NPR visits BP's green gas station, the Helios "living laboratory"
On NPR's Morning Edition today, KQED's Rob Schmitz spent some time at Los Angeles' "green" gas station, the BP Helios fueling center. Schmitz's report gets people to talk about the weird feeling they get by getting gas at a "green" place; they sound like they're awfully perplexed by the juxtaposition of the two ideas. You can listen to the piece here.
The station collects rainwater for watering plants, contains lots of recycled materials in the structure, a sign made of cedar and LEDs. BP's page on the station says the unique store isn't a prototype for future BP expansions, but is instead a "'living laboratory' that uses green, eco-friendly innovations to give consumers a little better station experience."
You can see pictures of Helios taken by someone who visited the station here.
[Source: NPR, BP]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
1985 Gripen 8:27PM (4/06/2007)
If they're not going to carry "alternative" fuels there, it would be best if they had a "bestest" category above "best" that included the new low-sulfur diesel BP sells at their ARCO stations throughout SoCal.
I like the look of the station even though (or maybe BECAUSE) it's pretty weird looking. I also like that although they sell only dirty fossil fuels, at least they're TRYING to do something good with the facilities design.
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Owain Ozymandias Buck 11:17AM (4/09/2007)
Hmmm. Might be lipstick on a pig. This should at least carry a B20 blend, or E85, or at least be a CNG filling station.
At lest they've done some good work on the selling point--I'll at lest give 'em that. All the little pieces are pretty clever. But I'm still mad about the pipeline situation from last year!
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