Conscious Choice Seattle: Evergreen News

November 2005 | Evergreen News

Evergreen News

Driving Hybrids In the Motorcade

Score another one for hybrid cars, if not for Christine Gregoire.

In the aftermath of Katrina, a number of state governors have parked the idea of using large sports-utility vehicles as their official transport. The SUVs are popular for extra legroom and space for staff members, plus, they are easy to equip for security purposes.

Former Clinton Administration energy secretary and New Mexico governor Bill Richardson quickly switched from a Lincoln Navigator to a Ford Escape. The hybird gets twice the 15 miles per gallon chugged by the Navigator.

If you can believe it, Florida’s Jeb Bush dumped his Ford Expedition in favor of a Ford Escape. Governors in Minnesota, Iowa and Idaho have opted for SUVs that run on E85, a gas-ethanol blend. In fact, Idaho Gov. Dirk Kempthorne even joined festivities to open a new E85 pump at a Boise fuel station.

Granted, these are small pullbacks in a coast-to-coast glut of SUVs, but it raises the question of why Gov. Gregoire hasn’t switched from her 2005 Cadillac DeVille—which gets about 15 to 18 miles per gallon in the city and 24 to 26 miles per gallon on the highway. She also has access to two Chevy Suburbans, which get comparable mileage to other SUVs.

“If we utilized smaller vehicles...we would need two vehicles to transport more than four adults,” said Gregoire spokesman Carol Andrews in a statement.

Maybe so, but you wonder how Richardson, Jeb Bush and others manage to do it. In a state known for its alternative fuel entrepreneurs, plus a U.S. senator (Maria Cantwell) who has championed legislation to lessen oil dependency, EM News can only wonder why Gregoire hasn’t put the brakes on gas guzzlers.
Mayor Greg Nickels, praised nationwide for his role in countering President Bush’s rejection of the Kyoto proposal to protect against global warming, uses a Lincoln Town car for official travel. Same goes for King County Executive Ron Sims. Representatives from both offices explained that Town Cars are ideal for safety protection and security.

Hey guys, it might be time to consider calling some fellow governmental leaders to learn how they keep themselves safe and the planet a bit more sound.

–Andrew Mulholland

Sunny Side of the State

When it comes to solar power, there are no gray days in Washington. Last month, state home and business owners opened up more than 100 solar-powered and green buildings for tours. Some highlights reported by participants:

Climbing the steps of the legislative building at the State Capital to see the 144 solar panels producing the electricity that lights the dome.

In Shoreline, eight small houses form a “pocket neighborhood” of shared community green. Each craftsman dwelling has its own yard surrounded by a miniature fence. The community building and one home have solar roofs.

A passive solar home in Blaine obtains 70 percent of its annual heating requirement from solar energy. Projected heating costs for this home are $148 per year, or 17 percent of the estimated cost for natural gas to heat a house this size in our climate zone. With increases in heating costs, this home will save $35,000 in 15 years and also emit considerably less carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Check out www.solarwashington.org for more details on local solar power.

–A.M.

Brains Behind Energy Saving

The Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center is renowned for its scientific prowess, but Seattle Public Utilities wants people to know that the Hutch is cutting-edge in energy conservation too. The city-owned electricity/water/natural gas provider has published a new brochure to promote money-saving features of energy conservation—and the Hutchinson Center is its lone case study. And for good reason.

The center, 1.3 million square feet in 13 buildings, saves $1.5 million each year in water and energy costs. That’s about one-third off the overall utility bill.

Among the energy savers are irrigation rain sensors and efficient laboratory glassware washers (hey, where can we get one for home?).

What’s more, Hutch workers recycle enough to reduce solid waste by 500 tons per year. “We do it because it’s the right thing to do for the environment, and it makes economic sense,” says Bob Cowan, the Center’s facilities engineering manager.”

–Bob Condor

Laptops Greener, Thanks to Europe

Cathode ray tube monitors (which have about six pounds of lead) and television sets aren’t the only consumer items we can’t get rid of just by setting them by the curb. It’s a fact that we burn through laptop computers even faster than desktop monitors and TVs. Laptops present similar disposal problems. Lead, mercury and other metals and chemicals in your laptop’s display, battery and semiconductors make it an environmental nightmare.

One option is to get your recyclable hardware to centers like RE-PC just south of the Seattle pro stadiums. Another is to think and buy green when looking for a new laptop, which just got easier.

Toshiba recently released a series of laptops that are lead-free. Two models are currently available for sale. The Tecra M3 is $2,300 and the Tecra S3 checks in at $2,500.

While Toshiba deserves at least some of the accolades being heaped on it by the environmental community for this advance, these laptops represent an early effect of new manufacturing restrictions in Europe.

The European Union decided in 2003 to draft its Restrictions on Hazardous Substances (RoHS) directive to limit the amounts of lead, mercury, cadmium, hexavalent chromium, polybrominated biphenyls and polybrominated diphenyl ethers in products sold in the EU. On the WorldChanging.com site (see EM, “Blog Wild,” October), Joel Makower proclaimed it, “the most significant transformation in the manufacturing sector since the beginning of ozone-depleting substances in the late 1970s.”

Mandatory compliance with the European Union’s RoHS begins next July. While Toshiba can confidently claim the first lead-free laptops on the market, there are many more to come.

For now, we have the Toshiba Tecra M3 with a 1.6GHz Intel Pentium M processor, 60GB hard drive and NVIDIA GeForce Go 6200 Express video on a 14-inch display. The Toshiba Tecra S3 containing a 1.86MHz Pentium, 80GB drive and NVIDIA GeForce Go 6600 video on a 15-inch display. Decent specs for a small piece of mind.

– Dan Gonsiorowski

Quality Check
In her book, Self-Nurture —that would no doubt be in the “Quality Check Shelf of Fame Library” (well, hey, let’s start one)—Harvard psychologist Alice Domar makes a case for the healing potential of movies.

“I’m convinced that certain movies have that magical quality,” says Domar, director of Harvard’s Mind/Body Center for Women’s Health, noted for its infertility and stress reduction programs. “Movies transport us to a realm of romance and possibility which somehow untie the knots you feel caught in as a couple, or help transcend feelings of isolation if you are single and don’t want to be.”

Here is a sampling of Domar’s list of healing movies, perfect for a quality night as the weather turns chilly: “Monaco,” “Top Hat,” “It Happened One Night,” “Dodsworth,” “The Awful Truth,” “Holiday,” “Shop Around the Corner,” “The Philadelphia Story,” “Funny Face,” “An Affair to Remember,” “Love in the Afternoon,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “A Man and a Woman,” “The Lady Eve,” “Letter from an Unknown Woman,” “The Quiet Man,” “Sabrina,” “Black Orchid,” “The Apartment,” “Doctor Zhivago,” “Blume in Love,” “Annie Hall,” “Manhattan,” “Out of Africa,” “Sweet Dreams,” “Moonstruck,” “The Accidental Tourist,” “Men Don’t Leave,” “Ghost,” “While You Were Sleeping,” “Sense and Sensibility,” “Shakespeare in Love” and (whew) “A Walk on the Moon.”

And, of course, “Sleepless in Seattle.” In her book, Self-Nurture—that would no doubt be in the “Quality Check Shelf of Fame Library” (well, hey, let’s start one)—Harvard psychologist Alice Domar makes a case for the healing potential of movies.

“I’m convinced that certain movies have that magical quality,” says Domar, director of Harvard’s Mind/Body Center for Women’s Health, noted for its infertility and stress reduction programs. “Movies transport us to a realm of romance and possibility which somehow untie the knots you feel caught in as a couple, or help transcend feelings of isolation if you are single and don’t want to be.”

Here is a sampling of Domar’s list of healing movies, perfect for a quality night as the weather turns chilly: “Monaco,” “Top Hat,” “It Happened One Night,” “Dodsworth,” “The Awful Truth,” “Holiday,” “Shop Around the Corner,” “The Philadelphia Story,” “Funny Face,” “An Affair to Remember,” “Love in the Afternoon,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “A Man and a Woman,” “The Lady Eve,” “Letter from an Unknown Woman,” “The Quiet Man,” “Sabrina,” “Black Orchid,” “The Apartment,” “Doctor Zhivago,” “Blume in Love,” “Annie Hall,” “Manhattan,” “Out of Africa,” “Sweet Dreams,” “Moonstruck,” “The Accidental Tourist,” “Men Don’t Leave,” “Ghost,” “While You Were Sleeping,” “Sense and Sensibility,” “Shakespeare in Love” and (whew) “A Walk on the Moon.”

And, of course, “Sleepless in Seattle.”

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