Tag: environmental sustainability

Green Living: Electrified Beauty Steve Waller

green living, environmental sustainability, U.P. holistic business, winter sports, U.P. winter recreation

U.P. snowmobile trails are legendary. Sleds contribute huge economic benefits. They get us outside in winter to enjoy the season’s unique beauty. But there is a new opportunity available, a way to reverse the most ridiculous mismatch for our frozen forests.

Snowmobiles zip along at 60+ MPH with 150 horsepower, gas engines, a price tag of $10,000-$20,000, not including the trailer or tow truck, to push a ±200 lb. human across our winter wonderland. It’s ridiculous because a single horse, fueled only by grass, grain, and water can haul a log weighing 1,500 pounds. Horse loggers have done this for centuries and still do. Using 150 horses just to move a snowmobiler is severe overkill.

But I get it. The thrill, the feeling of power, speed, being on the edge, sticking that turn without going airborne into a tree, the shiny colors, the windproof heated gear, the chance to enjoy friends, good food, and an occasional beer. Sleds bring the roar of a combustion engine to our snowy silence, emitting 88 grams of carbon monoxide per kilometer, and 22 times the amount of nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbons emitted by a passenger car. But a new machine now cures the ills of those gas guzzlers.

Introducing— electric snowmobiles!

Acceleration? Zero to sixty in 3.5 seconds standard configuration (2.9 sec. performance configuration). 120 HP standard configuration (180 HP performance configuration); all under 600 lbs. Significantly more power than leading sled engines. Zero throttle lag. Unaffected by elevation, temperature, and riding style. Peak performance in all conditions. Range— 80 miles. DC fast re-charge to 80% in 20 minutes. AC 240V L2 charge in 2 hours. An advanced thermal management system ensures the battery will always be in its sweet spot—even when temperatures get as low as -40˚F. No starting problems ever. No pulleys, no oil, no maintenance, period. Save up to $2,500 in maintenance while spending less time in the garage, and more time riding.

Electric sleds are here. They outperform your existing fossil sled. For about the same price, you can end your recreational gas burning, and ride the hottest machine—cleaner, faster, more reliable, and absolutely quieter. Even those who live in the forest are more tolerant of sleds that don’t disturb our quiet winter. Electric snowmobiles have no emissions.

I know, you are going to freak out about charging. Everybody new to electric vehicles freaks out. “Range anxiety” is why you don’t already own an electric car. You worry about running out of energy. But thousands of electric car owners are beyond worry. They love their electric cars. Still, where do you charge your sled? What if you run out of charge?

The typical fossil sled has average fuel consumption of around 10-20 mpg so tank size matters. But how often do you ride 200 miles without stopping? If you can add 80% of charge to your sled in 20 minutes, you can get 60 more miles of charge in less time than you can drink a beer. Electric outlets are more abundant than gas stations. Your electric sled will be the center of attention. At $0.15kWh, a 27kWh sled battery costs $4 for a full charge from empty.

Electric sleds are another piece of our new way of life.

CO2 must go. Everything needs to be electrified—cars, sleds, ATVs, furnaces, trucks, stores, industries, mines, everything. Recreational gas burning must end. Electricity can and will fill the gap better, more cleanly, and more powerfully. The transition is happening now. The U.P. has finally started installing solar farms, bringing clean, stable, cost-effective energy to all of us. Feel the power. Ride electricity.

Sources:
https://taigamotors.ca/snowmobiles/
https://www.uky.edu/OtherOrgs/AppalFor/draftl.html#:~:text=A%20team%20of%20horses%20can%20pull%20a%20load%20of%20about,DBH%20and%2032%20feet%20long
https://elischolar.library.yale.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1012&context=yale_fes_bulletin
https://mountainculturegroup.com/montreal-company-unveils-worlds-first-electric-snowmobile/

Steve Waller’s family lives in a wind- and solar-powered home. He has been involved with conservation and energy issues since the 1970s and frequently teaches about energy. Steve can be reached at Steve@UPWallers.net.

Excerpted with permission from the Spring 2021 issue of Health & Happiness U.P. Magazine. Copyright 2021, Empowering Lightworks, LLC. All rights reserved.

Green Living: Working Toward Well-Being, by Steve Waller

well-being, green living, sustainability, U.P. wellness publication, U.P. holistic health publication, U.P. health magazine, U.P. holistic health magazine, U.P. wellness magazine, holistic health in the U.P., holistic health in MI's Upper Peninsula, wellness publication in MI's Upper Peninsula

Ah, the good life!

We crave it. We work for it. We envy it. Can we define it? Would we know if we are already living it or is it always on the horizon, just out of reach? As Alice in Wonderland asks, “Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?” “That depends a good deal on where you want to get to,” said the Cheshire Cat. And if you don’t care where you get to, it doesn’t matter which way you go.

To get to the good life, to live the dream, you have to know which way to go. You need clear targets and a way to know how to reach them. A common assumption is that more wealth equals the good life, that a winning lottery ticket hits the bullseye. That’s the wrong direction.

Defining the good life is so vital that it has been the subject of scientific studies for decades.

In science, the good life is often called well-being, and is broken into subjective well-being–your emotional feelings of happiness, and objective well-being–measurable conditions affecting the quality of daily life.

The measurable conditions of well-being are by no means absolute, but certain elements are accepted as necessary: good living standards, robust health, a sustainable environment, vital communities, an educated populace, balanced time use, high levels of democratic participation, moderate income, and access to and participation in leisure and culture. These are measurable targets to move toward. We create our well-being by the choices we make, but one of the elements requires special effort.

Environmental sustainability,

an element we absolutely depend on for the rest of our well-being, is not something individuals or even communities can easily control. The environment is too large for a local community. Subtract any part of an environmentally sustainable source of clean water, clean air, and healthy food from the other elements and well-being, regardless of income, would be essentially impossible. It’s just that critical.

Local organizations are crucial to local environment, but what actually sustains us is not local. Air, water quality, energy, and resources are bigger than a local community. We need to become educated on the environment beyond backyards and local communities. The environment is the global biological machine that supports the world.

Do you know anyone who has read the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) report (summarized here: https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/)? Probably not. That SDG report indicates the state of the world’s wildlife and focuses on most factors of well-being. It is the most comprehensive report on the planet. It also says we have work to do, changes to make, and fast.

Individual citizens are almost powerless to influence or control global environmental sustainability. Even when we try, our efforts are feeble in the face of opposition, and inferior to the scale of what needs to be done. Instead, we need to concede that the solution rests with powerful people. Yes, we need to defer to, no, encourage and empower the rare people who can connect with others around the world, and can affect the policies and practices that encourage environmental sustainability.

Become educated in the big picture.

There are abundant free reports online to educate you and help you focus on effective strategies. Know what your government is or is not doing. Get involved. You can’t influence environmental stability alone, but you can join powerful organizations that can lobby and act on your behalf. Contribute to the big influential organizations. That money is not an expense, it’s your tax-deductible investment in the good life. Make choices. Take actions. It’s your well-being we are talking about.

Steve Waller’s family lives in a wind- and solar-powered home. He has been involved with conservation and energy issues since the 1970s and frequently teaches about energy. He and a partner own a U.P. wind/solar business called Lean Clean Energy. He can be reached at Steve@UPWallers.net.

Reprinted with permission from the Fall 2019 issue of Health & Happiness U.P. Magazine, copyright 2019. All rights reserved