And you thought I was cracked!

As I write this, a team of drivers is in day 4 of a “Round the World” Guiness World Records fuel efficiency drive in a Volkswagen Golf FSI. What this means is a minimum distance of 28,970km, traveling in one direction, passing through two antipodal points. They started in London on Jan 17th and are heading east through Europe in the first of 4 legs. They’ve allotted 70 days for the trip, and will pass through Toronto in March.

The vehicle is an unmodified Golf FSI which runs on gasoline, not diesel, and has attracted attention with it’s potential for great fuel economy. For this trip, a special formulation of gasoline designed for fuel efficiency is being used which Shell is testing. Thus far, they have travelled 2860 kms on 140 litres, which is 4.9 L/100km.

Their website is fantastic, so please check it out. I will be covering this over the next few months from time to time. Yes, for the (non-Guinness) record, I’m drooling.

Name: John Taylor
Age: 45
Team role: Driver

I´ve had an interesting time over the years. Lowlights would include contracting a potentially fatal liver condition, and later breast cancer. Highlights would include surviving both, marrying Helen, bringing up a family, meeting some incredible people in all walks of life, and enjoying many years pursuing my number one passion - training people in the art and science of soccer. I´ve been doing that out in Australia and Singapore, running an academy called (wait for it) Taylor Made.

Since 1979 I´ve developed something of a taste for feats of endurance. First, I walked 3,000 miles round Europe for charity. Then it just grew from there – 18 trips from John O´Groats to Land´s End (walking, running, cycling, driving), a relay race across the USA, and finally 34 records in fuel efficiency with Helen. Sorry if that´s a bit of a bland description: as this trip goes on, I hope you´ll get to know a lot more about me - about all of us - through our travel logs.

Speaking solely for myself, this federal election in Canada has proved to be a very searching time.

Let me preface with some background on this. I’ve voted in four federal elections since 1993. I did not vote in the 1988 election, which was held just shortly after I turned 18.

I was a member of the Reform Party for the 1993 election, but let it lapse and did not renew it for the 1997 election, despite still being a believer in Manning’s vision.

By the time of the 2000 election, the Reform Party had become the Canadian Alliance, and though I was not impressed to have lost Preston Manning, I still supported the party over the other ‘options’.

Thoroughly confused about who was who in the 2004 election, I still felt obligated to support the newly amalgamated Conservative Party of Canada with my fourth ‘right of centre’ federal vote.

Now with yet another leader change, and what I see as a watered down version of the Reform Party, the 2006 election would be the first time I openly consider spoiling my ballot. With no less than 61% of the popular vote going to a ‘conservative’ party in the Fraser Valley since 1997, I was beginning to believe that my ‘one vote’ would be of no consequence.

I know some of you (including the Sierra Club) would readily agree that the Conservative ‘environment platform’ is about as light as a helium filled balloon on a windy day. I too sense that is the current reality.

While I still support the social values held by the majority of the so-called Conservatives, I feel a great sadness watching Canadians take part in ruining the planet, and feel compelled to view this as disobeying our calling.

Moving from spoiling my ballot as a first choice, I decided that voting for the Green Party as a protest was a better option… however, at one point, there was no Green party candidate in my riding… which got me thinking this through some more.

Last week I attended an all candidates meeting in Abbotsford to see what the candidates had to say, and to see what issues were most important to people.

Tonight, Conservative candidate Ed Fast met with about 40 people in Abbotsford, a cross-section of the environmentally minded/engaged in our community. We pressed Ed for two hours on environmental issues. Climate change, GMO, fish-farming, water supply, natural resources, energy, agriculture, wildlife, wetlands… all these topics came up. I believe Ed was honest and forthcoming, and was humble enough to admit he doesn’t have all the answers.

To his credit, Ed was active in the fight against SE2 here in the Fraser Valley, and has since voiced support for the Kyoto/climate change issue within the Conservative ranks, despite many in his party who have little regard for it’s importance. (See here as well.)

I specifically asked Ed about the Conservative environmental platform, noting that it was indeed very light. I wanted to know how the Conservatives were going to develop a realistic game plan and deliver some results. I noted that in my own experience with the One-Tonne Challenge, awareness of the issue has been achieved, but with just beginning on the action phase, now is not the time to lose momentum.

What Ed did commit to, was to represent our concerns to Ottawa, not represent Ottawa to us. He is willing to be a strong environmental voice in Ottawa, and agreed to become educated on the issues as they are presented to him. He will make environmental concerns one of his ‘top three’ efforts while in parliament, if elected. He also supports proportional representation, as do I.

So where does this leave things?

I will say this:

On January 23rd, I will vote.

If you are a Canadian of voting age, I hope you will too.

In today’s issue of The Province, Keith Morgan has a nice two page article on the 2006 Energuide Award Winners. NRCAN publishes a guide each year to help consumers in choosing a fuel efficient vehicle.

You can view the pdf of the winners here. There is also the interactive website here, where you can search specific models and classes.

I applaud the work that NRCAN does. The guide is a great tool.

I do have one complaint about this years guide however.

They chose to list TWO subcompact winners and TWO station wagon winners. They have never done this in the past.

In the case of the so-called subcompact category, the Toyota Yaris gets an award, despite being second place. The New Beetle TDI actually has the top spot. (BTW - Is it ironic that the Yaris’ mileage went DOWN compared to the Echo hatch which it replaced?)

And in the station wagon category, the Toyota Matrix- Pontiac Vibe twins get awards, even though the Jetta TDI wagon has the top spot.

I mean, that would all be okay, differentiating between gasoline and diesel, except why not add the smart then in the two-seater category? It sold nearly 4000 cars in 2005 model year, compared to FIVE Honda Insight hybrids.

A letter will be sent to NRCAN asking them to explain their reasoning behind this apparent omission.

In reality, the whole class awards system is getting outdated. I mean, how is the New Beetle a subcompact anyway? And station wagon is a bit iffy too… what makes the Vibe a station wagon, while the Golf is a compact?

The citizens of the Fraser Valley in Britich Columbia can finally breathe easier knowing that SE2 will not likely ever be built. I believe in clean energy, but this was the wrong place for this proposed natural gas power plant.

Sumas Energy 2 Will Not Appeal Canadian Court Decision

…While we continue to strongly believe in the need for this facility and our legal right to construct and operate it, we have concluded that it is in our best interest not to file an appeal of the recent court decision. The decision not to appeal is due in part to the high cost of obtaining permits in today’s regulatory environment, and to current market conditions including the high cost of natural gas and the slowness of utilities to commit to future long-term power supplies…

Sincerely,

Chuck Martin
Sumas Energy 2

Needless to say, the residents of the Fraser Valley who have fought long and hard for 6 years to stop the project are thrilled and relieved beyond words. We are hoping this is the end of SE2, but should it come back, we will be ready. This is a victory for all Canadians as it was a precedent setting case. This is also a victory for the many Americans who have been fighting long and hard with us, side by side. We are looking forward to getting our lives back. There will be a party in Abbotsford to celebrate!”

Patricia Ross
Deputy Mayor,
City of Abbotsford.

You can visit BC MLA Barry Penner’s SE2 webpage here, and you might also want to check in on the SE2 Gasp website, if you are new to this issue.

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