Today in Cleantech: Zipcar’s pricing, the paleo diet & the cost of climate change

From the cleantech section our premium research service (subscription required), we bring you Today in Cleantech:

Zipcar has announced that it will now be offering memberships to its car sharing service at the rate of $6 per month, not just its annual $60 membership. This is likely a response to the reality that car sharing is getting more competitive and the fact that Hertz is entering the market, and doesn’t require any membership fees. The new fee structure also allows someone to add an additional member to their account for $3.

This greater flexibility will be helpful in getting more people in the door for Zipcar, though also points out the potential that the company is not just facing more competition, but may be hitting some snags in adding new subscribers with its current fee structure.

Here’s other news we’ve been reading today:

• Primal time: How green is the ‘caveman diet’?: The carbon impacts of the paleo diet. Beef requires lots of grain and water.
• Scientists peg net present value of climate change at $1240 trillion: A scientist from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has led a group that is modeling the costs of climates change: $1240 trillion is one big number….didn’t realize there’s that much monetary value in the world to begin with.
• New fuel cell keeps going after the hydrogen runs out: The solid oxide fuel cell uses vanadium oxide as the anode to both generate and store energy. From an MIT lab.
• How CIOs can use ‘Butterfly Effect’ to green up their act: On how CIOs can set the tone for moving all aspects of operations towards energy efficiency.

And don’t forget to check out this research (subscription really required for these):

• Flash analysis: how the Model S will change Tesla and the electric-car market
• How to overcome EV public charging’s challenges
• Locating data centers in an energy-constrained world