Cascadia Scorecard News
February 2005

Security was the dominant theme of public affairs in 2004, and it's the central theme of Cascadia Scorecard 2005, Sightline's second annual update on key trends shaping the region's future. The book-set for release in just a few weeks-takes a fresh perspective on security, examining the sources of Cascadia's vulnerability to fundamental threats such as terrorism and climate change. It also highlights emerging opportunities to make the region secure while we revitalize our economy and restore our natural heritage.

One such opportunity resides in the transition to a super-efficient, clean, and resilient energy path. Updating the vehicle fleet is a key part of that transition, and that updating is already beginning. California-style clean-car legislation was recently introduced in Washington and Northwest consumers are making their own choices by choosing efficient hybrids in impressive numbers.

In public consciousness, Cascadia's recent vehicle trends are epitomized by the Hummer, a four-wheeled emblem of military security. But in the marketplace, Hummers and other jumbo SUVs are actually being eclipsed by something less armored but more ingenious and, in the final analysis, more secure: the hybrid-electric engine. Hybrid vehicles were introduced in 1999, seven years after Hummers, but by July 2004 had outsold them almost six to one. And while Hummer sales stagnated in 2004, hybrids rocketed out of showrooms. Cascadians who wanted the award-winning 2004 Toyota Prius, for example, typically faced waits of six months or longer.

Among Northwest jurisdictions, Washington has the most hybrids, with 6,200. It also has the most Hummers, with 1,100. Oregon has 3,600 hybrids and fewer than 500 Hummers. British Columbia has more than 600 hybrids and fewer than 300 Hummers. In proportional terms, that means Oregon has the most favorable hybrid-to-Hummer ratio, with almost eight times as many hybrids as Hummers, while British Columbia has the worst ratio, with a bit more than twice as many hybrids as Hummers.

The significance is not in the numbers, but in what they represent. Hybrids and Hummers account for little more than the bookends of the car world; in Washington, all the hybrids and Hummers combined make up just 1 in 500 passenger vehicles. But the drama they have played out-with the unheralded victory going to the cars that travel four times as far on each unit of fuel-augurs well for Cascadia's future. A more efficient fleet sends fewer dollars out of the region and fewer pollutants into the atmosphere; it also buffers the region against vulnerabilities like pipeline disruption and oil price hikes.

Every fuel-sipping hybrid on the road is a step toward true security for Cascadia as part of what Amory Lovins and his colleagues at Rocky Mountain Institute call a "fine-grained, highly distributed Strategic Petroleum Reserve-already delivered to customers, presenting no high-value targets, invulnerable to cascading system failures (such as vulnerable pipeline networks), and profitable to boot."

To speed hybrids' sweep of the market, the Northwest states can adopt California's clean-car standards: emissions rules applying to new cars and trucks that will hasten the spread of advanced technology, alternative fuels, and efficiency in general. Washington has just made a move to do just that with the recent introduction of new legislation.

The Hummer-to-hybrids transition is just one small stretch of the path to security that Cascadia Scorecard 2005 maps.

More information:
The Daily Score columns on clean cars
Washington's clean car campaign