I recently joined the London Round Table Online community, as another step toward being Green on London. It is an online forum that was formed by city hall to get locals more involved on the economy and environment in London. They post monthly discussion questions for everyone to answer. This month's was based on Clean Technology, Electric Cars, possible charging stations and also garbage collection. I really wanna read what others have to say, but here is my post:
I think that Clean Tech is the appropriate
movement for the future of energy in Canada, as well as reducing the carbon
footprint. With cleaner
technology, comes higher costs, but these costs are actually investments for the
future of the planet.
“Clean coal technology, electric cars or other
technological advances for automobile engines, boat motors, or lawn mower
emissions” are ways that we can strive for clean energy. By continuing to use
the traditional methods of heating, such as coal, or vehicles running on
gasoline we are continuing to exploit our natural fossil fuels. That term itself really bugs me, the
term fossil suggests that they have been arounf forever and so many people take
it for granted and assume that if it has been around so long it will continue
to be there. That is a misguided
assumption, when researchers’ find fossils, they are very careful to preserve
them because they are all that remains from that ancient time. What we need to do is treat our fossil
fuels with the same respect and try to conserve them for future
generations.
We need to have innovative ways to create energy, or
fuel for our vehicles and if we can do so we should use it. The reason gas continues to rise in
price is because the demand is greater than the supply, and there will always
be a demand for it. If we start to
change and use hybrid or electric cars we are reducing our footprint, not by
just the carbon emissions, but also without having to pay for fuel, there are
no added costs for the delivery of the fuel. These vehicles may cost more initially, but to think
they will have far less fuel and maintenance costs, it seems like a no brainer
to me. I am in no position to buy
my own vehicle but when I do it will definitely be an electric or a hybrid. It just makes so much more sense
ecologically and economically.
I think that the city should encourage these types of
cars with charging stations. It
would help make the city more eco friendly. I think placing them in apartment and condo parking
lots would be great, it would make it easy and affordable for those who don’t
have their own garage to still be able to charge their vehicles. Placing them in city owned buildings is
also a great idea, but how would that be monitored, how long could you park
there? This change may hurt gas
stations, especially if they are privately owned or franchises, perhaps they
can actually have charging stations as well, and charge a fee for their use. What about workplaces having them, or
somewhere downtown, like Citi Plaza so people can charge their cars while at
work.
2. London needs to have a better garbage collection financing
program. I am not sure, what
would be the best way to achieve this. I think if it is just added on to the property tax,
people will not really realize it or care unless it has a huge impact on their
taxes. I think by making it
a separate tax, people will be more aware of it . I think it should be based on the individual rather than
charging all users a flat rate of garbage pick up based on the maximum or
average amount of bags people put out. I think the citizen’s should be rewarded for their initiative
to reduce their waste and increase their recycling and should not be penalized
for the faults of others, therefore not all taxpayers should have to pay the
same amount for garbage collection.
There needs to be a way to monitor the amount of bags that are being
thrown out to help with this.
To join the round table please see: http://www.london.ca/d.aspx?s=/Round_Table/default.htm
Here is an article from the London Free Press on the Round Table :
http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/11/17/18984286.html?mid=5309636
