I recently had the pleasure of attending a legislative hearing on the subject of electric vehicles a.k.a. EVs at the Georgia State Capitol. Unfortunately, I got there a little late. Although most of what I heard presented was not new to me, it's always interesting for the tech geek that I am to hear what's happening with new technology. I did get there in time for the questions from the legislative panel. I have to say that as I smugly sat there and accused the elected officials as ignorant and tweeting away that the real ignoramus was me.

I stay so entrenched in sustainability stuff that I have lost perspective on how little the general public still understands about everything I am intimate with. So here are some answers for those of you who might not be aware of the next wave of technological sustainability…EVs.

Carl Seville, a.k.a. the Green Curmudgeon, is an industry thought leader in the Green Built environment. (I am currently awaiting his text book that he just completed. So stay posted.) He posted a blog with the salacious title Why You Don't Need Solar Panels. Read his first, read my lengthy reply. You can read it here or there. What do you think? Log in with your Social Media account and let us know.

Carl,

No one would question your depth of knowledge on a variety of issues particularly green building and this article is pragmatic and does put the focus where it needs to be when seriously thinking about one's own electric usage, which is energy efficiency first. That being said, I am going to have to seriously disagree with your stance that solar should only be used in developing countries. Let's look at the facts:

Dear Environmental Non-profits:

Atlanta and Georgia has one of the most active environmental/sustainability communities in the Southeastern United States. Started three years ago, there was a Renaissance alongside the birthing of the Sustainability community. Why Renaissance with birthing? Georgia's environmental non-profits have been here for at least 40 years in one shape or another. The sustainable business community in all fairness is nascent. However when you combine those two groups, you have a robust voting block that cannot be denied.

Last month I was honored to attend a tour of the Suniva, Inc manufacturing plant in Norcross, Ga. Commissioner Kathie Gannon of DeKalb County Commission and creator of the DeKalb Green Commission which I am a member of, invited the commission to join her. There was a small group of us who attended. We were greeted at the plant and international research & development hub of Suniva with a small presentation and then the tour.

Okay so here is the declaimer, I might look like the middle aged mild mannered little lady but a kid at Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory could not have been more excited than me to be touring the plant!

A more mature friend recently sent me an e-mail about how the older generation knew how to recycle. They also knew how to save way before anyone of my generation did. It was one of those smug little diddies written by some person who was a child of the depression or a child whose parents had lived during the depression. Now, don’t get me wrong! I agree that more seasoned folks understood how to reduce, reuse and recycle and better yet knew how not to accumulate in the beginning, but somewhere along the way they, forgot. So needless to say I wasn’t necessarily impressed with its sentiment.