Green Lessons Learned from the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics

While attending the 2010 Winter Olympics, I was amazed at how much green technology was being used. Most places used some form of green energy, whether it was from a couple of solar panels on the roof, a small wind generator, and simply more efficient double-pane windows.

It was great to watch because it showed the world how even doing a small part goes a long way in helping reduce our carbon footprint. If every business and home used a couple of solar panels, a wind generator, or a combination of the two, the cumulative effect would be huge! And I think this is what people don’t see. Everybody says, “what effect am I going to have?” But looking at that question like “what might be the cumulative effect if we all do little things every day?” then we will begin to see a great change.

Carless Downtown Core

This was a cool thing that happened in Vancouver during the Olympics. The city closed many streets and severely limited the availability of street parking, forcing people to use the new mass transit systems built in recent years. It was a huge success! I’m sure the carbon effect of this alone was fantastic. It made downtown come alive because the city streets created all this extra space for people to walk.

All of this brings me back to the point that we can all do our small part to help not destroy our environment. Simple things like building a solar panel or two for home use are easy weekend warrior projects that take very little time and money and can start saving you money and the environment. Why pay for all your electricity when you can use it to offset your electricity bills every month with free renewable energy?