Tag Archives: Tesla

Turning Down the Heat Part 2: Change Your Life Bulb

By Carrie Saxifrage and the Climate Action Network

In early July of 2024, a small group of Cortes Islanders, supported by Friends Of Cortes Island (FOCI), screened the film “How to Boil a Frog” for the community. You can watch the film here. The film is about the five-pronged problem life on Earth is currently facing — overpopulation, a war on nature, wealth disparity, peak oil (hee hee), and climate change—and offers five actions that can help—boycott Exxon, change your “life bulb” (reduce consumption), a change of heart, one kid per couple, and kick some ass. 

This article is the second in a series focused on each of these five solutions. You can read Maureen Williams great first article on a change of heart here. This second article is about changing your “life bulb.” The term refers to the end of Al Gore’s 2006 movie An Inconvenient Truth in which minor suggestions, including a switch to LED bulbs, float across the screen. The disconnect between the size of the problem and the size of the suggested solutions was so very obvious. It still is. Whether or not you change your “life bulb,” it is still important to “Kick Some Ass.” That will be the next article in the series.  

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Clean Energy Canada responds to misconceptions about EVs

According to the BC Government, more than 18% of the light duty passenger vehicles sold in the province last year were electric vehicles (EVs). There has been a sixfold increase in the number of annual registrations since 2016 and there are currently more than 100,000 EVS on the roads. Some of them are in remote communities like Cortes Island. As the prospect of a transition to electric vehicles becomes more likely, some are asking if this is really a viable option. 

Last week Clean Energy Canada, a think tank based in Simon Fraser University, responded with media brief addressing common myths about electric vehiclesRachel Doren, Director of Policy and Strategy at Clean Energy Canada, subsequently agreed to an Q & A interview. 

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Electric Is Better – Even On A Remote Island

British Columbia’s EV tipping point may be closer than you think. When you factor in the cost of gasoline, the average electric vehicle is already substantially less expensive that a gas car. Level three charging stations, capable of delivering an 80% charge in 30 minutes, are creeping up the east coast of Vancouver Island, BC. There are now seven stations along the coastal route between Sidney and Campbell River and sixteen in the Greater Victoria area. (In addition, there is a Tesla Fast charging station in Nanaimo and another planned for Campbell River.) Now even people in remote locations like Cortes Island are going electric. On Saturday, April 12, 2019, three of the island’s six (and counting) E-car owners explained why electric is better — even on a remote island. 

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Guy Dauncey’s Solutions for a Changing Planet

Guy Dauncey is the founder of the BC Sustainable Energy Association. He is also the author or co-author of ten books, including the Climate Challenge: 101 Solutions to Global Warming and most recently Journey to the Future: A Better World Is Possible. I recently visited Ladysmith to discuss Guy Dauncey’s solutions for a changing planet

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The EV Tipping Point Will Arrive Quickly

By Roy L Hales

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Though the Netherland’s EV sales are picking up, Fastned’s co- founder & CEO Michiel Langezaal does think they will reach  the national goal of 200,000 electric cars on the road by 2020. According to Michiel this number includes not only fully electric cars, but also the Hybrids.There are still parts of the country that are beyond the reach of EVs with a 100 kilometers per charge range. Around 85% of the population do not have their own parking spaces.  Yet Fastned’s co- founder & CEO Michiel Langezaal says the EV tipping point will arrive quickly.

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