CitiesGoGreen -September 2008 - (Page 7) Sustainability became a sort Island Transitioning to sustainable energy of game on the Island of Samsø, and according to an article in The New Yorker, the residents (and the environment) won. Now carbon neutral and a net energy exporter to the Danish mainland, this community of mostly farmers once imported heating oil and coalbased electricity. Each person produced more than 11 tons of CO2 emissions per year. Circumstances conspired, but the culture shift is what made the transition work. The people took up the challenge and did it with creativity and pride. They built wind turbines in their back yards, replaced furnaces with heat pumps, insulated and changed light bulbs, grew and crushed seed for biodiesel, joined together to invest in large land and offshore wind turbines, and built a district heating plant using biomass and solar power. They spent five years looking at each From flowers to power: homegrown diesel fuel. Photo courtesy Samsø Energy Academy other and waiting for someone else to start, then accomplished everything in the next 10. Now their only emissions impact is from visitors coming from around the world to study them. Soren Hermansen, Samsø’s sustainability champion, he says the change has also boosted the community economy and created a lot Before 1996 Canadian automobiles had no emisof jobs. sions limits. The resulting smog brought tougher rules but the old cars remain, emitting an average of 19 times more pollution than newer cars. The Canadian government has an offer The first fully electric police car belongs to Connellsville, for owners of these vehicles: trade your Pennsylvania, reports the Pittsburgh Tribune Review. A car for something easier on the planet 2000 Chevrolet Impala was transformed into an electric and those who live here. Ottawa will vehicle needing a two hour charge for eight hours of spend $92 million on the National Vehicle operation. The car costs 35 cents a day to run, making it a Scrappage Program, offering rebates on new cars, thrifty ride. Performance is being monitored and further membership in a car-sharing program, bicycles, production is possible. public transit passes or cash. The aim is to remove A second vehicle is not electric, but Carbon Motor’s purpose-built police 50,000 vehicles a year from the roads and recycle cruiser, the E7, may challenge the long reign of the Crown Victoria. Some them safely. 650 law enforcement agencies are reportedly interested in the E7, with its 300 hp biodiesel-recommended engine designed for fast acceleration, high speed, and a predicted 28-30 mpg. The aggressively designed E7 is built for police work from the ground up. The maker says that if 30 percent of US police cars were traded for E7s, $140 million and 2 million tons of CO2 would be saved in six months. Residents of Hawaii who want a building permit for a The E7 purpose-built police vehicle. Photo courtesy Carbon Motors single family home in 2010 or later will have to include solar water heaters in their plans, with few exceptions. While an estimated 80,000 buildings in Hawaii already use solar power, Hawaii is still more reliant on imported fossil fuels than any other US state. This shift is part of a larger plan to move from the present 90 percent imported energy to 70 percent renewable energy © kenzo - Fotolia.com by 2030. Canada Buys Back Polluting Cars New Police Cruisers in the Pipeline © matteo NATALE Aloha Solar Power September 2008 .com 7 http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2008/07/07/080707fa_fact_kolbert http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_523614.html http://www.ec.gc.ca/cleanair-airpur/default.asp?lang=En&n=F8711200-1 http://www.ec.gc.ca/cleanair-airpur/default.asp?lang=En&n=F8711200-1 http://carbonmotors.com/machine http://hawaii.gov/gov/news/releases/2008/governor-lingle-signs-bill-to-increase-solar http://hawaii.gov/dbedt/info/energy/renewable/solar http://Fotolia.com http://CitiesGoGreen.com
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