The Palisadian-Post has partnered with locally founded environmental nonprofit Resilient Palisades to deliver a weekly “green tip” to our readers. This week’s tip was written by Doug Macmillan.
A combustion engine vehicle is a big source of pollution. We can do so much better. It is 2021, after all.
But don’t stop there: Upgrade to an electric car and integrate it with your home solar for the easiest and least polluting way to own a car in Los Angeles.
A typical SUV drives 15,000 miles per year at 20 mpg. At $4 per gallon, this costs $3,000 per year. Add another $1,000 for annual maintenance and over a typical eight years of ownership, your vehicle is burning 6,000 gallons of gas at around $24,000 and another $8,000 in maintenance. Not to mention it’s creating 100,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, a global warming gas.
Our 1,300-square-foot home’s Tesla solar tiles provide us with over 50,000 free miles every year. (See the September 16 green tip.)
After almost three years and 40,000 miles, my Tesla Model 3 has required zero maintenance. No fluids to change, and the brake pads will last until after I retire. Other than tires and cabin filters, my electric car has cost me nothing since purchase.
A typical September day of sunshine gives me 150 miles driving range, fully charges my two 5 kW Tesla Powerwalls and provides all of my family’s electrical needs, including air conditioning.
I can even get charge off the batteries at night, but charging a battery from a battery is inefficient. If I am at home, I set my car to charge at 10 a.m., and by the end of the day, my car is fully charged.
Or, charge after 8 p.m. using the lower rates LADWP offers and the credits from the power you have fed into the grid. Wake up every morning with a fully charged car. You will laugh as the gas prices increase, knowing you never have to stop by the pump again.
Invest in enough solar and an electric car, and you can drive on sunshine and eliminate your vehicle contribution to CO2, smog and waste vehicle fluids (oil and radiator coolant).
We have no gas or power bills and have practically eliminated any costs associated with running my Tesla.
My family does not need to be connected to the grid but we choose to feed the grid the extra power we are producing. Find out why on my upcoming green tip, “Virtual Power Plant.”
Questions? Contact me at dougmacmillan1@me.com. Or, for the first three Sundays in October, stop by the Resilient Palisades’ farmers market table, just outside of Starbucks.
Resilient Palisades’ Clean Energy Resilience team is launching a Pali microgrid in our community. Working with a UC Berkeley energy consultant, we will soon be providing Palisadians the best vendors to install solar and/or storage batteries at the lowest possible prices. Tell us about your family’s needs by completing the survey at resilientpalisades.org/survey.
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