Electric vehicle charging stations in the Tahoe-Truckee area. Map/TRPA

By Carole Bernardi

INCLINE VILLAGE – Electric vehicle readiness is on its way to the Tahoe-Truckee region.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency, Truckee-Donner Public Utility District, an independent consultant team and a Plug-in Electric Vehicle Coordinating Council have all partnered to accelerate transportation electrification in the region.

Vehicle technologies in the United States and around the world are in a phase of rapid change. The last six years have seen the introduction of self-driving cars, mass production of electric vehicles, and new vehicle sharing. Electric vehicles are booming and this area has a chance to become the “electric highway in the sky.”

Millions visit the region and transportation has impacted air quality and become the second largest source of greenhouse gas emissions. To counteract the tendency to negatively impact the nature of our surroundings, regional planners are leading an effort to encourage the use of plug-in electric vehicles.

These vehicles have the potential to dramatically reduce petroleum consumption and greenhouse gas emissions, while increasing energy independence. There are two definitive types of plug-in electric vehicles: PHEV — plug-in hybrid electric vehicle and PEV — plug-in electric vehicle.

The Tesla Model X is all-wheel drive, has a 100kWh battery providing 289 miles of range, seating for seven, and goes from 0 to 60 mph in 2.9 seconds. Photo/Carole Bernardi

The PEV is 100 percent powered by electricity stored in a rechargeable battery and electric motor. The PHEV includes an internal combustion engine and rechargeable battery which includes regenerative breaking (where the gas engine kicks in when the electric system becomes limited). The pros with PEVs are no fuel costs, low maintenance, cheaper to operate and zero emissions with an average range of 100 miles on electric only. The cons are limited range anxiety and longer time to charge. PHEV’s pros include a fuel option to rely on, but the cons are more emissions, more fuel dependency and more maintenance.

Vehicle manufacture options for these types of vehicles range from $24,000 to $94,000-plus with more utility vehicle models on the drawing board (due to high demand in varying regions). The growth appears to be steady with 45 percent of regional residents showing ownership of Tesla models alone.

There are incentives the public may not be aware of. Rebates, like the Federal Electric Vehicle Tax Credit which grants up to $7,500. There’s the CA-EV state rebate upward to $2,500 (for California). Time of usage (electricity) utility rebate (Washoe County issues “half price electricity” during the hours from 10pm-6am) and charging infrastructure tax credits up to 30 percent (usually implies a charging installation in resident).

Other natural incentives include: 1. Air quality (reduced greenhouse gas emissions), 2. Water quality (less gasoline pollution on roads seeping into the watershed), and 3. Noise (reduced roadway noise impact).

Let’s say you’ve been convinced an electric vehicle is the way to go. The second part of that equation is how and where to get charge?

The charging adapter cord is used only when not hooked up to a Tesla free charging station. Photo/Carole Bernardi

“In the Tahoe-Truckee region, most of the fast chargers are located in Truckee and are for Tesla’s only (16 stations). The only fast charger for other electric vehicles is located at Heavenly Village in South Lake Tahoe,” Steve Poncelet, Truckee-Donner Public Utility District’s spokesman, said.

A charging location can have multiple chargers, with three levels available. However, not all chargers are open to the public. Tahoe-Truckee has 71 percent open to the public. These might be contained to hotel guest use, as an example, and confirms the concern that access is an issue for the consumer.

These three levels of charging options are:

·     Level One: for a PEV it’s the slowest and the cheapest, up to 14 hours, and found mainly in residential situations (220-volt accessibility). For PHEVs it’s a charge for to 2-7 hours.

·     Level Two: for a PEV it offers 5-7 hours and for a PHEV 1-3 hours. These are usually found in commercial locations as well as residential (must be installed).

·     Level Three: for a PEV this is what’s called a direct current (Tesla charging stations) and takes 1 hour (fastest method). For PHEVs, it would average 20 minutes.

Why plan for this future transportation option when there are challenges here like limited electric SUV model options and cold weather where the estimated driving range is reduced by one-third?

“We surveyed the region and discovered that 70 percent of drivers are interested, but have never driven any type of electric vehicle. They’re basically undereducated or hesitant no matter their concern for the environment,” said Jennifer Cannon, associate planner with TRPA.

The biggest piece of the puzzle for the PEV Vehicle Readiness Project was answered when the TRPA/Truckee-Donner PUD/Independent Consultant team was awarded $200,000 from the California Energy Commission to accelerate the planning. As a part of this grant, a coordinating council was convened including utility companies, local government, experts, private sectors like ski resorts/hotels and local business associations. The council will provide recommendations, act as ambassadors and serve as a peer network offering education and outreach to the public.

Boosting and building this readiness plan with local policy will help accelerate development, increase access availability and viability for electric vehicles in the region. Municipalities are starting to install conduit into sidewalks in shopping districts and are requiring chargers for large parking lots and structures. Planned charging station installations will increase utilization by almost 90 percent and decrease what is known as “range anxiety” — a fear of being stranded due to lack of charging infrastructures. Free market competition is already in full swing with utility companies competing with aggressive independents like EVgo, whose plan is to build the largest PEV charging network in the country.

Like any plan there is a schedule. Starting now with existing condition assessment and surveys, leading into toolkits and recommendations regarding policy and incentive, including education and outreach, the goal for the project is to reach implementation by May.

Based on the U.S. Department of Energy calculations, estimated CO2 reduction in California is 76 percent and 59 percent in Nevada between all PEV and PHEV vehicles.

Technological advancements are expected to go beyond private vehicle use all the way to driverless automated vehicles. Tesla already offers this option and encourages it for highway use only. There is also the future electric boat transportation that would protect lakes. Regional progress is under way with the Tahoe Transportation Department pursuing the purchase of electric buses.

To the community,

On Oct. 20, 2016 the Boys & Girls Club held a Lights on Afterschool event for all members and families. The Lights on Afterschool event is a BGCA initiative throughout the country that showcases how important it is to have their doors open for kids.

So far this year, the Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe has had over 740 members walk through their doors. However, despite being a vital community resource, if the club does not find a new home when Al Tahoe Elementary reopens, then the lights could go off forever.

As part of the event, club members were invited to design their dream club. Included in some of the designs were a spa and hot tub room, a ninja room, food courts, a cookie parlor, slides instead of stairs and a pet room. But more serious ideas were a domed library on the roof, a science room, bathrooms for specific age groups and space for recreation.

“This was a fun activity to get the kids engaged in our search for our new home,” explained development coordinator Kili Ongoy. “But it is clearly important to our members the club has both educational and recreational elements.”

Kili spent time talking to parents and visitors about the importance of Measure P in the club’s search for a new home.

If Measure P passes, the new rec center will be part of the solution in finding a new home for the Boys & Girls Club, however, in addition to using space in the rec center, we will also need a building of our own to house our educational activities, teen center, games room and other activities that elevate our members’ time with us.

The club is working with local officials at the city and county level to locate suitable buildings or land that could accommodate the new club. In the meantime, the club hopes that the voters of South Lake will support the club by voting yes on Measure P.

Yes on P is a measure within South Lake Tahoe that approves a modest 2 percent increase in the transient occupancy tax (TOT) paid by visitors to South Lake Tahoe. By law, funds from this measure may only be used for recreation in South Lake Tahoe, and priority will be given to the construction of a new recreation and swim complex on Rufus Allen Boulevard. Measure P does not increase taxes paid by local residents or businesses by one penny.

Jude Wood, Boys & Girls Club of Lake Tahoe executive director

By Jan Hoffman, New York Times

Our daily tug of leash war goes like this. I tell Chico we’re taking a left. He yanks right, wet black nostrils burrowing in loamy leaf piles. Me versus a 15-pound Havanese, incensed by scent.

Today, I let him win.

That’s because I have fresh appreciation for his sniffing behavior, after reading a new book, “Being a Dog: Following the Dog into a World of Smell,” by Alexandra Horowitz, a professor of cognitive science who runs the Dog Cognition Lab at Barnard College. In it, she explains the elegant engineering of the dog’s olfactory system and how familiar canine behaviors — licking, sneezing, tail-wagging — have associations with smell. Horowitz also describes how she trained herself to enhance her inferior human sniffing ability.

Read the whole story

By Melinda Myers

Shorten the winter season with the help of spring flowering bulbs that you plant in fall. These beauties often provide the first bit of color, fragrance and winter relief each year.

Look for new and unique ways to incorporate bulbs into your landscape. Create a seasonal water feature with a river of blue scillas and grape hyacinths meandering through the garden. Welcome visitors with a front door or walkway garden that blooms from early spring through early summer and is loaded with crocus, tulips, daffodils and allium.

Don’t overlook those shady spots. Many of these locations provide enough early season sun, before the trees leaf out, for bulbs to grow and flower. Use more shade tolerant spring bloomers like snowdrops, grape hyacinths, scillas, anemones, daffodils, fritillarias and Camassias in shady areas among hostas, ferns and other shade tolerant perennials.

Whether you’re new or experienced, growing bulbs is an easy endeavor. Just follow these simple steps to a beautiful spring garden.

Dutch Master daffodils, Involve tulips and Muscari provide several layers of color in the garden. Photo/Longfield Gardens

Selection

Purchase bulbs that are dense and firm, and free of bruises or mold. Shop early for the best selection. Mail order sources will ship your bulbs at the proper planting time. If you buy locally, store the bulbs in a dry, well-ventilated and cool 60-degree location until it’s time to plant.

Don’t let deer, rabbits and chipmunks dissuade you from planting. Include hyacinths, grape hyacinths, scillas, glory-of-the-snow, fritillarias, alliums and Camassias that the animals tend to overlook.

Design ideas 

Include a variety of bulbs for added color throughout spring. Early bloomers like Glory of the Snow, crocus, early tulips and daffodils, and grape hyacinths (Muscari) are followed by mid-season daffodils and tulips along with fritillarias. Late spring blooming tulips and alliums finish off the spring display.

Combine several bulbs that bloom at the same time to double the floral impact or at different times to extend the color throughout the spring. You can create your own combinations or look for prepackaged combinations prepared by experts. Low growing White Splendor anemone along with Ocean Magic grape hyacinth make a striking combination for under shrubs. The yellow blossoms of Dutch Master daffodils, pink Involve tulips and purplish blue grape hyacinths will give you several layers of color in the garden.

Or add a bit of eye-catching red to the garden throughout the spring with the Really Red collection of tulips. Red Emperor starts things out in early spring, followed by Oxford and ends with double-flowering Red Princess and Sky High Scarlet.

Location

Plant bulbs in well-drained soil for best results. Avoid areas such as next to the dryer vent or against the south side foundation of your home that tend to warm up early in spring or experience a winter thaw. These bulbs often sprout too early and subsequent cold temperatures can limit or eliminate their bloom.

Reduce maintenance and boost your garden’s beauty by mixing bulbs with perennials. Once the bulbs are done blooming, the neighboring perennials mask the fading bulb foliage.

When and how to plant

Increase growing success in poor soils by incorporating several inches of compost, peat moss or other organic matter into the top 12 inches of soil. This improves drainage in clay soil and the water-holding ability of sandy and rocky soils. Then be sure to incorporate a low nitrogen, slow release fertilizer.

Wait to plant your bulbs until the soil cools. This is any time after the night temperatures are consistently 40 to 50 degrees, but several weeks before the ground freezes.

Plant spring blooming bulbs three times as deep as the bulb is tall. Water thoroughly to remove air pockets and encourage fall root growth.  Add a layer of mulch to conserve moisture, suppress weeds and reduce the risk of early sprouting.

So break out your trowel and garden gloves and get busy planting. You’ll be glad you did when spring arrives and your yard and garden are filled with a rainbow of beautiful flowers.

Melinda Myers has over 30 years of gardening experience and has written more than 20 gardening books, including “Small Space Gardening.” She hosts the Great Courses “How to Grow Anything: Food Gardening For Everyone” DVD set and the nationally syndicated “Melinda’s Garden Moment” TV and radio program. Myers is a columnist and contributing editor for Birds & Blooms magazine and was commissioned by Longfield Gardens for her expertise to write this article.

To the community,

For the past several years, after busy and fun summer seasons, Camp Richardson Resort has been hosting Bread & Broth Adopt A Day dinners and helping disadvantaged members of our community.

“We are always grateful to be a part of Adopt A Day and St. Theresa Bread & Broth,” said Vanessa Santora.

Santora has been coordinating and arranging Camp Rich’s AADs and she has been a wonderful supporter and volunteer at B&B dinners.

Joining her at Camp Richardson Resort’s AAD on Oct. 10 were fellow team members Lyric Amsterdam, Mary Griffin, Travis Lauinger, Cheryl Oransky and Charles Rounds.  Great team. This group was fun, hardworking and graciously helped with every task that needed to be done. Being a part of helping others at your AAD sponsorship is a great experience and draws sponsor volunteers to return and help year after year.

“It is such a wonderful thing to be a part of this South Lake Tahoe Community and any way to give back or support the people is such a blessing,” was Griffin’s comment after helping serve the evening’s dinner.

Bread & Broth is grateful for our partnership with Camp Richardson Resort and appreciates their involvement and continued support with giving back to our fellow neighbors in need.

For more B&B information, contact at 530.542.2876 or carolsgerard@aol.com.

Carol Gerard, Bread & Broth

By Paddy O’Connell, Adventure Journal

“Hold my beer and watch this.” The famous last words of a redneck, as the joke goes. But, could “take my picture and post this” be the last words of millennial backcountry skiers and snowboarders? It would seem very possible.

The latest human factor in avalanche terrain decision-making is the pressure of social media and the influence of an omnipresent digital group dynamic.

At the International Snow Science Workshop at Breckenridge, Colo., earlier this month, State University of New York at Plattsburg Associate Professor Jerry Isaak presented his paper “Social Media and Decision Making in Avalanche Terrain.” Isaak explained that decision-making and risk-taking in backcountry terrain is highly influenced by heuristic issues. Our human desire to be accepted by those we respect or seeking the acceptance of those we want to notice us will many times silence that cautious internal dialogue. We convince ourselves to engage in dangerous activities due to social influence. In the digital age, Kodak Courage has morphed into Facebook Fame and Instagram Celebrity. And that social influence is omnipresent. We carry it in the smartphone in our pocket.

In his paper, Isaak describes acceptance and social facilitation as the major heuristic influencers of backcountry “digital natives,” millennial off-piste practitioners who are experts in the creation and consumption of social media content.

Read the whole story

By Josh Lederman and Jill Colvin, AP

GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Steering his campaign toward controversy yet again, Donald Trump vowed Saturday to sue every woman who has accused him of sexual assault or other inappropriate behavior. He called them “liars” whose allegations he blamed Democrats for orchestrating.

Trump’s blunt threat of legal action eclipsed his planned focus on serious-minded policy during a speech in Gettysburg. Though his campaign had billed the speech as a chance for Trump to lay out a to-do list for his first 100 days as president, he seemed unable to restrain himself from re-litigating grievances with Hillary Clinton, the media and especially the women who have come forward in recent days.

“All of these liars will be sued once the election is over,” Trump said. He added later: “I look so forward to doing that.”

Nearly a dozen women have publicly accused Trump of unwanted advances or sexual assault in the weeks since a 2005 recording emerged in which the former reality TV star boasted of kissing women and groping their genitals without their consent.

The latest came on Saturday, when an adult film actress said the billionaire kissed her and two other women on the lips “without asking for permission” when they met him after the American Century Championship celebrity tournament at Edgewood Tahoe in 2006.

According to the tournament’s archives, Trump played in the 2006 ACC as an amateur. He finished with minus-16 points in the Modified Stableford format, good for 62nd place.

Trump has denied all the allegations, while insisting some of the women weren’t attractive enough for him to want to pursue.

“Every woman lied when they came forward to hurt my campaign,” he said. Without offering evidence, he surmised that Clinton or the Democratic National Committee had put the women up to it.

Speaking to reporters aboard her campaign plane, Clinton said: “I saw where our opponent Donald Trump went to Gettysburg, one of the most extraordinary places in American history, and basically said if he’s president he’ll spend his time suing women who have made charges against him based on his behavior.” She also said the suggestion that Democrats or her campaign were encouraging women to level accusations against Trump “inaccurate.”

Trump’s broadside against the women came at the start of an otherwise substantive speech that sought to weave the many policy ideas he has put forward into a single, cohesive agenda that he said he would pursue aggressively during his first three months in office.

By Tony Berendsen

A lifelong passion for science and astronomy began for me with the gift of a Christmas telescope when I was a child. My parents did a pretty good job picking out the telescope I got, but that was 1959, there really wasn’t much to pick from in those days.

Today things are very different. There is an abundance of optical systems, mounts, computer drive systems, eyepieces, and cameras, all of them just one mouse click away. That’s the easy part, more difficult is which one to buy.

In the next two Star Guide articles I’ll offer suggestions for good telescopes to buy that I guarantee will delight the receiver. Also, I am partial to Celestron telescopes, they aren’t the only manufacture of telescopes, but in my experience they are the best.

The first thing to consider when buying a scope is what will it be used for, and at what level of expertise: novice, intermediate, or advanced.

Telescopes can make an perfect gift. Photo/Provided

If the scope you plan to give will be used for daytime and nighttime observing, a refractor might be the best way to go, but for these two articles I’ll concentrate on nighttime usage only, recommending reflecting telescopes with larger apertures (larger mirror size) that will collect and focus more light to the eyepiece, making dim celestial objects easier to see.

Let’s start with the novice and divide into two levels, child novice and adult novice. This is an important distinction since a child novice may be excited to receive a scope at first, but not stick with it as much as an adult might, so a smaller investment might be wise.

For the child novice, a small table top reflecting telescope is a great way to go. I suggest Celestron’s First Scope. The scope comes ready to use after easy assembly right out of the box. Prices vary slightly depending on options; from $49 to $59. The scope is very easy to use, and uses standard 1.25-inch eyepieces. The night after Christmas your novice can see stars, the moon, and with a little practice, and help from parents, see planets, too.

For the adult novice, add a tripod, a computerized navigational system, a little larger aperture and you have the Celestron 114LCM.

The LCM telescope is a great introduction into the modern astronomical telescope world for less than $350. It uses standard 1.25-inch eyepieces, is light and portable, and very easy to assemble. Most important, it uses a sophisticated computerized navigational system, the same type of system used on Celestron’s expert level telescopes that are much more expensive. So driving this telescope around the cosmos is a great way to test a novice’s ambition. The telescope can also be used as a camera by adding a NexImage Solar System Imager for the moon and bright planets.

Tony Berendsen runs Tahoe Star Tours. He may be reached at 775. 232.0844 or tony@tahoestartours.com.

·       On Oct. 26 from 7-8pm the Tahoe Art League is featuring a special presentation and watercolor demo by internationally known artist Jean Haines at Tahoe Mountain Lab. Her 2016 book “Paint Yourself Calm” will be for sale and signing. Contact Robert Schimmel for more info — 530.544.5041.

·       El Dorado County Public Defender’s Office is moving its West Slope location to Shingle Springs.

·       Sierra Nevada College instructor Nathalie Handal is a recipient of a 2016 Arab American Book Award for “The Republics” (University of Pittsburgh Press, 2015).

·       Squaw Valley Ski Museum Foundation has hired Sandy Chio as executive director.

·       Truckee has lifted its burn ban. For specific burning requirements, call 530.582.7850 for more information.

By Tony Bizjak, Sacramento Bee

Placer County roads and highways are increasingly congested and local leaders say they don’t have enough money to provide traffic relief. After years of debate, they are asking voters on Nov. 8 to approve a half-cent sales tax increase to fund an estimated $1.6 billion of transportation improvements over the next 30 years.

Measure M, the Keep Placer Moving initiative, will need a two-thirds yes vote to pass. It’s a tough hurdle in a largely Republican county where voters are known to be fiscally conservative. But congestion problems have led some low-tax advocates to offer support for the measure.

The tax is similar to transportation sales tax measures on the ballot in 14 California counties, including neighboring Sacramento. County officials say they are asking voters for the tax because the state and federal governments have failed to provide adequate funds for roads, and there appears to be no movement at either state or federal levels to come up with a reliable, long-term revenue source.

Read the whole story