Interesting idea coming out of Morganton

I had a great time last Thursday speaking to the South Mountains group in Morganton. About 20 people came out and there seems to be some enthusiasm about getting Cool Cities there.

One thing I found particularly interesting while there was a proposal that Seth Hawkins, a doctor who is the group's Outings chair, is bringing forward called the 'Green EMS Initiative.'

It fits in really well with Cool Cities. As he points out:

County and municipal emergency response vehicles represent one of the most significant continual costs for local government.

Thus it only makes sense to work to develop a 'high efficiency, low pollution EMS response vehicle' through the use of 'hybrid electrical technology or alternative fuel.'

Seth did a pilot of this for his work with a 2006 Ford Escape Hybrid. He found that while there is certainly a way to go, it had a lot of benefits as well. He is working with a team of folks to look at better ways of doing this to make it possible on a larger scale.

A very worthy project and one that deserves wide use further down the line!