Friday, 12 Jul 2002

CALGARY, Alberta, Canada

Like anyone else on a Friday afternoon, I hope to leave work at a reasonable time. I will run past everyone I see, wishing them all a good weekend, and then I will head across the parking lot of the research park to my electric vehicle. Even the CEO of Calgary Technologies does not have a reserved spot in the parking lot for his SUV. But for a little red Saturn four-door, life is good.

The Saturn’s parking spot.

Some mornings when we meet at the entrance to the parking lot I’m embarrassed to be pulling into a reserved spot with my electric vehicle while the head honcho searches for any free spot he can find, but the feeling quickly passes. Most parking spots in Calgary are equipped with electrical plugs on short poles for drivers to use in the winter for the block heaters of their cars, but this particular spot was upgraded to provide a 30 amp circuit for my Saturn’s charging needs.

Actually, now would be a good time to thank my corporate sponsors (Interstate Batteries, Calgary Technologies, and Mountain Equipment Co-Op) for all of their help and support. And thanks especially for the free electricity! I always have fun answering the question: “Just how much does it cost you to run this thing for a week?”

I’d also like to thank Grist for asking me to write these five days of diary entries about living and commuting with an EV, and for giving me a forum to share some of my ideas. Grist readers wanting to know more about recycling a car into an electric vehicle should check out my extensive conversion diary.

All over the world, people are researching future transportation alternatives. Altruism does not drive most of this work, but the net effect is the same. I think Europeans are generally more aware than North Americans of environmental issues, and are more willing to try new transportation technologies such as those used in electric vehicles. Many tourist areas in northern Italy have banned petroleum-powered vehicles altogether, and in London, a smog tax of £7 (about $10) is levied each day on every car or truck that comes into the city. But until people have reliable alternatives, they’ll continue using their conventional, polluting vehicles. That’s why my Saturn EV is so important to our beautiful city. It is a catalyst for conversation and a real thought-provoker, and you never know where such things will lead.

Calgary will probably be the last place on earth where electric vehicle use will rapidly rise in popularity. Around here, it’s hard for most people to take climate change seriously. The gorgeous vistas, crystal blue skies, and plentiful clean water and air do not help to transmit a sense of urgency to the average person. It is a stunningly beautiful place, and life for the majority is good here. We all have friends or relatives that live in other places and have to put up with polluted water and air each day, but a lot of us living in the wide-open spaces of the Rocky Mountain foothills have trouble comprehending any notion of impending climatic doom.

Rocky Mountain high times.

To be fair, there are many environmentally minded people around me who quietly go about trying to make life better for the rest of us. The Vestas windmill, for example, is one of many lining Cowley Ridge to the south of Calgary. The power produced by this wind farm is channeled back into the grid to power another type of electric vehicle — our city’s light rail transit, which consumes the majority of this green power. The engineering firm that manages these windmills has their offices just down the hall from my Internet software shop. It doesn’t matter whether your contribution is big or small, as long as you do your part.

As I drive — quietly — away from work in my battery-powered Saturn, I would like to leave you with a real Rocky Mountain High to remind you of why it is important that we all try to do something to help. This picture was taken at the head of a mountain pass just south of our city, and you can see why the late, great John Denver wrote a song with the same name. Take care, and spend some time with your families this weekend.