Living Arts
Freedom of Choice
Our Green Energy Alternatives
by Kim Sykes and Barrett Dunn
Explosions of bright colors and sparkling lights illuminate the evening sky once a year, while we gather with family and friends to celebrate our freedom. Freedom is an ambiguous term, loosely defined as the release from restraint, but it takes on multiple meanings depending on the context.
In America, we celebrate the day our country declared independence, liberating itself from British rule. The idea of freedom festered so much in the minds of our founding fathers that it made its way into our constitution, granting every citizen inalienable rights.
Thanks to our constitution, we have the freedom of choice in America and, therefore, the right to choose which products and services we want to consume. We are a consumer-driven market, and it is up to us to direct the market in a way that best benefits society.
Freedom today, however, has an all new meaning for people. We are in the midst of a different kind of freedom fight; we are bound to a depleting energy source and our consumption of that natural resource has caused negative global impacts. Global climate change is now a major topic of debate. As a result, a plethora of bills regarding limits on carbon emissions and tax incentives for alternative energy uses are now being discussed in the halls of Congress.
More than any action plan or legislative bill, freedom is the answer to the problem of depleting natural resources. We need to be free from the fossil fuels that pollute our environment and this, ultimately, can be achieved through freedom of choice. We are free to choose alternative fuel vehicles to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and it is up to the consumer to force the market to provide us with more options.
Research, development and implementation of clean, renewable and efficient energy resources can be expensive to the consumer, but this is where non-profit organizations like the California Center for Sustainable Energy (CCSE) emerge.
CCSE educates the public about alternative energy resources and provides a number of incentive programs for Greening Your World. CCSE also works hard to gather legislative support and promote the alternative energy industry.
The state of California has taken on the challenge of fighting global warming by passing bills that force the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. This confronts California with a challenge, as 60 percent of GHG emissions come from the state’s millions of registered automobiles, and currently less than one percent of those vehicles are using alternative fuels.
Alternative fuel technologies now offer the consumer the choice of hydrogen, electric, bio-diesel or hybrid cars to help the environment and move the country away from its dependence on petroleum. Despite being in their adolescence, these cars still cost more than traditional combustion engine cars. For this reason, CCSE is administering rebates through a California Air Resources Board grant to help ease the costs. The Fueling Alternatives program administered by CCSE provides up to $5,000 in rebates for the purchase or lease of eligible alternative fuel vehicles through the end of March, 2009.
CCSE helps California achieve its emissions reduction goals not only through the Fueling Alternatives Program, but also by hosting the annual Street Smart event. This free, public event showcases the latest trends and new developments in the alternative fuel industry and provides fuel efficiency, alternative fuel and vehicle technology workshops.
CCSE’s second annual Street Smart San Diego event is being held on July 27th from 10am to 4pm at CCSE’s home offices in San Diego. Experts in the industry will be on hand to answer questions and a wide variety of alternative fuel vehicles will be on display so that consumers can peruse all the choices. The event is also designed to help attendees strategize on fuel efficiency for the vehicles they currently drive.
Considering gas prices are nearly $4.50 per gallon in California (and expected to rise) and the issues we are facing globally with depleting natural resources, alternative fuel vehicles make sense as a way to express our freedom of choice.
Showing interest in these vehicles will drive the market to experiment until a renewable, reasonably priced energy resource is found to power our transportation and all of our energy needs.
Kim Sykes is an acclaimed journalist and Marketing Communications Manager for CCSE. Contact her and Barrett Dunn at the California Center for Sustainable Energy at 858.244.1177 or www.energycenter.org