Blog | Visit NC | Page 3Visit NC

North Carolina hopes to lure ‘EV tourists’ with rural charging stations

Posted on April 3, 2018 by

See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

A train station put the tiny mountain town of West Jefferson, North Carolina on the map.

A century later, some hope electric-vehicle charging stations will help keep it there.

West Jefferson is among the first communities to benefit from an effort by North Carolina’s 26 electric cooperatives to lure electric-vehicle drivers off the beaten path to remote and scenic areas they might have otherwise avoided out of range anxiety.

The push by the cooperatives, which cover nearly half the state’s land mass, comes as North Carolina decides whether to spend $13.8 million on charging infrastructure from a settlement with Volkswagen for producing illegally-polluting vehicles.

“If each of these electric cooperatives had charging stations in their area,” said Kristie Aldridge, who works with the statewide association of co-ops, “then we could get people moving across the state and boost our state’s tourism.”

***More North Carolina news: North Carolina backpedals on building energy code changes***

In West Jefferson, tourists can plug in for free at one of two outlets that produce a full charge in three to four hours. Meanwhile, they can peruse nearby art galleries, visit the famous Ashe County Cheese Factory, or catch a movie in the town’s historic theater.

“We really worked with the towns to find optimal locations in a downtown area,” said Jon Jacob, a marketing manager at Blue Ridge Energy, the co-op that serves the state’s northwest corner. “Shopping, restaurants, parks, movie theaters, were really important.”

Thirty miles to the south, the town of Blowing Rock met another key criterion for Jacob: close proximity to the Blue Ridge Parkway, the two-lane scenic highway that stretches nearly 470 miles across Virginia and North Carolina.

Farther south in Lenoir, a third Blue Ridge Energy station — a DC fast-charger that works in a half hour — is on U.S. Highway 321, a major thoroughfare for travelers heading to and from the Blue Ridge Mountains’ scenic peaks.

In the state’s southeast corner, Brunswick Electric has installed five chargers to cater to beachgoers. In the center of the state, the Randolph cooperative plans a charging station to serve visitors at the North Carolina Zoo.

An infrastructure void

American car-buyers can choose from nearly two-dozen models of plug-in vehicles. Yet the average electric vehicle in North Carolina travels less than 100 miles on a full charge. That works for commuters going between home and work, but for longer trips plug-in owners need assurances of regular charging stations along the way.

North Carolina’s current charging network is small for its 7,000 registered electric vehicles. Today, 476 stations offer one outlet for every seven cars; the ideal ratio is closer one in five, experts say. In addition, the majority of stations are in major metropolitan areas. Fifteen percent are only for those who own a Tesla, which makes its own brand of chargers.

“There are gaps,” said Rick Sapienza of the North Carolina Clean Energy Technology Center. “Toward the beach, out toward Asheville.”

Volkswagen plans to install as many as two dozen chargers in the Raleigh-Durham-Chapel Hill Triangle region, and DC-fast chargers on major thoroughfares: I-95, I-85, and I-40. But those plans still exclude parts of rural North Carolina eager to cash in on the state’s booming tourism industry – which generated a record $22.9 billion in spending in 2016.

“When you looked at a map of charging stations, northwest North Carolina had none,” said Jason Lingle of Blue Ridge Energy. “There was a big void.”

‘It helps you get on a map’

The nonprofit co-ops see advantages of charging infrastructure beyond tourism. Overnight charging can even out electricity demand. The money co-op members save on gas can go back into the local economy. And an increase in electric vehicles can decrease air pollution.

“It’s a very environmental area,” said Renee Whitener, communications manager at Blue Ridge Energy. “We have a good segment of our membership that really is appreciative of environmentally-focused efforts like this.”

So far, relatively few drivers have taken advantage of the co-op’s charging stations: they were used only 135 times between the spring and the end of October. (For comparison, the city of Raleigh, the state’s second-largest city, says its public chargers have been used over 9,400 times).

Still, Blue Ridge Energy says their stations are exceeding expectations.

“Even though 10,000 aren’t directly benefiting right now,” said Lingle, “[usage] should grow exponentially as more electric vehicles come into the marketplace. And every month, it continues to grow.”

In West Jefferson, town manager Brantley Price was upbeat about the 21 times the charger had been used through October – and about having one more attraction to draw visitors.

“It helps you get on a map,” he said. Over time, “hopefully other people with these cars will find us.”

Tagged with: Blowing Rock NC

Column: Ag tourism can be fun and exciting

Posted on April 3, 2018 by

See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

‘+
‘

‘+__tnt.truncateStr(oAsset.title,85,’…’)+’

‘+
‘

‘+__tnt.truncateStr(oAsset.summary,iTextTrun,’…’)+’

‘+
‘

Tagged with: North Carolina

As Trump denies climate change, The Collider, area leaders search for solutions – Asheville Citizen

Posted on April 3, 2018 by

See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

NASA has released new maps that detail the effects of climate change around the world. As several areas in the U.S. are facing a blizzard, much of the western world is abnormally hot.
Buzz60

ASHEVILLE — In a tumultuous time for the debate on climate change, Drew Jones doesn’t give it a second thought. On this issue, he is certain, the debate now is only about the effectiveness of solutions and not at all waffling on the facts.

Jones has spent a lifetime analyzing climate data, in recent years from a desk at The Collider, high above Pritchard Park in downtown Asheville. Models developed by his company, Climate Interactive, informed world leaders at the United Nations Copenhagen summit in 2009 and were widely used by former Secretary of State John Kerry ahead of the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement.

But his work seemingly unraveled last year after President Donald Trump, then five months into his presidency, announced the U.S. would pull out of the agreement.

MORE: Bipartisan approach to combat climate change is stuck in Congress

Asheville hits consecutive hottest year on record in 2017

Macron drops climate change joke about Trump at Davos

His immediate reaction? “Sad and mad,” he said recently, between bites of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.”You spend eight years building something, building a nice tower out of blocks and some bully comes in and kicks it all down.”

Out of that withdrawal, however, Jones and other tenants of The Collider — a nonprofit workspace focused on climate solutions — as well as state and local leaders have affirmed commitments made under the Paris Agreement. It was a discussion point at last month’s ClimateCon 2018, which drew some of the subject’s brightest minds to Asheville, and it partially has been a factor in shaping municipal policy in recent years.

Can Asheville be ‘Climate City’?

As much as beer or tourism, Asheville’s future identity may be tied directly to climate science, some leaders say.

“I would say Asheville has been on this train for a while now,” Bridget Herring, the city’s energy program coordinator, said during the We Are Still In regional panel last month at ClimateCon. “Climate change, as we’ve seen, is quite a large issue, and the way you eat an elephant is one bite at time.”

Asheville recorded its two hottest years on record in 2016 and 2017, more than 2 degrees above what is normal, according to the National Centers for Environmental Information. Experts attribute warmer than average temperatures — recorded last year in 48 states and in Alaska — to the effects of climate change.

Herring said the city has been aggressive combating root causes of climate change. It has instituted a goal of 80 percent carbon reduction by 2050, including a 4 percent annual carbon footprint reduction.

Additionally, Mayor Esther Manheimer was one of 274 mayors to sign a letter of support last year to uphold the commitments of the Paris Agreement. It involves efforts to hold the increase of global temperature to below 2 degrees Celsius and to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions.

Buncombe County also has gotten on board with commissioners voting in December to move away from using fossil fuels for electricity and its vehicle fleet. Within that vote, the Board of Commissioners said the county will use only clean and renewable energy for its operations by 2030 and for all county homes and businesses by 2042.

“The county has always been cognizant of the fact that we operate a large building and fleet portfolio,” said Jeremiah LeRoy, Buncombe County sustainability officer. “As such, it is critical that we strive to operate as efficiently as possible, both from an energy and cost perspective.”

The issue has been a focus at the state level as well, according to Jeremy Tarr, a policy adviser to Gov. Roy Cooper.

“On important issues like climate, it’s even more important for states to take the reins and not slow down, but to accelerate,” Tarr said, adding North Carolina’s climate commitment “sets sort of a message for the state and all of us in our respective jobs.”

Trump has not shared those views as president or in his previous life as a real estate developer and TV personality. He repeatedly has called climate change a “hoax” and said the concept of global warming “was created by and for the Chinese” to make U.S. manufacturing “non-competitive.”

He also has installed at high levels of the government officials such as EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt, who has played down the effects of global warming as not necessarily “a bad thing.” The agency under Pruitt has scrubbed links and materials from the EPA website meant to help officials combat the effects of rising temperatures and more severe storms, according to the New York Times.

The withdrawal from the Paris agreement could happen as soon as November 2020.

But there’s a far different perspective at the National Centers for Environmental Information and The Collider, both based in Asheville.

“It’s not even a discussion for us because we operate from the principle and the fact that the climate is changing,” Megan Robinson, The Collider’s chief operating officer, said. “We’re not saying X, Y and Z are the causes — someone else might be saying that.

“But we’re saying it’s changing and we’re fostering this innovative and creative space for solutions that are ultimately going to impact the life, safety and prosperity of society everywhere.”

Where worlds collide

The federal government’s attitude on climate science under Trump has little impact on The Collider, as it’s funded entirely through a mix of private donations and membership fees. After years of planning and investments, construction on its facility inside the Wells Fargo Building began in 2015 due, in large part, to funding it received from local philanthropist Mack Pearsall, who is considered its founder.

Pearsall said in 2016 The Collider is “first to market in the emerging commercialization of climate data.” He sits on the organization’s board and usually is a fixture at its community events, like its weekly PercCollider coffee networking hour, held on Fridays.

Its tenants include NASA alums, number crunchers, entrepreneurs and writers.

There are people such as Tom Barr, CEO of Infrastructure Services Group LLC , which focuses on acquiring underground water and wastewater pipelines; L. DeWayne Cecil, a scientist and engineer who serves as chief climatologist and program manager of Global Science and Technology Inc.; and Doug Bruggeman of Ecological Services and Markets Inc., which uses data to inform sustainable development projects.

Working at the intersection of regulation and land use, Bruggeman said he realized he could design climate adaptation methods by becoming a real estate agent. He also has designed a climate change class for real estate agents, largely to help others utilize data in their work, noting “the timing is right.”

Bruggeman said he highlights that flood risk, for example, is a risk in buying a home, but the FEMA floodplain maps don’t incorporate climate change effects.

“Just being aware of that is important,” he said. “A 500-year floodplain is no longer a 500-year floodplain. Also, looking at wildfire risk is critical — and there are data sources out there to look at these things.”

Then there’s Eric Klos, founder and CEO of HEALTHeWeather, a software company tasked with tracking how the environment impacts people’s health. Klos has a particular focus on studying air quality and pollen to determine to what extent individuals are impacted by the environmental conditions in their communities.

“The medical community hasn’t paid attention to environmental factors,” he said. “Part of the reason they haven’t is because patients feel they are at the mercy of the weather.”

He said physicians have never had the tools to help them understand how the environment impacts patients or what they can do to help them avoid negative health outcomes. Apps he’s created like DailyBreath, which helps allergic asthma sufferers assess the risks of the environment and pollen, could go a long way toward bettering that understanding.

“We are slowly learning more and more about these issues and, because of that, I think doctors are going to have to be knowledgeable about these topics,” he said.

Robinson said work like Klos’ and Bruggeman’s is part of The Collider’s ecosystem in “trying to create ways to communicate, ways to solve and ways to address” the changing climate. She acknowledges the discussion around the subject often carries a partisan slant, but she said it’s mostly because information on it can be difficult to grasp.

“The biggest thing is that it’s hard to understand, it’s scary, it’s life-changing, and it requires people to act differently,” she said. “It seems that’s a barrier that’s hard for people to overcome, that the way they’ve been used to living and feeding their families and making a living and being successful is being threatened by something they have no control over and that’s scary for people.”

The current moment comes with frustration for Jones. He’s aggravated that there’s a climate debate at all in the U.S., especially as similar debates aren’t being had to the same extent in comparable nations.

Maybe the sentiment will die off at some point, he wonders, but we haven’t reached that point yet. Even so, his work has continued largely undeterred from a co-work space in downtown Asheville.

He’s searching for ways to prevent problems — such as pushing municipalities and companies to meet emissions goals — and encouraging design for resilience and adaptation using the best available science.

“I find the things that give me hope and a sense of possibility,” Jones said. “Right now, you’ve got hundreds of cities like Asheville, North Carolina, saying we’re going (to reduce our emissions), and about 900 others are as well.

“I look to the good news and I look to the possibilities for success, and I build upon that.”

‘).appendTo(‘div#rss-top-stories’);
$(‘#rss-top-stories-‘+site+’-list’).append(‘

As spring break begins, tourism remains mainstay of local economy

Posted on April 3, 2018 by

See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

Whenever Tyler Jones posts new content, you’ll get an email delivered to your inbox with a link.

Email notifications are only sent once a day, and only if there are new matching items.

Tagged with: Raleigh

Firefighters Save Man Waterfall Twin Bridges Saluda NC – Firehouse

Posted on April 3, 2018 by

See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

April 02–Rescuers saved a man who fell 70 feet from a North Carolina waterfall Sunday afternoon, according to news reports.

Asheville’s WLOS said the man fell from a waterfall in the Twin Bridges area near N.C. 176 south of Saluda. Specially trained rope and high-angle rescue workers had to be called in because of the height and steep terrain.

In a 3.5-hour operation, rescue teams rappelled down to him, Tryon firefighters told Greenville, S.C.’s Fox Carolina, and secured the man in a basket to pull him to safety. The man, who was not immediately identified, had fractures and was airlifted to an Asheville hospital for treatment.

Watch Video

Warm weather draws hikers to North Carolina’s many mountain waterfalls, where the views are spectacular but visits can turn fatal.

The first waterfall death of this year was reported on Feb. 24, when a Georgia visitor in the area for a bachelor party slipped and fell from the 50-foot Upper Catawba Falls in the McDowell County part of Pisgah National Forest, Asheville’s Citizen Times reported. Another man had fallen from the same falls eight months earlier.

The circumstances of Sunday’s fall were not reported. But at least 40 people have died at waterfalls in the national forests of Western North Carolina since 1993, the U.S. Forest Service says.

As of last May, 13 people had died since 1995 at a single waterfall — Whitewater Falls near Cashiers in Nantahala National Forest. At 411 feet, it’s the highest waterfall in the eastern United States.

Despite warning signs, visitor often are tempted to venture into dangerous areas above the falls, District Ranger Mike Wilkins told the Observer last spring.

“When water levels are down, it appears you can just walk out there. It could be six inches deep,” Wilkins said. “But they’re on a slight incline, and those rocks are slick as snot. You slip and fall, you’ve got nothing to grab. And if you slip, you’re gone.”

Nine people died in fatal falls in state parks between 2005 and February, N.C. State Parks says. Three of those deaths were at High Shoal Falls at South Mountains State Park near Morganton.

“You’ve got to be awfully, awfully careful because it’s very, very dangerous and very, very slippery, and all it takes is one misstep,” Chief Geoffrey Tennant of the Tryon Fire Department told WLOS on Sunday.

Bruce Henderson: 704-358-5051; @bhender

___
(c)2018 The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.)
Visit The Charlotte Observer (Charlotte, N.C.) at www.charlotteobserver.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Tagged with: Charlotte

Boone Town Council Approves $25000 for Greenway Trail Skate Park

Posted on April 3, 2018 by

See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

By Nathan Ham

Skating enthusiasts in Boone received good news last Thursday when the Boone Town Council unanimously approved a site for a skate park near the Greenway Trail.

A presentation was put together for the town council members as well as some public comments stating their support for the park.

Skaters in Watauga County had previously been using a sort of “DIY” skate park that was located at the former Watauga High School location. However, Appalachian State University purchased that property and officially closed on the deal Sept. 29, 2017. The skate park will be torn down as part of App State’s expansion on the property.

Now it appears that skaters in the area will still be able to keep practicing their craft at a location off of the Greenway near the wastewater treatment facility and the south fork of the New River. The town already owns the land for the proposed skate park.

Nick Williams, the director of external affairs for Appalachian State’s Student Government Association spoke to the council in support of the park.

“This has been an effort that is long overdue. This is something we have heard about from students at Appalachian State for a long time,” he said. “I think the proposed site would offer a safe and healthy environment for skateboarders in Boone.

The skate park location will also be within a reasonable walking distance for Watauga High School students, making it easy for both college and high school students to be able to use the facility.

The “Cruzin’ Committee,” a group of concerned citizens working to build support for a skate park, was authorized by Boone’s Transportation Committee to put together a proposal for the park. The presentation to the council was made by J.P. Pardy, owner of Recess Skate and Snow, who is one of several local business owners that support the committee and their desires for a permanent skate park in Boone.

The proposal stated that the expected cost would be no more than $25,000.

The nearest skate park to Boone is located in Morganton, which is roughly an hour drive each way. By providing a skate park in Boone, skaters will not have to travel down the mountain and will have a place where they can legally skate.

“This will promote healthy and affordable recreation as well as provide a fantastic outlet for youth,” said Pardy. “Not only is this needed for our community, but it will attract a new tourist demographic which will help boost our local economy.”

The council approved a budget amendment to allow for up to $25,000 for the concrete pad that the park construction will be built on. The committee hopes to secure the rest of the construction work though in-kind donations.

Comments

comments

Tagged with: Boone NC

Rick Suyao named High Country Soccer Association’s first Executive Director

Posted on April 3, 2018 by

See Article Source Posted in Tourism — No Comments ↓

This past week, High Country Soccer Association’s board of directors announced in the club’s weekly newsletter the hiring of the Boone-based soccer club’s first executive director, Rick Suyao. He began his duties on April 1, 2018.

“The board wholeheartedly agrees that Rick is the leader who will take HCSA to its next level of growth,” says Tracy Tilley, President of HCSA Board of Directors.

High Country Soccer Association is a 501(c)3 tax-exempt nonprofit organization that provides professional soccer training with licensed coaches for youth ranging from U6 to U18 competing in the North Carolina Youth Soccer Association. The club, which opened in 1986, also operates the local adult league and winter futsal training. In all, HCSA has more than 600 youth players and more than 250 adult players from five different counties.

Suyao, who has been an HCSA board member since 2010, will step down from the volunteer position to be in charge of the day-to-day operations of HCSA’s administrative office. Jody Young will continue to be the Director of Coaching for the Club. Young handles all duties that pertain to coaching and programming – recruiting and developing coaches and ensuring that the coaching staff continues to develop players in the HCSA soccer philosophy. Basically, Young handles duties “on the field” and Suyao will handle duties “off the field”. Suyao’s duties will focus on fundraising, sponsorships, community relations, marketing, finance, and membership relations.

“First of all, I would like to thank HCSA’s board of directors for trusting me and have the faith in me to lead our soccer club,” says Suyao. “I am honored and humbled by this responsibility. The club has achieved incredible growth in the last 10 years. We have a full calendar of events and programming. We run two soccer tournaments in the summer that bring more than 120 teams to the High Country that generate more than $1,000,000 in economic impact, so in addition to providing a great benefit to our local youth, we are also a positive business partner to the area’s travel and tourism market. My focus now is to pay closer attention to our membership’s concerns and to ensure we have a secure future for many years to come.”

The security Suyao is referring to is the ongoing need for field space and the inevitable recurring expense of re-turfing the artificial field surface at Ted Mackorell Soccer Complex. The soccer complex is shared in a three-way partnership with Appalachian State’s Men’s and Women’s Soccer programs and Watauga County’s Parks and Recreation Department.

“TMSC is 10 years old, which is about the time to start evaluating and testing the condition of when artificial turf needs to be replaced,” says Suyao. “We can probably squeeze a couple more years out of the current artificial surface, but that expense is inevitable. Significant fundraising needs to be done to prepare for that day.”

Suyao, a Blowing Rock resident, has more than 20 years of of marketing experience, mainly with non-profit performing arts organizations. He also has extensive experience in the media and was the publisher of a 20,000 monthly circulation arts magazine in Charlotte, NC. Suyao holds a B.S. degree in business marketing from West Virginia University and a M.A. in marketing and communications from Emerson College in Boston. He and his wife, Allison, who is a team manager for HCSA, have 2 soccer kids, Lily (U17) and Kai (U13).

Comments

comments

Tagged with: Blowing Rock NC

Council OKs regional ferry concept

Judge: Jury won’t take smell tour of North Carolina hog farm

EXCLUSIVE: Would public tax money be used to help keep Panthers?

Related Headlines

Potential bidders in Panthers sale visit Queen City

NFL targets May vote on new Panthers owner; potential bidder visits stadium

Potential buyer out of the running to purchase Panthers as sale could…

Chamber response

Majority of county commissioners reject new tax idea

The argument against county support

How much is city of Charlotte willing to spend going forward?

Chamber of Commerce working behind the scenes

North Carolina hopes to lure ‘EV tourists’ with rural charging stations

Column: Ag tourism can be fun and exciting

‘+__tnt.truncateStr(oAsset.title,85,’…’)+’

As Trump denies climate change, The Collider, area leaders search for solutions – Asheville Citizen

Can Asheville be ‘Climate City’?

Where worlds collide

Top stories

As spring break begins, tourism remains mainstay of local economy

Firefighters Save Man Waterfall Twin Bridges Saluda NC – Firehouse

Boone Town Council Approves $25000 for Greenway Trail Skate Park

Comments

Rick Suyao named High Country Soccer Association’s first Executive Director

Comments