I am a sustainable consultant and a long time resident of Seattle. I have work my A*% off trying to sell and promote sustainable and renewable energy products that are made here in Washington and let me tell you it has been no easy challenge ( and still does not allow me to survive). 

 Many years ago in the early 90’s I had a landscaping company in West Seattle and thought that it would be a great idea to use an electric truck, not only to help the planet and undercut my heavy carbon footprint but also to promote my biz. I was drawn to Electric Vehicle NW down on Michigan Ave S and talked to Eric Sundin and asked him where I could find such a truck. He told me my best chance was to build one and that I ought to speak to the NW Electric Vehicle Association and after finding out it would run me some $8k I decided to give up. I did however become a huge advocate and part time employee of Electric Vehicle NW (EVNW). I tabled and set up interviews with local news stations and ask the mayor to ride an electric bike on Earthday and thought that this was going to become a huge success in this city… it did not, in fact EVNW went on to become the #1 Electric bike company in the entire world with very little recognition here in Seattle. One might think that we in Seattle would have swarms of intelligent engineers that might join in and build and design fantastic electric bikes to meet the demand for clean driving machines,… but yet still nothing!

 I eventually was unable to support myself and went on to doing again simple mundane labor and handyman work to stay alive. After 911 i decide that I had to find out how unweave this shroud of carbon that I was wearing like everyone else in this country and set off to Ca where I learned and lived with sustainable energy systems. I choose to do this with the folks that sold the first ever US made solar energy module to a private consumer. 

 I came back a year later to Seattle and again started the bullhorn of advocation and even jumped on the train to Olympia to tell my state leaders that we need to create legislation to help out the Solar energy industry of Washington state. We did too! In 2005 we passed SB5101 and SB5111 that basically gave huge tax breaks to anyone in the entire state that created and manufactured renewable energy products. ( the the bill gave us the ability to receive more than 2 times what our utility charges us for electricity if it was made by solar or wind). *Denis Hayes, founder of Earth Day, former director of the federal Solar Energy Research Institute and current President of the Bullitt Foundation, described SB 5101 “as the most important solar legislation ever introduced in any American state legislature.” … REALLY? WHO IS DENNIS HAYES??….OH THE EARTH DUDE….isnt he from the NW somewhere? 

 I thought to myself WOW! there are going to be manufacturing plants in Ballard, Georgetown, and all over the state right? NOTHING! It took several years to finally find a plant that was smart enough to make such a product and boy did they ever! Silicon Energy created the first made in Washington module in Arlington. After sometime they were found out and quickly purchased by an investment company out of Ca and thus moved into a space twice the size of the original plant in Marysville Wa and recently has been accaimled with being one of the best in the world!!

 OK, so perhaps a lot of build up for the title’s question and the real reason for writing this…. Where are all the rest of the great innovators and creators in Washington?? RE or SUSTAINABLE PRODUCTS ARE THE FUTURE without any doubt the only thing we hope to export to the world are going to be products that help the planet not destroy it, right?

 Just last week our president got a slap in the face when he kindly asked the leader of China to try and slow down all the govt support for their RE/Sustainable industries. I mean come on are we now to the point of begging CHina to slow down the production of Solar energy,Electric Vehicle, Greywater systems, Geothermal products, LED lighting systems and the like? Is that what this president is gonna become known for? 

 I say to you all in Seattle “BUCK UP DAMN IT! ” Lets challenge our engineers with adult science fairs and best new product of the year awards and start to become more know for what we make and export!! WE LIVE ON THE WESTERN SEABOARD FOLKS NOT OKLAHOMA. After all that $800 electric car just produced in China is way too much to try and aim for here in our country huh!! how could we compete with that right? PLEASE ! I bet if Boeing had a small invention challenge we could stand to see a lot of cool products. I just dont understand what is taking us so long to become innovative exporters again?

 The tax encentives are all but untouched so let the challenge ensue or better yet I double-dog dar ya to start a sustainable business in Seattle!!

PS here are some that have but have little faith in our own residents commiment to acutally buying any of them so they sell them everywhere else in the world but here… I don’t blame them!!! Do you?

Electric bikes #1 seller in the world based in Ballard!! – http://electricvehiclesnw.com/

Icosa Village Living Pods in Redmond Wa!! – http://inhabitat.com/2006/01/23/icosa-village-pods/

Water purification made in Yakima Wa!! – http://www.vagabondwater.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=about&

Eco-Terr Distributing Living roofs in Sammamish Wa!! – http://www.ecoraster.us/archive/ecoraster.us/about_eco_terr_

Quote from Renewable Energy World : http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/news/article/2005/05