Make room for NEVs

A Neighborhood Electric Vehicle (NEV) is defined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration as a 4-wheeled vehicle with a top speed of 20-25 mph.  Across the country a growing number of states and municipalities are looking for ways to factor NEVs into their commuter-traffic considerations.  This is something we could, and should, be pushing in the Golden Triangle area.

Many of our roads already meet the criteria to encourage access to NEVs, and others could be brought on line with small reductions in the posted speed limits.  Florida statute 316.2122 allows for NEVs on roads posted at 35mph or less, and permits NEVs to cross (at intersections) roads with higher speed limits. 

NEVs are unlikely to replace the family car anytime soon–they’re simply too limited in their application given the lifestyle we’ve adopted and the infrastructure we’ve created to support it.  However, a substantial argument can be made for augmenting the family fleet with the addition of an NEV.  A significant number of the trips we make each week are short and confined to our community–it just doesn’t make sense to fire up the Pickup or the SUV for a spin to the convenience store.  As an ‘around-town’ alternative, or a vehicle for teens to get back and forth to school, NEVs can offer families and communities real benefits.

Gas prices are headed for unknown heights, and only the most optimistic or ill-informed among us have reason to believe this is a temporary condition.  No gas bills with an NEV. 

Electric motors are significantly more efficient than internal combustion engines, and produce no emissions.  Sure, the power plant necessary to produce the electricity to power the NEV produces emissions, but the impact is a lot less (1/4 the carbon dioxide and less than 2% of the nitrogen oxide my car spits out).

Tavares is hoping to encourage NEV traffic in their community, and you have to applaud the foresightedness they’re bringing with this announcement.  Eustis and Mt. Dora need to be a part of this discussion.  It will take some public will, and some work, to facilitate a traffic grid that enables NEV transportation among the three communities, but the benefits should be recognizable to everyone.

Rainwater harvesting

Rain barrels are making a welcome comeback

Florida receives an average 52 inches of rainfall a year.  Most of that water flows off our roofs onto lawns and driveways, picking up hitchhikers, in the form of fertilizers, pesticides and other pollutants, for a joy ride that ends in our lakes and streams.  Not a particularly healthy practice for a lot of reasons.

Rainwater harvesting is the process of capturing some of that flow for use around the house.  And the old-fashioned rain barrel is making a tremendous comeback as the easiest do-it-yourself method going.  There are a number of companies out there that offer customized cistern systems of various shapes and sizes, but most folks seem to be building their own, using the ubiquitous 55-gallon plastic drum as a receptacle.  Reconditioned drums are available for $29 in Zellwood through Industrial Container Services (407-889-5500).

There’s a little bit of engineering involved, but not much.  And there are numerous sites on the web that offer instructions and answer questions (check out the UF Site).

You’ll be surprised how quickly you can fill up one barrel, so people often link several together.  500 sq ft of roof area (regardless of pitch), during a 1/2 inch rainfall, will collect 150 gallons of water.  Granted, this isn’t pressurized water from a hose bib, but as long as the barrel is off the ground you can still gravity-feed a pretty large area.  You’ll save some money, and reconnect to the process of growing things (which we tend to lose when the flora of our homes are controlled by timers)–and most of all, we need people to step up in this fashion.

More than 70% of the earth’s surface is water, but only 2.5% of that water is fresh.  Most of it is locked up in glaciers and ice caps, leaving us just 3/10 of 1 percent to fill the jacuzzi and pressure wash the Hummer.  At least half of our local water consumption gets spent outdoors, just the place where a rain barrel can help.

We are an increasing population with increasing demands for water, and measurable strain is already being placed on our ground water and aquifer sources.  Particularly in Florida, we are using too much potable water and wasting much of it.  The word is out that if enough people start using rain barrel water for some of their needs, it can make a significant difference in water consumption. 

And while you’re at it, why not turn them into ART!

 

Eustis reLEAF agency

Happy Arbor Day!  Great day to plant a tree in Eustis.

Were you aware that Eustis is a Tree City, as recognized by the National Arbor Day Foundation?  Yes we are.  But there’s always room for more canopy, and this year the City of Eustis celebrated Arbor Day by giving away some 300 3-gallon Live Oak trees to anybody willing to plant them inside the city.

Trees are great!  A fully-grown Live Oak can transpire 40,000 gallons of water into the atmosphere every year.  Of course that could be 30 years from now–they’re not exactly speedy growers.  But that’s okay.  Look around town at the Live Oaks we currently enjoy and remember that somebody planted them and cared for them just so we could have them now…

Could have been the City of Eustis.  Last year the Public Works Department, under the able leadership of John Futch, facilitated the planting of over 200 trees throughout city parks and along the streets.  Keep growing that canopy!