The city of Austin has done a number of things to promote its green image like starting its “Drive Clean - Park Free” program to encourage the use of hybrids. One of the things that caught my eye is the campaign it hopes will be the model for America called “Austin Plug-In.” The premise of the plan is simple, the city council supports mass production of hybrids, local utilities provide funds to help hybrids become more affordable, commitments by governments and business to purchase hybrids, and finally supporting grassroots petitions to the auto industry to mass produce plug-in hybrids.The update to this campaign is Austin is still pushing. A number of new buildings have been designed to have plug-in friendly parking garages. The city of Austin also uses a number of hybrid vehicles and UT has adopted large fleet of plug-in vehicles. Here’s to hoping for a greener future!  (photo credit: Brett Calzada)