Colorado’s switch to EVs

Transportation is the leading source of greenhouse gas and ozone-damaging emissions in Colorado. Despite lofty goals, Colorado has already amassed  various Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) rule violations from emissions across the state. 

The state had set goals for a 26% greenhouse gas reduction from a 2005 baseline by 2025, and 50% by 2030 — a goal that depends on having 940,000 electric vehicles (EVs) on state roads by 2030. For those in the Boulder area, investing in an EV can be a great way to positively contribute to the environment, though there are some facts and considerations to be aware of.

EV adoption has surpassed expectations, with 10% of car owners driving one. To further highlight their growing popularity, 50% of those who took the survey said they will buy or lease an EV by 2028. EVs have the potential to benefit the environment in various ways. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, all forms of EVs “can help improve fuel economy, lower fuel costs, and reduce emissions.” To underline the value of this it’s important to note that vehicle tailpipe emissions, which emit pollutants, are very harmful to both human health and the environment. Such emissions are a major cause of global warming.

Environmental value of EVs

Internal combustion engines produce about 10% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. “Like lithium for batteries, gasoline to power non-electric cars has to be mined.” The refinement process once the crude oil has been extracted is responsible for the majority of emissions, which consist of methane and nitrous dioxide in addition to greenhouse gasses. When coupled with a low-carbon electricity sector, Earth.org points out that EVs “have a large potential for greenhouse gas emissions reductions.” However, power in the US still comes from coal plants, highlighting the value in renewable energy expansion.

EVs can be better for the environment but it’s imperative to understand the full extent of the benefits. For example, one source of EV emissions derives from the creation of their lithium-ion batteries. “We shouldn’t claim victory that with this switch to electric cars, problem solved, we are going to have zero emissions,” said Sergey Paltsev, Deputy Director of the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. Paltsev noted that EVs are “actually much, much better in terms of the impact on the climate in comparison to internal combustion vehicles. And in time, that comparative advantage of electric cars is going to grow.” Although greatly reduced, even EVs are not entirely free of harmful emissions. 

Addressing Colorado’s challenges 

Regarding the state of EV usage in Colorado, Denver7 News noted that the switch is “a slow and tedious transition.” The article delves into a report from the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), which estimates that Colorado’s state and local governments could save taxpayers $152 million annually by switching to electric cars for their light duty fleets. Alex Simon, a public health advocate with the Colorado Public Interest Research Group noted that fueling and maintaining gas-powered vehicles is a large expense for governments. “By shifting to electric vehicles, they can save consumers taxpayer dollars while also improving air quality,” Simon said. According to the report, it’s estimated that the transition of these vehicles will “result in a drop of state greenhouse gas emissions by 300,000 tons over the next decade alone.” While this highlights a dramatic environmental impact, the change to all-electric vehicles is not only costly for governments, but involves the requirement of significant investments upfront as well.

When it comes to making the switch across the board, the infrastructure needed to support EV adoption remains a challenge. CBS News cited the fact that Colorado has more than 4,900 public EV chargers.EV Colorado reported that while the subject of charging is a concern for drivers, 66% of those surveyed said they have charging options where they park, and more than half said they knew where public chargers are located. 

Improvements to charging infrastructure are needed in order to support a switch to EVs. Denver7 News citedAndrew Goetz, a professor in the Department of Geography & the Environment and a faculty associate in the Transportation Institute and the Urban Studies Program at the University of Denver: “All the gas stations that we have around cities, make it really easy to be able to refuel internal combustion engine vehicles, we are going to need something like that when it comes to electric vehicles.”

The post Green Wheels: The Environmental Impact of Switching to Electric Vehicles appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Left to right: Courtney Michelle (representative), Mikl Brawner, Ray Tuomey, Luke Walch, Kim Neill, Fred Berkelhammer, Ralph Bailey, Trevor Parmenter, Paul Lingenfelter (representative). Photo credit: Paul Wedlake

Good people doing good work

Look around you, wherever you are right now. Your home, a business, your back yard, a garden maybe. Look around and think about what’s behind the walls or under the soil. Foundations. Structure. Pieces of a whole. Think about the complexity that is a home, a building, a garden. The walls are filled with pipes and wires working collectively to keep you safe and happy and comfortable. Look around at the little bits of beauty in your home. A sculpture, a fireplace, a garden. Think about simple pleasures. The breeze through the tree in your front yard as it stands strong and healthy and vibrant in the late summer sun. Running water. Electricity. Things we take for granted. Without these, our world falls apart. Yet, chances are, you don’t know how any of it works, how to fix something if it breaks, or how to improve it to make it work even better. But there are those people out there that know. Tradespeople are the foundation, the structure, of our society. They keep the house standing and are our Heroes for August because of it. 

We spoke to eleven tradespeople about their lives, their jobs, and why they do what they do. They are Mikl Brawner, founder and owner of Harlequin Gardens; Fred Berkelhammer, an arborist and owner of Berkelhammer Tree Experts; Courtney Michelle, owner of Coco Michelle Salon and Spa; Luke Walch, founder and owner of Green Eyed Motors and Matt Barrie, one of his technicians; Kim Neill, project manager and estimator for Cottonwood Custom Home Builders; Trevor Parmenter, co-owner of South Paw Electric; Ralph Bailey, of Klatt Moving; Ray Tuomey, owner of McLean Forge and Welding; and Paul Lingenfelter from Colorado Green Plumbing. 

These people were chosen in particular because of their environmental consciousness, the care with which they apply to their jobs, and their dedication to their employees’ well-being. Each of them spoke with humor, insight, and a great deal of humility.

Left to right: Ray Tuomey, Kim Neill, Courtney Michelle (representative), Luke Walch, Ralph Bailey, Trevor Parmenter, Fred Berkelhammer, Paul Lingenfelter (representative), Mikl Brawner. Photo credit: Paul Wedlake

Tradespeople are unique amongst some of the other professions we’ve featured for this series in that many of them weren’t heavily affected by COVID, business-wise at least. In fact, some of them seemed to thrive as people sat around stuck in their houses, using the time to make improvements and tweaks on their homes or yards or gardens. Fred Berkelhammer, a warm, funny, and intelligent man, spoke to this a bit, “Bottom line wise, we weren’t hurt by COVID. In fact, I think there was more demand, generally for home improvement services. And COVID  had a lot of people sitting at home a lot. I think the story I tell is, they looked out the window and said, ‘Honey, look, we’ve got a tree, call the arborist.’ We had more demand probably than we’ve ever had.” 

This isn’t always the case, however. The market fluctuates, grows and deflates, as does their business. In order to handle the market’s ebbs and flows and to ensure that their respective businesses can handle any unforeseen calamities that may occur, they each have carefully cultivated a team of dedicated workers that are ready for just about anything. They’ve done this by providing attractive and lucrative positions for their employees in rather competitive markets in which other companies might not deal with their employees with the same care. Paul Lingenfelter spoke to the idea of happy workers doing better work which then leads to happy customers. He told me, “Most of my guys, if not all of them, at some point have told me it’s the best job they’ve ever had. And that makes me happy. I know they’re happy. And obviously, you know, if you look at the reviews, the customers are happy to.” Lingenfelter pointed out that while there is money in working for bigger companies, smaller ones such as his provide a better quality of life, not requiring his workers to work themselves to the bone for long, almost unreasonable hours. Each tradesperson featured in this article expressed similar feelings when speaking about their employees. They do everything they can to make sure those that work for them are happy, comfortable, and well compensated. 

Ray Tuomey spoke to the pride he and his team have for providing their customers with quality work. Tuomey spent 20 years working as a concert promoter and started a company called Namaste Solar prior to buying McLean Welding. He says that a lifelong curiosity about metallurgy is what prompted the career change and he now gets to flex his creative chops working with decorative and functional pieces. He told me, “What I love about this job, and it’s true for a lot of trades, is that there’s an immediacy to what we do, and that we get, you know, at the end of the day, we’ve got something to show for our work.” This sentiment was shared by each of the tradespeople we spoke with, that there is an immediate gratification that comes with customers reacting to work done well that isn’t found in many other professions.

“What I love about this job… is that there’s an immediacy to what we do…”

As with Tuomey, Courtney Michelle worked another career for many years before opening up her salon. She worked mostly in tech before but decided to leave that lifestyle simply because she loves living and working in Longmont. She told me, “I love this town. I love my old house. I love the people.” She gets a lot of satisfaction from the personal nature of the salon, saying that her “love language is acts of service.” She truly dedicates herself to her clients, thinking of herself as a bit of a “therapist.” This dedication came full circle during COVID when she was forced to shut down. To keep herself afloat, she began building and selling beauty kits that she sold to her loyal customers who then spread the word and allowed her to keep the business going. 

Michelle wasn’t the only one who had to get creative during COVID. Both Mikl Brawner and Ralph Bailey were forced to turn to new technology in order to keep their businesses going. Brawner got his start as an arborist before opening his nursery and garden. A true lover of nature in possession of extensive knowledge of plant life and plant propagation, Brawner is rather technologically averse. This made the necessary transition to running his business online quite difficult. He told me, “We had to do a bunch of online ordering the first year, and that was a real pain, excruciating.” But Brawner’s fought through hard times before, telling me it took his business ten years before turning a profit but he stuck with it because of his love for what he does. 

Bailey also had to adapt. He initially came to Colorado after seeing the Grateful Dead in New York where he was invited by a friend to come visit. He did and fell in love and joined the moving business as a consultant. He normally goes into homes, examines what it is they have to move, and provides the customer with an estimate. He was unable to do this in COVID and instead had to use “FaceTime or Google Chat and they walked around showing me everything in the house.” But this could lead to potential issues as a customer might forget a room or something. Still, he did all he could to work with the customer to the very best of his ability, telling me, “I take what I do serious. I like being one of the guys out there that they say has a high level of integrity and honesty.”

“I take what I do serious. I like being one of the guys out there that they say has a high level of integrity and honesty.”

Matt Barrie also spoke to this idea of pride and integrity in the work. Originally from Boston before moving here seeking a change, Barrie told me his favorite part about working with cars is “figuring out the problem.” He pointed out that every car is different and that cars today are vastly more complicated than they used to be and having the right tools to diagnose a problem is imperative, saying his tool collection comes out to over $50,000. But this level of equipment allows him and his team to “figure [the problem] out the first time and send [the customer] on their way.” 

These people are able to adapt and problem solve because of their great amount of experience within their fields. This comes from many long years working and growing and learning before they got to where they are today, but each of them had to start somewhere. Kim Neill worked a more corporate gig and worked in government before she got into construction. She likes it for the joy see she’s on people’s faces when a project is completed, a joy she never saw in her previous ventures. Trevor Parmenter has electricity in his soul. His step father was an electrician and so was his father before him and they began teaching him the trade when he was 13. He offered advice for those starting out in the trades, saying “get with a reputable contractor that’s got a variety of work. Then I think the other thing beyond that I really value is apprenticeship schooling. Out here in Colorado, we’ve got a couple of really strong apprenticeship programs.”

Each of these workers improve the lives of all they encounter. They make people safe, comfortable, happy and they do so with an incredible amount of compassion and awareness of the world around them. Without them, our worlds would fall apart. Give it up for them.

The post The Heroes of Boulder County: The Trades appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Editor’s Note: Press Releases are provided to Yellow Scene. In an effort to keep our community informed, we publish some press releases in whole.

Farmers Market

Every Thursday
May 12 thru September 8th
5:00 – 8:00

Free Car Meets

May 26, June 23rd, July 28th, August 25th
5-7 pm
Start parking cars 4pm

Join us on the last Thursday of the month. Several outdoor pubs, breweries, and dining plus food & craft stands.

Location: Briggs & Cheeseman – Volunteers on site to direct you

For more info, visit eriechamber.org/events.

Contact eriecarshow@gmail.com.

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Check those mirrors, shine those rims, and buckle-up, because Colorado has some of the greatest car collections in the world. This month, we drove deep (get it?) to find local collectors, collections, and automotive goodness to provide you the best opportunities to join the ever-growing Colorado car community that is alive and well and firing on all cylinders. I’m talking authentic, actually-raced, all-American Shelby Cobras and GT40’s, cars from movies that we all grew up with, and your chance to take your very own car, whether it’s your family’s leftovers or your brand new BMW M5, to the drag strip. Buckle up, because your summer is about to shift into high gear, exhaust pipes blaring, wheels spinning, tires smoking, and carburetors combusting as we experience the coolest cars in Colorado.

Shelby, Shelby American Collection

The Shelby American Collection is just outside of Boulder and boasts some of the most famous Shelby’s ever raced; they even have Ken Miles’ 1966 GT40. This place is booming with American automotive history and it’s all thanks to Steve Volk and his group of friends who started it. In an interview, Volk told Yellow Scene that, “we were racing Cobras and GT40’s in the 80s and 90s (and actually up until about six years ago in the US and in Europe). I met Carroll Shelby at one of the races… and became good friends with him.” From there, Volk and some friends began “collecting memorabilia, race records, and the cars themselves,” and eventually petitioned Shelby with the idea of starting a museum in his honor. “[He’s] done so much for automotive racing and for the US’,’ Volk said. “So twenty-five years ago we set up the Shelby American Collection – a non-profit entity staffed by volunteers and it’s become the largest, most significant collection of Shelby race cars.”

The museum is open every Saturday from 10am – 4pm.

Car collections are expensive; they require upkeep, maintenance, and a team of professionals to clean, fix, and keep the cars looking and/or running in pristine condition. When we interviewed a major car collector and owner of an exceptional collection in Boulder, who wished to stay anonymous, they provided us valuable insight into what goes into some of these collections. “We have four full time people on our team that maintain, drive, and wash the cars. We try to drive every car at least once every 90 days. All cars are drivable, registered, insured, and titled in our name,” they told Yellow Scene.

What’s more is that many collections continue to grow year after year, and for many, it’s all about sharing it with the public. Our source told us that for their collection, “if a historic or famous vehicle comes up, we try to buy it because we want everyone that views the collection to come away with memories of numerous ‘special’ cars.”

Rodz & Bodz Museum Entrance

The same goes for Zack Loffert, owner of Rodz & Bodz in Lakewood, which specializes in famous classic, vintage, and movie cars that are available to rent and also view in their recently opened museum. Loffert told YS that when owning a collection of this size, “everybody knows what we [Rodz and Bodz] do as far as my friend list goes. So if there’s any kind of crazy unique cars that come up for sale, I get tagged in them.” This has allowed Loffert and Rodz and Bodz to acquire well over a hundred cars. With the opening of their new museum which houses sixty-five cars at all times, Loffert is showcasing a slice of our childhood in 30,000 square feet at Colorado Mills.

Batmobile, Rodz & Bodz Museum

With vehicles such as The Time Machine, The Mystery Machine, the Toy Story Pizza Planet Truck, and Michael Keaton’s Batmobile, Loffert is “trying to get the younger generation back involved in cars.” Showing them is one way to do it, but they also offer rentals for weddings, shows, events, photo ops, and birthdays. They also offer transport services.

The museum follows the same schedule as the Colorado Mills Mall:
Monday – Thursday 11am – 8pm;
Friday and Saturday 10am – 9pm;
and Sunday 11am – 6pm.

Seeing these amazing cars is one thing, and trust us, it’s worth it, but for some seeing just doesn’t cut it – they want to experience speed on a whole ‘nother level. Luckily, just south of Boulder County in the Colorado Springs area is Pikes Peak International Raceway (PPIR). With an absolutely stunning backdrop and a long history of NASCAR and IndyCar events, PPIR is home to an all-you-can-experience list of automotive opportunities.

Aerial View, Pikes Peak International Raceway

In an email, Director of Communications Chelsy Offutt, explained that PPIR offers far more than your typical car show. Events such as the Hot Rod Rock & Rumble, Colorado Truck Madness, and SCCA Track Nights in America, along with live music, food, and other activities attract folk from all over.

But if you’re ready to get behind the wheel and see what you and your vehicle are made of, you can check out their Open Lapping Days as long as you meet their credential requirements. They also offer ‘Off the Street Drags’ where you can take your shot at their 1/8th mile drag strip for $25 per driver. Offutt explained that the program was started after a tragic street racing accident.

PPIR is also home to Falci Adaptive Motorsports. Having partnered with one of the world’s top neurosurgeons, Dr. Scott Falci, they built an adaptive race car and won the only NASCAR Cup series Championship west of the Mississippi in 2017. Although the team doesn’t race anymore, the technology is still used to showcase and inspire.

Events at PPIR:
Off the Street Drags – August 14th and September 18th
SCCA Track Nights in America – July 28th and September 21st
Hot Rod Rock & Rumble – August 27th – 29th
Trucks & Tunes – An Outlaw Weekend – September 3rd – 6th

“NO CRUISING” sign in Longmont

Fortunately, for all the car fanatics out there, Colorado’s car culture is strong with a long history to back it, but not all of that history has been favorable. Today, if you drive down Main Street in Longmont, you’ll see signs that say “NO CRUISING” just below the speed limit. In Longmont, cruising, or the act of driving by specified locations “more than three times in the same direction within any three-hour period,” is a traffic infraction that can come with a fine of up to $125 – $350.

Although cruising isn’t allowed, it hasn’t deterred local groups from getting together for a good time. The 303 Outlawz are one such group that from time to time will gather at a local location to share and appreciate their cars. YS was able to attend their most recent meet-up at the Sonic in Longmont on June 26th.

Other resources in the state include the Colorado branch of Cars and Coffee which hosts numerous events throughout the state and Porsche of Colorado Springs, whose Twitter @porschecolorado is an excellent source for all our wide axle air-cooled 964 fans, among other Porsches.

Ford 3, Shelby American Collection

Whether you’re looking to drive, look, rent, or learn, Colorado’s car community has it all. For many of us, cars are useful tools to get from point A to point B. To others, they are much, much more than that. They’re something that transcend mere functionality and become intertwined with who we are. They bring out that sense of aliveness that might hide away in the everyday doldrums of everyday life. And when paired with the comforts of friends, family, and a booming car community, they provide us space to appreciate the long-standing global history. So get out there, visit your local museums, restore your old beater, or dance the night away to the sound of music, encompassed by the screeching and thundering of cars racing for glory.

Truck, Rodz & Bodz Museum

The post Colorado’s Coolest Cars: Your Guide to the Best Collections, Opportunities, and Local Car Clubs appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Don’t touch my Dodge Dart. No seriously, don’t you dare touch it because the car might crumble into tiny scraps of metal and motor.

I purchased the new-to-me car at the beginning of December after I accepted the editor position at Yellow Scene. Being car illiterate, I walked into the dealership in New Castle, Indiana and laid it all out. “I’m moving across the country. My PT Cruiser won’t make it. I wan’t something cheap and easy on gas.”

“Let’s look at some used Dodge Darts,” the salesman said. “It’s your best bet.”

At the time I thought he was right. The sleek, silver car with bright red racing stripe interior made me feel like I could walk onto the cast of Fast and Furious. I was pleased with the price, the handling, the perks of owning a Dart. I mean, it had a back up cam which would come in handy while trying to parallel park in Denver.

I made the perfect decision. Until I started my 16 hour drive to Colorado and the Dart broke down in Columbia, Missouri and left me stranded for two days. The internal computer failed with only 19,000 miles on the 2013 car. Praise the gods that the car was covered under warranty. I was naive enough to believe that the tiny hiccup would be the last of my Dart problems.

So I went on my merry way and made it to Colorado, and I was thankful for the highway mileage and easy navigation with the built in GPS system. It was bliss.

That bliss was broken two weeks ago when the fragile Dart shut down once again and refused to move up a tiny hill. Car illiterate, I sent it to the shop once again with no idea of what was wrong. I just knew that I wouldn’t be making it to Roll Denver, or any of my other weekend plans.

Turns out, there was a massive failure in my transmission at only 21,000 miles. (Again, thank the gods it’s under warranty.) So, now as I sit here driving a loaner car and waiting for my Dart to be up and running, I’m hoping the mechanical wizards fix her up real nice.

Until I’m comfortable driving her around, do not touch my Dart.

The post Don’t touch my Dart appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

Since we’re no good at metric conversions, we have trouble figuring out how much dirty air 12 metric tons of carbon dioxide really is. According to Boulder County, it’s the equivalent of powering five moderately-sized homes a year. Or if you’re talking office space, it’s the amount of pollution that comes from lighting 90 typical fluorescent office light fixtures 10 hours per day, five days a week for a year. We’re happy that’s cleared up, and so is the air around the county courthouse. Last month, it unveiled a new 46-panel solar power system that will take those pesky 12 metric tons of pollution out of the air each year. Even better, the system will begin powering four plug-in hybrid cars that the county will buy in 2008 that will get 100 miles to the gallon. Now it’s not enough to save the world, but it’s nice to see a government taking the lead and setting a green example.

The post BoCo Going Green appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.

There could be a day in the near future that the town of Superior will be overrun by futuristic-looking golf carts whizzing by at a pesky 35 miles per hour. Sounds annoying, but it’s a proactive step toward reducing auto emissions. Residents are asking the city to take a page from the book of Lincoln, Calif., a town that has welcomed Neighborhood Electric Vehicles (NEVs) as a primary means of scooting around town. Lincoln, a community filled with retirees, built specific infrastructure for the more than 500 tiny electric cars there to use.

What’s Next: Residents and the Recycling and Conservation Advisory Committee will work to see what Superior can do to accommodate NEVs.

The post Don’t Worry These Cars Don’t Look That Funny appeared first on Yellow Scene Magazine.