How to Become a Clean Energy Evangelist

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A few weeks ago, Technical Cleaning I posted my Clean Energy Evangelist Report Card. However, 1) I left out a few things that I will add here and in a future article. 2) Check out some tips on how YOU You can be a clean energy evangelist.

If you are going to be a clean energy evangelist, you need to: 1) Have knowledge of what is most important, 2) Have knowledge of what the advantage and cost differential of each clean energy option is, 3) Lead by example by making as many clean energy options in your life as possible. Unless you have unlimited funds, you can’t run out and reduce your fossil fuel use to zero immediately. However, when it comes time to scrap your old car or if your water heater, boiler or lawnmower breaks down, it’s time to seriously consider a clean energy replacement. Hopefully, you’ll eventually be able to switch everything you own to battery electric and heat pump, install solar panels on your roof, and install battery storage in your garage. Also, carpool and use public transportation when you can.

A true clean energy evangelist will take his electric vehicle to car shows (see main photo) and drive it in parades. I’ve been doing this for 10 years, but I had more success in the beginning. At that point, I was able to get friends with EVs to join me. Lately I can’t get my friends and family to help me and I’m doing it alone. If you look closely, in the photo you can see my 100% electric and 100% Automatic Driving posters in my windows. At this summer’s car show, very few people were interested in my new 2026 Tesla Model Y. The show was packed with gasoline enthusiasts showing off their restored gasoline vehicles, like the old red Ford pickup truck you see in the photo. I won’t do this again unless I can find someone with a more unusual electric vehicle, like a Rivian pickup truck, to join me. I’ll still do 4 though.^th of the July parade.

The most important thing you can do to be a clean energy evangelist is to replace your gasoline vehicle with a pure battery electric vehicle.. Driving a BEV is a visible statement that everyone around you will notice. If there are few electric vehicles in your area, it is important that people know that an electric vehicle is a practical alternative to a gasoline car. Seeing yours will help you achieve this. Your current gasoline car burns more fossil fuel-producing CO2 (than is burned to produce the electricity needed to power your electric vehicle that replaces it), emits more lung-hazardous submicron particles, and produces more submicron particles from brake pad wear than anything else you do. A BEV burns no fossil fuel while running, is 90% efficient, and rarely uses the brakes. Everyone knows my Tesla is a BEV, but when I drove another brand of BEV, I had small money 100% electric I made stickers and put them on the front and back of the car as you see in the photo below.

sMi Tesla 2026 base model Y with rear drive and electric mountain bike. Pine Island. Medicine Lake. Three Lakes, Wisconsin. August 10, 2026. Photo by Fritz Hasler. If you’re purchasing a new base Tesla Model Y (see above), you can get a loan now at 1.5% interest (up from 0% three months ago when I bought mine) with monthly payments of ~$559. A base Model 3 earned 2% interest with payments of $529 a month. There’s a new long-wheelbase, three-row, 6-seat Model YL launch edition that just became available for $992 a month. Now that interest rates are higher, these rates are very attractive. All new Teslas have V4 hardware that can run V14 “fully self-driving” for $99 a month. All new Teslas have an EPA battery range of over 300 miles. Those on a smaller budget can get a used Tesla for much less. A year ago, my son bought a gorgeous 7-year-old Tesla Model 3 Performance (see below) with good range and a $15,000 battery warranty left.

One problem with buying a used electric vehicle is that most used car dealers don’t know how to sell electric vehicles. They don’t know what they have and they don’t know how to catalog them and communicate that information to their customers. They don’t know how much range the electric vehicle has left in the battery, whether a Tesla has a dual or single motor, Tesla Hardware 2, 3, or 4, or if it comes with a permanent full self-driving subscription. They don’t know if they have one of the few gold Teslas sold between mid-2023 and spring 2026 that comes with HW 4 and a permanent subscription to FSD V14. Permanent FSD subscriptions are no longer available. Normally you have to go to the parking lot and get into the car to find out this information. One advantage: Since they don’t know what they have, you may be able to steal a deal.

All US EV brands can now charge at most Tesla Superchargers (all newer ones), and some even have native Tesla plugs that don’t require an adapter. A Chevy Bolt EV starts at $27,600 and comes with a native NACS (Tesla) plug.

Buying an electric bicycle is your definitive transportation action. In my case, my electric bicycle replaces the second car that my wife and I no longer have. Get an electric bike like the one pictured above, or better yet, an electric mountain bike like the ones pictured below. An electric mountain bike can ride on gravel if necessary and can be pulled off the edge of the road in an emergency. It also provides a smoother ride on any type of bumps in the road and can go down and jump curbs if necessary. I frequently run errands on my electric bike, especially when my wife drives our Tesla. I pick up prescriptions, go to the gym, or buy an item or two at the grocery store. With an electric bike, you can take longer trips and climb hills much easier. If you are not athletically capable of riding a two-wheeled vehicle, an electric tricycle or a 3-wheeled recumbent bike will work.

One thing I left out of my previous article:

• Change your house for 100% LED bulbs. Maybe most of you did this a long time ago, but I keep finding incandescent and fluorescent light bulbs that I missed.. Several years ago, I changed almost all of the light bulbs in both my houses and my garage to fluorescent ones. More recently, when IKEA had a fabulous special deal on LED bulbs, I bought 200 60-watt equivalents and threw out all the fluorescent ones in my house in Utah, my house in Wisconsin, and the garage at my house in Wisconsin. A fluorescent bulb uses 25% of the energy of an incandescent bulb with the same light output. An LED bulb uses 10% of the energy of an incandescent bulb with the same light output. Here you get a double bonus because they save you 90% of the money you used to spend on lighting…. And LEDs last longer. They are supposed to last 20 years. I’m 86 years old, so in principle I should never have to change light bulbs again. This has not been the case in practice. Maybe some of my LEDs will last 20 years, but I’ve had to replace quite a few. When IKEA launched their 60W equivalent LED sale years ago, I think I paid 50 cents per bulb. Unfortunately, they are now ~$2.50 at IKEA. However, you can buy 60W equivalent LEDs online at Amazon for $1.28 each. By saving 90% on electricity, you will pay off the installation cost very quickly and with longer lasting LEDs, this is a monetary and convenience gain over time. Recently, I found a 2 foot fluorescent tube light bulb hidden in a closet that had burned out. When I went to replace it, I discovered that ACE Hardware no longer sells fluorescent tube bulbs, so I came home with an LED.

I will discuss some other items in another article, for example:

• Switch from your electric resistance or fossil gas water heater to a heat pump water heater.
• Change your furnace from fossil gas or electric resistance heating to heat pump heating.

If you find any of my articles helpful, please use my referral link when purchasing a new Tesla: (Be sure to use it when you place your order.) Tesla keeps changing the program, but here’s the latest: If you buy a new Tesla Model 3 or Y and use my link, you’ll get two months of free full self-driving (a value of ~$200) on top of the month that comes free with every new Model Y right now. This will give you a total of 3 months of fully autonomous driving for free. After that, it will cost $99 a month. For a Cybertruck, you’ll get $1,000 off the purchase price. Right now, Tesla is offering one year of free Supercharging with the purchase of a new Model 3 Premium or Performance.