Imagine my surprise the other day as I exited my neighborhood grocer carrying my trusty reusable tote, brimming with delicious veggies and perhaps a tasty local microbrew, when a total stranger confronted me with a question out of nowhere.
“What mileage do you get in that thing?”, he demanded, pointing accusatorily at my probably too-sporty, four-wheel-drive hatchback neatly parked in a convenient section of spaces directly in front of the entrance. From his disapproving tone I could tell immediately that he was not a fellow auto enthusiast, but I wasn’t quite sure what he was after.
So I smiled and chuckled a little, then replied, “I only get about 20 mpg – if I’m lucky!”
“Well then, what are you doing parked here?”, he continued, pointing now at the small sign in front of the parking section which read, “High Fuel Efficiency Vehicles Only, Please.” This locally owned and operated grocer was making a polite effort to incentivize its customers to make choices with an eye toward efficiency, sustainability and environmental stewardship. (I’d also just received a $.15 discount for bringing my reusable tote.)
Then I noticed he was standing close to a Toyota Prius, which I assumed was his, parked in the same section, and I finally understood the purpose of his question: he thought I was breaking the rules. More specifically, he interpreted my action as directly flouting the general social perception that high fuel mileage is morally better than low fuel mileage.
Rather than simply hop in my car and speed away, my curiosity compelled me to try and engage this man. For I, too, had noticed the sign – but had chosen to park there anyway, based on my own concept of a somewhat broader definition of fuel mileage: that though I do drive a vehicle with relatively abysmal specific mileage, I believe I effectively compensate for this by living in an urban area less than 1 mile from where I work, and less than 1 mile from where I run most errands. So instead of speeding off I paused and asked my new friend a question.
“I understand your objection to my parking here, but if you don’t mind me asking, how far do you commute to work every day?”
This man, obviously intelligent and very engaged in the world around him, knew exactly where I was going with this line of reasoning. Without my even having to tell him just how little I drive from week to week, he looked at his feet as he mumbled, “25 miles. One way.”
Doing some quick math, and assuming that his Prius achieves a laudable 60 mpg, I determined that it would require him 8 gallons of fuel to commute to work for two weeks, while I would require just 1 gallon. I broke this news to him as nicely as I possibly could.
“But I work from home on Fridays!” he countered, knowing as he spoke that his moral indignation was growing more unfounded by the minute. Even then, my overall efficiency was more than 6 times his, while my car by itself was only one third as efficient. We both knew the math.
“But,” I said, regretting that I’d caused such a crestfallen look on his face, “I should still drive a car like yours to be even more environmentally conscious! Neither of us is right or wrong here, but we’ve both made our own decisions about what is best for us given our separate situations. It makes perfect sense for you to invest in a high-efficiency vehicle if you’re driving further every day. It’s the right thing to do.”
And it was true. We all have a different relationship with energy, and our priorities are reflected in the energy choices we make every day. Though the largest and most obvious energy relationship many of us have is with our cars, there are many others that have just as much impact on the environment. How energy efficient is your home? If you live in a 100-year-old home, have the windows and insulation been upgraded or are they original? Do you throw on a sweater or grab a blanket instead of turning up the heat in the winter? Do you turn off the lights when you leave a room?
At BEW, our relationship with energy goes beyond making sure all of the light switches are off – we ARE energy. When we chose to build the Cedar Hills facility we did so because we identified an enormous resource that was simply going to waste. Though we knew there would be trade-offs, the opportunity was so large that we couldn’t afford NOT to act. And we’re confident that we made the right choice, efficiently capturing waste gas and refining it for use by the people throughout the Greater Seattle area. Why are we so confident in our choice?
Because for every year that our facility is humming along at full capacity, we harness an amount of energy equivalent to convincing over 32,000 drivers to trade in their sporty hatchback achieving 20 mpg in favor of one that gets 60 mpg.
