the line.

- Caltrain is a century-old commuter railway here on the peninsula, originally run by Southern Pacific.

And when SP wanted to get out of the commuter rail service, a small group of visionaries led by Ron Diridon and others came together to save commuter railway here.

(gentle music) - [Narrator] On a field trip for the Rotary Green Summit, lifelong transportation activist, Rod Diridon, brings colleagues for a tour of the San Jose transit hub named in his honor to get an update on Caltrain modernization.

- What we're really here to see, and I'm anxious to see too is the electrification project because that's the signal that this little old station is going to be reused now for electric train systems, including Caltrain, and then high speed rail in the future.

- Caltrain is kind of this key to this dynamic corridor where the spine of Silicon Valley, of San Francisco.

- We recently had a tour at Diridon Station in San Jose where already, electrification infrastructure has been erected.

(inspiring music) - [Narrator] Emission-free electric trains run under their own power when they can extend their roof arms called pantographs, up to a system of charged overhead wires delivering electricity.

- The Caltrain electrification is the first electrification of a train system on the West Coast.

Now, the rest of the world is almost totally electric and they're way ahead of us in fighting climate change.

We need to showcase the fact that you can electrify a whole mode of transportation and carrying a hundred thousand people.

It's projected to carry between a hundred to 200,000 people, riders a day instead of in cars in an electrically-powered, very fast and safe transit system.

And that's what we're trying to do.

(upbeat music) - [Narrator] The installation of overhead lines is complete at Caltrain's southern end, but continues north towards San Francisco.

Five years into construction, most work goes on while existing diesel passenger trains use the very same tracks below.

Operations are overseen from Caltrain offices in San Carlos.

- We're one of the first railroads that is converting diesel corridor into electrified.

In fact, my research tells me this is one of the first ones to do that since World War II.

So this is an incredible milestone for this area and for this agency, and I'm extremely happy to be part of that.

Balfour Beatty is our design build contractor and they bring considerable amount of experience to this project.

- [Narrator] 115,000 volts of AC power from the grid arrive at traction power stations along the right of way.

The current is then stepped down to 25,000 volts and sent out over the tracks.

- [Pranaya] In fact, the last two weekends, we tested our overhead contact system and our traction power substation.

So the system actually was energized and we had power flowing through our system.

So this is a milestone that we have reached.

- [Narrator] Another milestone has been the building of the trains.

- [Pranaya] The train is being designed and built by Stadler, world-renowned manufacturer of vehicles.

They actually opened up a manufacturing facility in Salt Lake City, Utah, and they have hired a considerable amount of local talent.

- [Narrator] When assembled, the EMUs, electrical multiple units, are sent for testing on an energized route - From Utah to California or Bay Area, they're towed by UP's diesel locomotive to San Jose.

We actually received pictures from throughout their travels.

We had a lot of rail fans taking pictures and sending to us.

(train chugging) - Yeah, Caltrain's very lucky to have such a dedicated group of rail fans, not just locally, but across the country.

A rail fan could be the youngest child who's so excited to see just a train go by, to a grown adult who is enamored with all types of trains.

And so they're really witnessing this transformational moment, not just for rail fans and rail history, but also for the state of California and our country as we transition to this cleaner technology.

- [Pranaya] This is an opportunity to really move this quarter forward to this new technology.

But our main focus is our sustainability.

- Caltrain electrification will significantly reduce the amount of diesel pollution out there.

We'll reduce particulate matter, all sorts of air pollutants, as well as greenhouse gases.

In addition, it'll also help with communities of concern who are impacted by pollution and help everyone to breathe easier.

- [Narrator] Once delivered, the new train sets are pushed or pulled through painstaking clearance tests on their new home rails.

- The science is telling us that the most important way to fight climate change is to convert transportation and energy generation from petroleum-based to instead have them electrically-powered and have the electricity created by the sun and wind and wave actions and geothermal.

We're going to do everything we could possibly do to focus the attention on the remedies.

And Caltrain is the best example in the United States right now.

(train chugging) - Caltrain electrification has been a seven-year project and we have two more years to go.

It'll be fully electrified by 2024, which is very exciting.

It's a multi-billion dollar project.

When we think about our investment in public transportation, we really want to make sure that the investments we're making are those investments that have an outcome for the community that is really robust.

So not only are we going to make our community healthier, we're going to make riding on Caltrain safer, we're going to be able to move more people, and we're going to be able to move people faster.

(gentle music) - [Lori] Caltrain's been doing a lot of exciting events recently.

We are really excited to bring the first electric train set to San Francisco's 4th and King Station to have a celebration event.

- I am very pleased to welcome you to the Caltrain San Francisco terminal to mark the receipt of our first set of train cars for our new electrified railroad.

- This project created 30,000 jobs across this country and 10,000 jobs alone to build these trains.

- Many of you know transportation sector accounts for roughly half of the State's greenhouse gas emissions.

Caltrain can continue to become that backbone that literally takes millions upon millions of vehicle miles off the road every year.

- Our train system is leading the way.

The fight against climate change will not be one with minor reforms and symbolic gestures, but with bold efforts like the one that we recognize today.

- Fantastic glorious new trains.

I think I was seen giving the train a big hug, but it's going to be a great experience when we get into revenue service in 2024 for our riders.

(lighthearted music) - [Speaker] Thank you, Rotary International, for all you're doing to make our world a better place.

(audience applauding) - Our children are going to come to us and they're going to say, "When you had a chance to reduce the impact of climate change on the future, did you do everything you could possibly do?"

(audience applauding) Climate change, caused by humans, is advancing much faster than we thought.

And that could be the end of humankind on this planet.

Mammals on this planet.

I'm a grandfather, that's enough motivation for me to do all I can possibly do with the years I have left to fight climate change.

(lighthearted music) - Caltrans and Caltrain, for their similar names, occasionally get confused, but that's a compliment for us.

And in fact, there was actually a little brief moment of time between Lincoln and Obama when we were the custodian of this railroad.

But look at what Caltrain has done.

This is incredible.

What an amazing day.

Caltrans' director, Tony Tavares said, "Who's the next person who can go who really needs to come home with model train swag?"

And he wasn't talking about my kids.

(upbeat music)