Obama Gives Detroit Its Best Day In Decades
This is a story of
supply and demand. On the demand side
of the equation, President Obama has put in
place landmark new vehicle mileage
standard for cars and
light trucks. By 2016, cars must achieve 39 miles
per gallon in city + highway driving. Light trucks
must average 30 mpg. How aggressive is this
standard? Less than a handful of cars and no
trucks can meet it today. Yet everyone from
Detroit to retired military brass and
Republican leadership support it.
Why? Read on to see why President Obama has given
Detroit’s its best chance in
decades.
Betting The Farm On The Right Curve
I’m going to show you the prices of three energy sources (e.g. oil or wind or coal in say, dollars per barrel) over time. (For you geeks, these are all in 2008 $ and the source is the U.S. Dept. of Energy)
US taxpayers have subsidized one of these energy sources for nearly a century with tens of billions of $ of tax breaks and other easements every year. As a result, we now depend upon this source of energy above all others.
You as President, must decide which energy sources you support and which you think the United States should wean itself away from.
From the mystery charts below, pick the two energy sources you think would be best for the American people and click Read More to find out what they are...
1.
2.
3.
Read
More...
If You Read Just One Book This Year...
This book should be
required reading for everyone in the developed world.
That’s a strong statement and I’ll
preface it with the fact that I often find that
three-times Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas
Friedman’s New York Times writings
sensationalist.
Hot, Flat &
Crowded, (winner of
Washington Post, Chicago Tribune & Business
Week Book of the Year) is different. It’s
visionary, well researched and page-turningly well
written. It offers a new path away from the
growing consequences of our increasingly hot
(climate change), flat (rapidly expanding global
middle class), and crowded planet.
To begin with, the book demonstrates there is simply
not enough energy to fuel a 10x growth of the
world’s consumptive middle class driven by
China & India if this middle class consumes as
much resources (energy, water, land) as we do today.
If you buy this thesis (and it’s hard not to,
based on the evidence we saw in the summer of 2008
with skyrocketing commodity prices, record pollution
and temperatures) the question Friedman begs is: now
what?
Here is the visionary part: Friedman creates a
wholistic (and fact-based) perspective of how an
resource-efficient, economic, clean and sustainable
low/no carbon economy can be built with existing and
maturing technologies. And it offers a path to return
the United States to the forefront of its historical
leadership: exporting new technologies - something we
have lost in the past 15 years.
If this all sounds horrendously dull, it’s not.
The inspired vision is matched by inspired
writing. Get it here. To save some
paper and energy,
read it on your Kindle 2 or get
it from your
library.
Hawaii Superferry: It's Not About The Environment
I have never
written about my professional endeavors on my blog
until now. However the time has come to shed some
light on how legitimate environmentally friendly
efforts can be hijacked by a few self-interested
individuals claiming “the environment” in
their name.
Hawaii Superferry
is a
company I founded in 2001 shortly after 9/11
grounded Hawaiis airlines for four long days. This
halted Hawaii like no other place on earth because
it is the world’s only island archipelago
solely dependent on flying. My two cofounders and
I did this to bring an affordable,
energy-efficient and environmentally friendly
alternative for interisland travel to Hawai`i.
Hawaii Superferry successfully carried around
250,000 passengers during the time it operated,
only to be derailed by a lawsuit from powerful
special interests like the Sierra Club after 11 months
of operation.
How did this happen?
REALLY fixing Detroit
Taxpayers have
pumped over $20B into Detroit with more to com -
yet it is a band aid, not a fix. To be sure,
Detroit and its unions have been their own worst
enemies but government regulation is a close
second. Deregulation and synchronization with
global standards are the key to the survival of
the US auto industry. Here’s what needs to
change to ensure economic viability AND
environmental sustainability of this
industry. Read
More...
HCR-188c The Holy Grail Of Refrigerants?
What if a refrigerant...
- Reduced refrigerator and A/C energy consumption by over 30%
- Cost just 1/3rd of conventional refrigerants
- Has 96% less global warming impact than conventional refrigerants
- Has zero ozone depleting impact
What if this breakthrough was not developed by a giant chemical company, but over the past 15 years by a passionate former mechanic in Hawai’i?
Mr. Maruya of Kane’ohe Hawai’i could be one of this century’s energy heroes.
The EPA has just approved Mr. Richard Maruya’s remarkably simple HCR-188c refrigerant. Haier the Chinese white goods giant has provided research assitance, while Greenpeace has given him recognition.
While we would love to see the world beat a path to Mr. Maruya’s door, his challenge may be just beginning...Read More...
We Need Global Auto Standards
The Renault Espace and Fiat 500 are just two of the cars that could be built in the US IF government regulators are serious about helping our auto industry turn around.
An insightful recent New York Times article points out that the US auto industry could transition to more efficient vehicles quickly IF the US government transitioned to more efficient regulations.
GM and Ford both produce outstanding and efficient vehicles in Europe. These vehicles could be produced quickly in the United States if (already similar) safety and emissions standards were “harmonized” (at least temporarily) to allow European-spec. vehicles to operate here.
This would allow European-spec. vehicles to be built and sold in the U.S. - AND cut the cost of government regulation. Let’s see if our government figures what’s good for the goose (US auto industry ) is good for the gander (government regulatory organizations.)
Bolder, less “Americanized” versions of non-US cars have recently been selling briskly: Audi’s range is the fastest growing in the luxury sector and Nissan and VW have also seen success with more stylish & less Americanized versions of their products.Read More...
Beijing: Indoor Smog - An Export Industry
As we drove downtown in one of Beijing’s ubiquitous minibuses, visibility decreased to about 1km as you can see from (click below to continue)Read More...
China Ends Fuel Subsidies - Will Others Follow?
China, the world’s #2 oil consumer behind the US, has demonstrated a remarkable show of economic force: it eliminated fuel subsidies and let oil prices float. Better yet, it increased gasoline tax 500% and diesel tax 800% to about $0.14 per liter ($0.50 per gallon.)
OPEC predictably reacted allergically but the real question is will other fuel subsidizing countries like India, Mexico and Indonesia follow? Here’s why they can and should now.Read More...
Federal Loans For Tesla Motors?
The New York Times announced today that Tesla Motors, the pioneering Silicon Valley electric car company, wants a $400 million (1.6%) slice of the $25B federal government loan program for building efficient cars. We think the government has no choice...Read More...
Bullet Trains in America?
OK, we admit it - this is the coolest video we have seen in a long time. And it’s going to happen, thanks to California voters passing a $10B bond measure. The Environmental Impact Statement is complete and it’s supported by the Sierra Club.
Electric high-speed trains are five times more efficient than flying and three times better than driving. We think the timing and technology couldn’t be better...
Read More...
The Ten (Energy) Commandments
I’m
not the President, King, or a holy deity. But if
I were, here are my 10 Commandments of
Energy.
I’d love feedback - what SHOULD the energy 10
Commandments look like?1. Nations such as China, India, Mexico and Iran should stop government fuel subsidies that increase global oil usage up to 15%, drive up energy prices and hurt government financial stability. Read More...