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Free & Fun Event in Chicago this Weekend: "Imagination and Innovation for Oil and Water"

Looking for something to do this weekend that is both interesting and free? You should check out the Illinois Humanities Council event "Wellsprings Eternal: Imagination and Innovation for Oil and Water".

The event features a panel discussion on the imaginative and creative solutions being developed in order to deal with the Earth's finite supplies of oil and water. And on an I-GO related note, Scott Bernstein (the President of the Center for Neighborhood Technology, the non-profit from which I-GO sprung) will be one of the 3 featured panelists.

The other two panelists are Greg Watson, the Senior Advisor for Clean Energy Technology of Massachusets Executive Office of Energy & Environmental Affairs, and Henry Henderson, the Midwest Program Director of the Natural Resources Defence Council.

Participants will also have the opportunity to learn about Chicago's award-winning Green Alley Program and to learn more about several Archeworks community design initiatives, including Pocket Parks, Local Loops and Sustainable Food.

EVENT DETAILS

Where: Archeworks (625 N Kingsbury St. Chicago IL 60654)

When: Saturday, October 24th from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m.

Free, but reservations are required. To save your space click here.

Suburu supports I-GO Car Sharing

Big thanks to Chicago's Mid City Suburu for generously providing I-GO with a beautiful, new, 2010 Suburu Legacy mid-size sedan. Great to see them supporting car sharing in Chicago. Car was dropped off at our office yesterday and will be located at Lakeshore East's awesome Aqua tower, 225 N. Columbus Dr. Need to show a business client around town? Got a date to impress? This'll do.

I-GO Car Sharing expands into Des Plaines this November

We will be continuing with our suburban expansion by adding two cars in Des Plaines next month. A Toyota Prius Hybrid and Honda Insight Hybrid will be going into the City Parking Lot 9 on the south side of Miner Street, between Lee and Graceland Streets.

Use the promo code desplaines25 on the application and sign up to become an I-GO member for only $25 (a $50 savings!). Our 13,000+ members have 24/7 access to more than 200 hybrid and low emission vehicles in Chicago, Oak Park, Evanston, Skokie, Forest Park and now Des Plaines as well.

Check out the new rides:

Toyota Prius Hybrid: http://www.toyota.com/prius-hybrid/



Honda Insight Hybrid: http://automobiles.honda.com/insight-hybrid/



Has anyone driven either of these types of cars yet? I've driven the new Prius but I haven't had a chance to try out our new Honda Insights quite yet.

Mayor Daley gets a charge of out I-GO

I-GO & Electric Charging Stations from I-GO Car Sharing on Vimeo.

On Saturday, Oct. 10, I-GO Car Sharing was prominently featured in a high-profile press conference and exhibition hosted by Magellan Development Group at its new, high-profile Aqua tower in Chicago's Lakeshore East community. The Aqua, an 82-story mixed-use structure designed by architect Jeanne Gang with many environmentally beneficial elements, includes the Midwest's first electric vehicle charging station open to the public.

Mayor Richard Daley participated in the charging station demonstration of a plug-in electric Prius provided by I-GO. The new station adds to the progressive efforts of newly created Carbon Day Automotives, a Chicago firm employing the Coulomb Technologies ChargePoint Network of electric charging stations. A new infrastructure for electric electric vehicles is being created to deal with the fact that virtually every auto manufacturer has announced plans to produce plug-in vehicles in the next one to three years in response to concerns over high gas prices, oil dependence, and the impact of climate change on the environment.

The six-charger station at Aqua will accommodate up to 24 plug-in vehicles. To access it, and others in the ChargePoint/Carbon Day Automotive network, drivers of plug-in vehicles will be required to subscribe to a plan that will provide convenient and affordable access to all public charging stations.

All plug-in stations are connected by computer network to provide drivers with best access to outlets. Drivers can access locations based on the navigation system in their vehicles, computers, telephones, or smartphones. The system no only identifies the closest stations but tells subscribers which are idle and which are occupied.

The event was significant for another reason as well. It provides an impressive prototype for the kind of sustainable-energy infrastructure Chicago will be building with funds awarded via the U.S. Department of Energy's 2009 Clean Cities Petroleum Reduction Technologies grant program. Recently, Mayor Daley announced, Chicago was the recipient of $15 million in stimulus funding allocated toward this purpose. I-GO is among the partners committed to transforming Chicago's sustainable transportation, along with ComEd, Carbon Day, Magellan, the City of Chicago's Department of the Environment, and Yellow Cab, all of whom also took part in the Aqua event.

I-GO has two plug-in electric vehicles in its metro-wide fleet, which is entirely comprised of highly fuel-efficient, low-emission vehicles. Hybrid gas-electric vehicles account for nearly half of the organization's fleet. The non-profit plans to add many more plug-ins in the near future and work in tandem with the imminent solar-panel-powered electric charging station network to help lead the way toward greener mobility in the Chicago area.

This video includes both the press conference proceedings as well as interviews with I-GO CEO Sharon Feigon and Carbon Day Automotive's business development manager, Brian Levin, recorded earlier at the latter org's Carbon Day Festival in Lincoln Park on Sept. 15.

I-GO converted plug-in featured in Consumer Guide Automotive

A reporter from Consumer Guide Automotive featured I-GO's converted Prius plug-in electric car in his Test Drive column. Check out what he has to say about these cars, which are still quite rare (for now).

I-GO adds SUV in Uptown

Uptown I-GOers will dig this: We recently added a Honda CR-V compact SUV at the Bridgeview Bank location, 4753 N. Broadway, next to the Prius and Civic already there. Once that new Target opens down the street, you can really go nuts loading up this baby. Book it now while it's still got that new-car smell.