As a reader of Greener Thinking, I am sure you have heard of the new car called the Chevy Volt… Well just in case you haven’t, the Volt is a new type of car that does not use a gas powered engine to propel your car. It uses an electric engine that can be charged from a wall outlet to allow 40 mile trips without gasoline! If you do happen to go over 40 miles, don’t worry. The Volt has a gasoline generator that will kick in to charge the batteries so that you can go 640 miles on single tank of gas. But what does all of this mean?

There is a problem with gasoline powered engines. They have changed over the years but, they can not really be made too much better than they currently are. On the other hand you have seen electronics over the last 20 years go from something complicated that only the geekiest of geeks would dare to touch to something that you MUST have to complete your work. Well with the new electronic power system of the Volt, everything relies on electronic circuitry instead of gasoline. We will soon be able to rely on the technology curve to push us indefinitely into the future. 

This is where a new concept will evolve. The power will be given back to the driver of the vehicle. If you are technically able you could avoid gasoline almost completely. If the Volt becomes popular I am sure we will see mass produced “Mods” that will allow you to slap a solar panel on your car and charge your batteries when you are at work. Maybe someone will design a way to make an efficient fan that you attach to your rear view mirror that uses the wind to charge your batteries when you are driving. Maybe you could buy an extra battery pack that doubles your miles without gas. How about a generator that is more efficient and smaller that can just plug in and replace the old one all while doubling the miles you can drive on a tank of gas. When super capacitors get perfected maybe put some of those under your hood and quadruple the distance traveled.

The possibilities seem limitless. But there is always a problem. The Chevy Volt and others cars like it are still at least two years off. When there is a time table that long there is no guarantee if the car will even be “viable” for consumers. The Volt is expected to hit the mainstream market and to do that the Volt must have a mainstream price. If Chevy can not hit this price by 2010 they will delay or in a worst case scenario, cancel the Volt. The auto industry has some very exciting years ahead of itself. Let’s hope that the Modders will have their day in the sun giving us a new way to use cool new technology.

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Chevy Volt
GM Volt

One great start is to find the right agency to contact in order to find out what is actually collected near you as well as how it is collected. A phone book can be a good source for doing this. Look under environmental departments, public works, solid waste, or recycling. These names can vary, so sometimes it’s best to check with the National Recycling Coalition’s state resources list or earth911.org for a ZIP code approach. 

Once you find out what you can do to contribute, be sure and sort your recyclables according to your community’s collection guidelines. Some may ask for glass, plastic, and paper to be separated or perhaps to have boxes and containers flattened. If you need to rinse something, only rinse what is really smelly or sticky; this saves water. However, all recyclables should be clean. If you are not sure on an item, your best bet is to wash it out or throw it out though. A greasy box or wet cardboard, for example, can contaminate an entire bale of paper! Just remember that a recycling facility is there to recycle, not to deal with un-recyclable or contaminated material! 

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phone book 
National Recycling Coalition’s state resources list 
earth911.org