<\/p>\n
In my defense, I did wait until after Thanksgiving to make this commercial transaction.<\/span><\/p>\n Call me old fashion, but I refuse to join in on the buying frenzy now associated with our time honored holidays. Using the little power I still have as a buyer, I choose not to patronize any store that hauls out their Christmas merchandise before Thanksgiving has had an opportunity to be properly commemorated and completely digested.<\/span><\/p>\n I stopped at a local chain drugstore a week before Thanksgiving this year to get some AA batteries. 1\/3 of the store shelves had already been stocked with colorful Christmas ornaments, lights, etc.<\/span><\/p>\n They say that obscenity is hard to define \u2013 but you know it when you see it.<\/span><\/p>\n In writing his opinion for Jacobellis v. Ohio, 378 US 184 (1964) Supreme Court Justice Stewart noted the difficulty of defining obscenity with his now famous quote \u201cI know it when I see it.<\/span>“<\/p>\n I know what I saw as I entered that store was obscene.<\/span><\/p>\n Not having eaten even a bite of turkey yet, that scene made me feel ill so I just turned around and walked back out. Ironically, our legal system places even higher standards on obscenity when children are involved. \u00a0I had to wonder if we are becoming desensitized to commercial porn.<\/span><\/p>\n And I did select an American brand.<\/span><\/p>\n Not that U.S. Corporations practice more sustainable manufacturing processes than other companies around the world. In fact this item with a U.S. company brand was actually made in the U.S. – unlike most of the things we Americans buy these days. \u00a0Most manufacturing jobs have been moved overseas so U.S. corporations did take full advantage of the lower wages paid to Chinese workers to produce this item. \u00a0The corporation\u2019s profit and stockholder\u2019s dividends are significantly higher than if the item had been produced here in the states. I tried to ignore the fact that this particular U.S. company (whose logo appears on the front of the item) paid zero corporate taxes last year. But the CEO received $25.8 Million in compensation last year – an estimated 500 times what an average worker in his company makes – that too is obscene. \u00a0 To add insult to injury, only $7 million of his compensation (less than 1\/3 ) was labeled as “salary” and subject to income tax.<\/span><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/span>And what I purchased should last for the next 20-30 years so it can stay with the house and be used by the next owner.<\/span><\/p>\n And I attached a note to the back of the item asking any future owner to recycle what I just bought when they are done using it so that all the Earth\u2019s resources that went into making it will be available for future generations.<\/span><\/p>\n So here\u2019s my story.<\/p>\n We now drive a plug-in hybrid vehicle and consider that change in our behavior just one small step toward more sustainable living.<\/p>\n After a year and a half of using our plug-in hybrid Chevy Volt for transportation, including a trip from Colorado to New England and back, including several round trips through the mountains between Colorado and Nevada, and countless around-town trips totaling 15,000 miles, we still love driving this hybrid electric car.<\/span><\/p>\n There is always room for improvement when trying to live sustainably.<\/p>\n During the past summer months, we put over 2000 miles on the Volt and used 3 gallons of gasoline.<\/span><\/p>\n That figures out to be nearly 700 miles per gallon (mpg). That\u2019s right, we drove around in the Volt all summer on electrical power produced by the Sun and never had to visit a gas station or put gas in the car. To quote Martha Stewart, \u201cThis is a good thing.\u201d But we did burn 3 gallons of gasoline which we all now know is unsustainable human behavior.<\/span><\/p>\n We figured we can do better, even with today\u2019s rather limited options as we\u2019ll explain.<\/p>\n There were a few occasions where we used the Volt for relatively long local trips (30-40 miles) in the morning and then needed local transportation that same afternoon or evening but the battery had not fully recharged from our earlier use. So we had to burn some gasoline.<\/span><\/p>\n The Volt is a hybrid and runs equally well on electric or gasoline; it doesn\u2019t care. But Gail & I care \u2013 and our children and grandchildren will care several decades from now.<\/span> The energy used to charge the Volt\u2019s battery is harvested during the day when the Sun shines and deposited into our energy account with Xcel Energy Corporation (The electric meter actually runs backward during the day). While we are sleeping, we withdraw energy from our account to recharge the Volt\u2019s battery for the next day.<\/span><\/p>\n Using the 110 V charging system provided with the car takes about 8 hours for a full recharge of the battery; however, a 220 V charging system is now available that shortens a full recharge time to around 4 hours.<\/span> If we had a faster recharging station, we would have burned less than 3 gallons of gasoline this past summer. You can see where this story is going.<\/p>\n As electric vehicles are becoming more mainstream, one can now purchase a \u201cClass II\u201d (i.e. 220 V) charging unit from a number of retailers including Lowes and Home Depot.<\/span><\/p>\n So does it make sense economically to invest in a Class II charging station for one\u2019s home?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Using the example we cited above where we have the potential to save 3 gallons of gasoline every 6 months, and assuming the unit lasts for 20 years, the money saved in gas would pay for the charging unit even if the price of gallon of gas does not go above $4 per gallon during that timeframe.<\/span><\/p>\n It is highly unlikely that the price of gasoline will not increase over the next 20 years. \u00a0 In fact if we hope to avoid irreparable damage to our global climate and want to continue to live comfortably on our planet, we must \u201cput a price on carbon\u201d that encourages us to transition away from burning one-time-only ancient hydrocarbons and move toward inexhaustible solar\/wind\/hydro\/geothermal energy sources. \u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0There is a\u00a0grassroots\u00a0movement underway to initiate a correction to our\u00a0broken economic system and put a price on carbon (i.e. a Pigovian Correction). \u00a0 Such an initiative will result in increasing gas prices over at least the next decade \u2013 from $4 to at least $5 per gallon. \u00a0<\/span> So with this recent holiday purchase, we now have a \u201cClass II\u201d charging unit for the Volt to maximize the amount of driving we can do next year on electrical energy \u00a0(harvested sunlight) alone.<\/p>\n
\n Normally we drive the car during the day but rarely travel more than 40 miles around town. At the end of the day, we just plug-in to recharge the battery using the electrical energy generated during the day by the solar PV modules on the garage roof.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n Because the car carries a tank of liquid energy (gasoline) as well, the range is always extendable at any time to around 400 miles just like any other car on the road today.<\/span><\/p>\n
\n(See <\/span>www.CitizensClimateLobby.org<\/a> for more info about a carbon fee-dividend program)<\/span><\/p>\n
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