Amory Lovins earns spot on PBS

ASPEN — Imagine, if you will, valley energy guru Amory Lovins on television with Tom and Ray Magliozzi, better known as “Click and Clack, the Tappet brothers” from the National Public Radio show “Car Talk.”

Next, imagine that the show is narrated by John Lithgow, the actor whose portrayal of a comically clueless alien on a television sitcom won him numerous awards and national public acclaim.

That will be the lineup on “Car of the Future,” a show on the Nova series on PBS, set to air at 8 p.m. EST on April 22.

Lovins — co-founder, chairman and chief scientist at the Rocky Mountain Institute in Old Snowmass — is a proponent of a “soft energy path” for the U.S. and other nations, which involves energy conservation and efficiency in both use and production.

Tom and Ray Magliozzi reportedly will mix their trademark slapstick with a “serious nuts-and-bolts analysis of what it will take to make autos more energy-efficient,” while Lovins is expected to discuss the Hypercar, a super-lightweight car body developed in the Roaring Fork Valley, according to the show’s producers.

The show will examine how the car of the future be powered, whether by hydrogen, batteries, ethanol, or some as-yet undiscovered technology.

A statement from the Nova production team describes the show as “a light-hearted but knowledgeable look at the serious issue of what’s to come for our transportation.”