The corner of Olmpic and Robertson in West Hollywood/Beverly Hills just got a little greener. I swung by the new BP gas station this morning to see this spaceship trying to sell gas.
The station is BP’s latest attempt to go green. The top of the roof is full of solar panels, with the underside panels made from recycled aluminum that they claim they wil melt down and reuse once the station is shut down (or remodeled and given a less year 2000 view from the 80′s look). The underside is fitted with low-energy LED lighting.
The floor contains shards of glass, of which I don’t really understand the purpose. They are just tiny shards mixed into a lot of cement from what I could see, so it’s not like they were recycling a ton of glass to build the whole surface. Maybe a couple of beer bottles worth.
They have a cactus farm inside which apparently cools the room rather than having to use A/C. They also sell Australian Evergreen’s, or something of the sort, as a push to increase tree planting in the area. The plants apparently do well in a climate of smog and no rain. There is a rainwater catchement on the roof that services to water the plants planted on site…if it ever rains.
Lastly they are giving away recycled paper postcards containing green energy saving tips printed in soy ink. Mixed into the paper are little flower seeds, so after reading the tip, you can fold up the paper, wet it, bury it, and grow a few random flowers.
While I thought the seeds were the coolest part, I suppose we should discuss what the station actually does, which is serve gas. I have no problem with the gas distribution, but you would think that with all of the hoopla, they would be pushing biofuels as much as possible. I imagine BP doesn’t want to push for electric or even hydrogen cars, but to only offer regular unleaded doesn’t seem to special for me. They claim to have 6% biofuel (probably ethanol) mixed in, but I believe there are other places in California already mixing in 10%. No offer of bio-diesel either, although I can’t imagine there are a lot of bio-diesel autos in Beverly Hills.
In the end, I do applaude their efforts. I would encourage swinging by and providing not only support, but more feedback on how they can do it better with the next one.
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Hey there, I just thought I would cover some things that you seemed to have questions on. There is actually a lot of recycled cement and glass mixed together in the ground of the station to help absorb heat. That helps with pollution. The BP gas station IS going to serve an alternative fuel, it will take some time. We also recycle our water that we use to water the plants, we just don’t use the collected rainwater (we know it does not rain that much)There is a lot more to the gas than you think and te green roof with the cactus also serve to collect acid rain and help with pollution. The tree we give away are FREE!
We have a partnership with DWP to plant a million trees in LA to cut the pollution. We are also talking of getting electric plug ins. There is so much that BP will do with the station, it just will take some time. The station is a lab, so we they are learning to push for more things. If they do bulid more they will be greener, it all a process….it is a great effort. I would rather see a gas station doing this to move forward then a smelly, dirty gas station wasting energy. There are still lots of cars that use gas, again, it will take some time. 
Wow. Thanks for the review. I dig it.
I am a member of the green team here at the Helios House, and I wanted to clarify a few things. Firstly, we don’t sell trees, but give them away. Anyone in LA can get free shade tree saplings from the DWP as part of their “be one in a million” tree planting campaign.
Secondly, the alternative fuels market is one where research and development are outpacing the infrastructure’s ability to transition, never mind the maze of red tape involved in getting safety permits for newly invented equpiment. As a corporately owned and operated site, we need to adhere strictly to all safety requirements and practices. One of our short term goals at the Los Angeles Helios House is to offer a variety of alternatives to traditional petroleum gasoline, and we plan on iintroducing this offer, as well as expanding our ability to educate, in the near future.
Cool! I hope it starts a huge market trend!
Hello, we visited this awesome gas station twice. Once by accidental, second time on purpose. We love it! We live about 200 miles north of L.A. in a valley with high pollution- so we appreciate this new concept. I hope it catches on.
If anyone who reads this is affiliated with the gas station, is there a chance we could get some of the seed cards? We have an upcoming program at our Sunday School on recycling, planting trees etc.. the seeds would be a great gift to help encourage planting. We would need about 100 cards. Appreciate it. Maria Chavez
does anyone know where to get that paper with seeds inside it? I think it would be great to use on a project i’m working on.
I JUST WANT TO KNOW HOW WE IN PA CAN GET THESE FLOWER SEED PAPERS IN OUR BP STATIONS? I CONTACTED A FEW OF THE STATIONS NEAR ME AND NON OF THEM HAD A CLUE WHAT I WAS TALKING ABOUT. I THINK ITS A GREAT IDEA FOR THEM TO HAVE THESE.
What is the name of the recent theme song of BP