That’s right, I bought a raffle ticket for a Tesla Model S or Model X.
The Tesla Model X as seen with the falcon wing doors open. This very safe SUV can go from zero to 60 in 3.2 seconds. I don’t think I would be tempted to try it, but I bet my son would. 🙂 Photo credit: The Car Connection
Anyone who has read my posts knows that I’m passionate about sustainable living and solar energy.
Probably about 40 years ago, my sweetheart is showing how my bicycle can pump water.
Let’s have enchiladas for lunch. This solar oven was purchased in June 2006 and is still in use 9 years later.
Solar panels were installed by my son in June 09. These 8 panels work so well that I can run my printing presses on them when the sun is shining.
When I read the notice on Clean Technica, that a Tesla would be raffled off to raise money for ClimateXChange, I just knew I had to buy a ticket.
Through the daily headlines at Clean Technica, I’ve been able to follow Tesla a couple of years. They are building electric cars in Fremont, CA. The company bought an abandoned car factory for very little, painted the interior white and where possible constructed skylights to let in more light with the idea being that happy workers will build quality cars. There are about 160 robots painted bright red that do the repetitive work including picking up and painting car bodies.
Visionary Tesla CEO Elon Musk knows we must reduce our carbon footprint or face a world that will be much hotter for our grand children. Transportation contributes a huge percentage of carbon emissions. He can imagine his future grand children asking…”Didn’t you have any warning that you should reduce carbon emissions before it was too late?” What did you do about it?” I can imagine that conversation too. That’s why I’m happy to learn Tesla’s mission is “to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable transport.” Tesla is even giving away many of its patents to other car manufacturers to help facilitate the electric car revolution. Indeed if you look at the other big manufacturers, you can see they have at least one line of electric cars in production.
Since there will be a huge demand for batteries, Musk is building a giant battery factory in Nevada. Coined the gigafactory, it will boast ZERO EMISSIONS. Tesla made the decision to NOT run a natural gas pipeline to the plant. The gigafactory will be powered totally by renewable energy.
The building is covered with solar panels. Wind generation to be built also. Photo credit to benzworld.org
I respect what Musk is doing. I love the fact that he is building the factory in the US…not China. Tesla is already employing 13,000 workers and is building a supercharger network. They realize electric cars will have to be charged over long distances. The charging stations are going in at the rate of one every 24 hours, in the US, Europe, and Asia.
The supercharger network for 2015
The raffle ticket will give me a 1/2000 chance of winning my choice of a Model S or Model X and whatever options I choose. (I’d like the Model X with a 5000 pound tow package, autopilot, dual motors, and a range of 257 miles.)
One in 2000 are not bad odds, but there are 6 other prizes too. Most importantly, I’ll have bragging rights to say I contributed to the first bill in the nation to impose a fee on the use of fossil fuels… Climate XChange is sponsoring a bill in the Massachusetts Senate proposed by Senator Mike Barrett (S1747) which would impose a fee on the use of fossil fuels so they reflect their true cost to society, including any environmental damage and health costs. When enacted, it will help Massachusetts meet its goal of reducing greenhouse gasses 90% by the year 2050. After all we can’t all sit in a Model X until the air gets less polluted. Yes, the Tesla Model X has a bio-weapons defense mode button (at around 8 min.) that will make the air in the cabin as clean as a hospital operating room. If Massachusetts can get this bill passed, it’s possible my state of Oregon will follow the lead as well as Washington and California. GO CLIMATE XCHANGE!!!
Think about buying a raffle ticket or donating money to Climate XChange so we can tell our grand children that “we were warned about climate change and chose to DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.”
Did Tesla start an electric transport revolution? You decide…
Electric Truck that Freightliner taps Tesla to build,
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 
Good Luck! 🙂
Thanks Esther. While it’s fun to think of winning a Tesla, the most important thing is to curb our carbon emissions. When I see videos showing each year being the hottest on record, the wildfire season in California becoming longer and longer, and how the snow in the arctic is melting faster because the wildfire ash has caused it to turn black, I realize that our grand children will be facing a terrible future. I think my generation should ease back, sacrifice a little, because we are borrowing from their future. I’m willing to pay extra taxes if it will help them avoid the devastation that hotter temperatures will bring.
Since I don’t and won’t have any grandchildren I guess I don’t have to worry and will just live it up. 🙂
NO!!! 😦
I agree with your statements. We all have a part to play.
The subject line in my email alert said “I got a tick”. I thought “Wow, Pat got a tick in November? That’s crazy.” But I’m relieved you got a ticket and not a human varroa mite. Good luck bud!
Good luck. Every little helps but if the human population continues its exponential rise it is not going to be enough. Amelia
You’re right, Amelia. We need to have a national conversation about population. Possibly incentivise families to have fewer children. I can’t see how the planet can handle 9 billion people and yet that is what is predicted for 2050, only 35 years from now. With a hot planet, where is the food coming from?
Good luck Pat, I wouldn’t mind one of those myself 🙂
Hopefully Paris COP21 will find a few solutions, it’s good to see the US getting on board at last, as well as China. There is hope, I hope!
Hope you got my email thanking you for the seeds by the way? I have had problems with my email account and some people have not received things I have sent.
All the very best, Eddy
Yes, I’m glad you received my snail mail hypericum seeds all the way from the US West Coast to your home in Poland. The story of your wife being so surprised by a letter from the US was fun to read too.
As for the BIGS getting on board with some kind of carbon tax, I go from having lots of hope to sometimes having little hope, especially after talking to someone who sincerely believes climate change is a government hoax and it’s not necessary to curb it. 😦
Sweet! I sure would like one of those. Best of luck to you, Pat!
Thanks, YP. I’ve tried to think of why I wouldn’t want to win just so I won’t go nuts in anticipation, but I can’t think of any good reason not to want to win. 🙂
Woo-hoo! Great post Pat! I regret that you won’t win because I just purchased the winning ticket, but I’ll take you for a ride in my new Tesla when I get it! Thanks for your passion and commitment to clean, renewable energy and responsible stewardship of the planet, you are inspiring!
Best of luck! (Or maybe “decent luck,” as I’d prefer the best of luck reside in one of my raffle tickets. 😀 hahaha :D)
Also, fun read, and loved the bike pic. 😀
Decent luck to you as well, Zach, after all I have to thank you for posting the raffle event on @cleantechnica. Haha though, I bumped up my odds by buying a couple of more tickets. One for each of my adult children who will benefit more by winning one than I would…I bicycle more than I drive. My wife jokes that since we don’t have a garage to park a new car in, we could rent a storage shed and bicycle to it whenever we needed to use the car.:)