My Favorite Gas Station --- Part I

First of all, my apologies for not blogging all week. Not only was it a busy week business wise but I just haven't felt like it. Personally, I have to be in the groove/mood to blog. So, I feel for all of you looking at my toes for a week.

On to my favorite gas station. BP -- British Petroleum has opened what I hope is a trend in gas stations. It's a green - eco friendly station. Certainly a dichotomy in terms - gas station - eco-friendly, but in BP's case I think it works and is very admirable. Let me tell you about the this station.

BP has created a working labratory in gas stations. They've taken an old, polluting station and used many, many different concepts to create something move environmentally friendly. E.G.

--> Solar panels on the roof, while this doesn't provide all the electricity the station needs it certainly helps. Gas stations need a lot of electricity due to pumps, valves and stuff under the covers we don't really see.

--> Recycles all the water it uses, and filters all drain water. Clean ocean. All the rainwater that falls on the big canopy above the pumps is collected and used to water the plants and flowers around the station. It keeps them nice and wet while it keeps you dry. It's about as low tech as tech can get, but it saves energy that would be used to pump water. And the plants seem to like it a lot. We’ve finally gotten smart enough to discover an idea that the Spanish settlers were using here 400 years ago.

--> Recycled glass in the concrete -- Certain kinds of glass can’t be recycled to make new glass containers. These include clear window glass and fluorescent light bulbs. But that doesn’t mean they have to end up in a landfill. The concrete in this station is made with crushed waste glass instead of sand. So the glass stays out of the landfill and the environment isn’t disturbed to get new sand. Also, the glass reflects the sun from the concrete instead of absorbing it. Concrete in cities stays hot/warm well into the night, contributing to global warming and micro climate changes in urban areas.

Check out the info on the station here.
A picture of the station will be up in the Part 2 of this segment.