At the Crow Lane roundabout cars sit bumper to bumper. A scooter hits a puddle of oil on the road and goes down. Cars honk at the sudden hold-up in traffic. Unharmed, the scooter roars off into the haze of pollution up ahead. Just another day at 5 p.m. in paradise.

Michael Burke, the owner of a new environmentally friendly company 'thegreenhousebermuda' thinks he knows something that could change this familiar scene, something that could take away the pollution, the oil on the road, the stress, the noise and even the speeding — electric vehicles.

And through thegreenhousebermuda he hopes to soon start selling electric scooters.

"I have been pretty green minded for years," said Mr. Burke. "I do whatever I can wherever I can."

Mr. Burke has been on the Marine Resources Board, was a part of environmental group 'Friends of Fish' and is now on the board of sustainability group, Greenrock. He also runs his own dive company, Blue Water Divers and Watersports

"The idea for a green technology company was born because of the slow dive season last year brought on by a combination of the economic downturn and bad weather in April and May," said Mr. Burke.

"When I started doing the research I got excited at all the new technological advances that are out there. There are new things like improved chargers and batteries that make electric vehicles more viable now."

Last fall he went to the United Kingdom to visit potential manufacturers, and then travelled to Germany to learn how to repair electric scooters.

"I think Bermuda could be the perfect model for electric vehicles," said Mr. Burke. "There is the low speed limit — if one adheres to it. If we did have electric vehicles you could control their speed, so you wouldn't have people riding around like lunatics on high-powered bikes."

In the United States, scooters like the ones Mr. Burke plans to sell are sometimes referred to as 'Neighbourhood Electric Vehicles' (NEV), meaning a speed limited electric battery powered vehicle.

The scooters come in various sizes. The smaller ones can travel from 20 to 40 miles on a charge. When their battery is run down you plug the bike into a 110 or a 220 volt outlet. Depending on the battery, and the brand and size of the scooter, it may take between three to five hours to charge.

The Royal Gazette estimates it would cost roughly $1.70 a day to charge the battery, based on a five hour charge using a 1500 watt charger.

"If you are talking about 20 to 40 miles then you are easily exceeding Bermuda's needs," said Mr. Burke. "We are already a plug-in society. We plug our cell phones in. We plug our laptops. With that programming you shouldn't have a problem plugging a vehicle in.

"The vehicles will tell you how much of a charge there is in the battery, and how much charge is left. They are very intelligent. The beauty of electric is that you can get so much information back from the vehicle."

Mr. Burke is not the only person on the Island to sell electric scooters. His will be priced between $3,500 and $3,800.

"It may sound high at first, but remember that you don't have to pay for oil, fuel or sparkplugs," said Mr. Burke.

He claimed that unlike regular scooters, electric ones require very little servicing.

"You can't service the electrical components, you have to change them," he said. "Controllers and the motors should last for eight to 12 years. Depending on the batteries you may need to change them every ten years."

One of the problems with electric vehicles at the moment is a lack of infrastructure in the community to support them. If you run out of gas you can visit a gas station, but so far it's not the same if your bike runs out of charge. Mr. Burke hopes to fix this also.

"At the same time I am looking to try to implement a charge infrastructure on the Island and perhaps even a battery swap," said Mr. Burke. "With a battery swap you would go to a specific place when your battery is low and then swap your battery for a fully-charged battery. They are doing this around the world already. But for that you need to have all the batteries the same."

Mr. Burke would like to see Government and insurance companies get behind electric vehicles.

"We say that we want to reduce emissions and noise, well electric vehicles have no emissions and they don't make much noise," he said. "From a road safety point of view they are also good.

"If you have a proliferation of electric vehicles you won't have oil on the roads. With a controlled speed fewer people will be speeding. The Bermuda Road Safety Council and the Government should consider forcing teenagers to use electric bikes, because you can set the maximum speed, and that is hard to tamper with later."

Naturally, he hoped that the electric scooters sold well when he brought them in.

"I am investing some time and money into it now," he said. "I am very keen. We have a warranty. If there is a problem we can deal with it. We have the spare parts and components."

In the future, he said he might like to get into selling electric cars, trucks and vans.

"We will just see how it progresses," he said. "Cars and bikes are not a problem because they are duty free, but somehow the Government forgot about commercial vehicles. There is a still a high duty on them. That is where the demand is. People who have fleets want to realise the earnings on maintenance, oil and fuel.

"Your initial cost will be one and half times more on an electric vehicle, but ultimately, you are saving on fuel and servicing."

Mr. Burke recently attended a conference organised by the Electric Drive Transport Association (EDTA).

"I went to that in December," he said. "Amazing information came out. America is definitely going electric big time. Europe is well on its way already. This is a revolution that will occur."

His company also sells a number of other products including a battery powered pedal bike that will fold up small enough to fit under a desk and an Ecobutton which plugs into your computer that allows you to put your computer into a deep sleep with the press of a button.

The company also sells a Smart Strip Power Strip. With this product, ten outlets work together, autoswitching your devices on/off automatically, to save you money on your electric bills.

n For more information about thegreenhousebermuda check out their website at www.thegreenhousebermuda.com or telephone 505-1762, or email michael@thegreenhousebermuda.com

You can also see some of Mr. Burke's products at the upcoming Bermuda Realty Coldwell Banker Home Show on February 14 at CedarBridge Academy from 9.30 a.m. to 4.30 p.m.

Shocking facts

The average car is parked 23 out of 24 hours a day.

Statistics verified by experts on the California Air Resources Board indicate that an NEV charged in California, where clean-air standards are tougher on power plants, is more than six-times cleaner than a gas vehicle when it comes to carbon-dioxide emissions and many times that for nitrous oxide. When charged at an average location in America, NEVs still produce three times less carbon dioxide.

Using the Eco-button, a product sold by ThegreenhouseBermuda designed to put your computer into a deep sleep mode, a home computer user may save more than 650 lbs of CO2 a year and approximately $30 to $50 in electricity, depending on electricity costs in the particular region.

Tips for a greener automobile even if you don't want to invest in electric right now:

Turn off your car when idling for more than a minute and not in traffic. If you could eliminate ten minutes of idling every day, you would save approximately $36 at the pump each year depending on gas prices.

Avoid rush-hour and traffic jams, as sitting in your car waiting for traffic to move eats up fuel.

Try to combine your daily errands into one, and walk or pedal when possible.

Use public transportation.

Reduce the amount of weight in your car. An excess of 100 lbs in your car could reduce your miles per gallon by up to two percent.

Get your car serviced regularly to make sure it is operating at peak condition.