Energy-Efficient Products Charge Up Riverfront Park Pollution Solutions Tour Stops In Spokane

The Pollution Solutions Tour solar-powered Airstream trailer rolled into Riverfront Park on Friday, pulled by a natural gas-powered Ford F-250 and accompanied by a hybrid gas-electric car.

Visitors were able to check out the vehicles, along with electric bicycles, energy-efficient appliances, solar-powered radios, fuel cells and more.

“I think it’s fantastic,” said Sandy Gannon, who stopped in the park to check out the exhibits.

Gannon has returned to school to study natural resource use after 21 years of staying home to raise a family. “We should have done all this 30 years ago,” she said of the energy efficient products. “Americans are so spoiled, and we all need to cut back because it’s the right thing to do.”

Other visitors stopped to ogle the Honda Insight, a gas-electric hybrid car. The streamlined two-seater gets 70 miles to the gallon and costs about $20,000.

The Pollution Solutions Tour, which brought the car and other exhibits to Spokane, is a National Environmental Trust project designed to educate Americans about global warming and what individuals can do to prevent it.

“The whole purpose is to build awareness of how people can save energy, save the environment and at the same time save money,” said Brad Kahn, a Pollutions Solutions Tour spokesman.

Spokane was the 28th stop on the 43-city, 16-state tour.

One display highlighted energy-efficient appliances, such as the Equator 3600 CEE combination washer/dryer. The front-loading machine can wash and dry 13 pounds of laundry with less water and energy than conventional washers and dryers. The $1,000 appliance is also ventless, meaning it can be installed anywhere.

This washer/dryer and other appliances on display featured Energy Star stickers.

“Energy Star was created when the federal Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency teamed up with industry to produce energy efficient appliances,” National Environmental Trust representative Eric Howard said. “They all must have an energy savings of at least 30 percent.”

Other efforts are less expensive to implement but still save money and energy. For example, compact fluorescent light bulbs use 75 percent less energy than incandescent bulbs.

Spokane County Commissioner John Roskelley, who spoke at the tour news conference, said Spokane County has seen significant cost savings related to simple changes in the way it uses energy. For example, in 1996 the county’s lighting system was revamped, with assistance from Avista Utilities, resulting in $50,000 in annual savings.

Homeowners can perform home energy audits online at www.avistautilities.com, said Emily Hansen, an Avista spokeswoman. Energy consumers don’t have to be Avista customers to use the program, which was launched in April.

“It will give you recommendations and tell you how much money you can save if you implement those recommendations,” she said.

Making small changes in the way people live and travel is a big part of the solution to global warming because 68 percent of global warming pollutants are generated by individual choices, National Environmental Trust spokesman Jonathan Axelrad said.

“Global warming really is a problem that individuals are going to have to do something about,” he said.