The old Subaru was on the verge, our second child was on the way, and it was clear that it was time for a new car. Being in the Green business it is imperative that we “walk our talk” and live to the utmost greenness, especially if we are going to slap our company car magnet on a petrol fed automobile touting “Green Solutions.”
After taking Kim Wheel’s Low Carbon Diet seminar about ways to minimize our carbon foot print, I learned that no matter how well you recycle, use canvas grocery bags, or have the right light bulbs in your house…. if you drive a car or especially fly in an airplane, you end up ranking gluttonous and obese on the carbon diet. So, when it came to buying the company car, we decided that the next best thing we could do was to use a hybrid vehicle.
We rolled away with the latest in automobile technology, the Toyota Hybrid Highlander, on a 2 year lease, with the thought, that after two years, better technology will inevitably be available and we would trade it in for an even more efficient car. As part-time local filmmaker, Chris Paine, uncovered in his documentary “Who Killed the Electric Car?” advanced alternative fuel technology already exists but was squashed in order yield to those still profiting off of big oil. So, we are forced to wait patiently for politics, gas prices, and global warming to get severe enough in order for this ready alternative technology to reemerge.
The hybrid motor is designed to reduce air pollution and considerably improve fuel economy. Batteries in hybrid vehicles are recharged partly by the gas engines and partly by regenerative braking; a third of the energy from slowing the car is turned into electricity. I like this feature when my gas light is blinking, and I can glide from town down Keystone on battery power alone to get to the Saw Pit mercantile, my loyal-independent, non-multinational corporate conglomerate, local gas fill up station.
Practically speaking, our Hybrid is a good car, very safe, rather reliable, and has no problem passing sports cars on Dallas Divide. At best, our 4 wheel drive hybrid SUV, gets 28 miles to the gallon on the open road, 24 mpg pulling our pop up trailer to secluded camping spots, and 23 mpg in winter wearing four studded tires while running the heater. This is nothing to feel “green” about, really. Politicians are saying, it is a small step in the right direction. But actually, I feel that this is a pathetic advance in the potential and the urgency for lower carbon emitting vehicles. When your house is burning down (or your earth is burning up) you don’t take small steps towards safety, you run fast, taking big steps to get out of the inferno. At this rate, we will never meet even the most insignificant goals made at the Copenhagen Climate Summit to reduce the global temperatures by two degrees. Remember, that in preparation for world war II President Roosevelt mobilized our country to ramp up for war, rapidly building air crafts, machinery, military gear, not to mention the a-bomb in order to effectively end a war and change the world forever. We face this type of urgency for change right now.
We wait to see if the Obama administration, the economic crisis, the global warming threats, the war in the middle east now in its 9th year over oil, and the tumbling banks and automotive industry might heed way to propel alternative energy and fuel efficiency to the next level quickly. I have read that there are some new compact hybrids that are celebrating getting max 40 mpg. Remember, however, there were automobiles made twenty years ago (before the trend of over sized gas guzzling vehicles) that got close to that same mileage It seems like competitive products like smart phones, prosthetic, and even head lamps have advanced their cutting edge technology greatly in this time, but our cutting edge car has been stuck dead in its design. Come April, when our lease runs out, three years later, we will not be turning it in for a higher tech vehicle as we thought, because still no such thing exists.
Joanna Kanow is owner of EcoSpaces: Green Building Solutions: a green building materials design/supply showroom and distribution center. EcoSpaces is located at 162A Society Turn in Lawson Hill. 970-728-1973 www.EcoSpaces.net and is Telluride;s source to Green Building Materials.
