[slick]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('slick', 'R')eminds me of the state that adopted the Metric system, then a few years later gave it up and went back to US Imperial. Idaho, was it?[

[Vexed]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ell here's another one that will get all the status seekers creaming in their jeans, and good that it will, too: www.teslamotors.com

[rogerhb]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Vexed', 'T')hanks GG3 for the continuing info on the Tesla.

[Concerned]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('captain_planet', '
')Human labor is of great value, look at the 7 wonders of the ancient world and wonders built before the discovery of the internal combustion engine. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonders_of_the_world Oil has been used throughout all of ancient civilization too, but the internal combustion engine http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internal-combustion_engine is what exploited the power of oil. Oil did indeed help humans cultivate more food, but even without oil I believe we can still sustain our population for even further growth.

There is many energy sources to generate food for America. Food can be cultivated by our 2 million prisoners assisted by oxen, horses, mules, donkeys, elephants. Ethanol can be grown to only fuel farm equipment. The food can be transported by coal or nuclear turbine trains. Food can also be grown locally replacing green "lawns" and ban ranching. The only domestic meat that will be available now is unclaimed dogs and rats. Hunting wild game will still be around. No more McDonalds and less obese fat asses in America. Riding a bike won't hurt us either instead watching TV, maybe we will have more high quality radio shows while we ride our bikes informing, entertaining, and improving our health. Once the waste is gone we will eat rice, beans, vegetables, fruit, whole wheat, healther stuff. Excercise and healthy food is going to prolong our lifes even more, so I hope we run out of oil soon.

[Concerned]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('gg3', 'A')hh yes, the pure sex appeal of going out on a date on your motorcycle, with your sweetie's arms around your waist...

Well here's another one that will get all the status seekers creaming in their jeans, and good that it will, too: www.teslamotors.com

Top speed 130, does 0 - 60 in four seconds flat, runs 250 miles on a charge, and recharges from empty to full in 3 hours. With luxury and style and sex appeal, and with the practical advantage on the hypothetical date that you can hear the other person speak because it's also absolutely silent. Price range $85 - $120k.

This is the car that will cause the used car lots to fill up with Porsches and Ferraris, and even the odd Lamborghini or two. This is zero compromise, pure performance, and pure green at the same time.

So perhaps there's hope that entrepreneurs such as the Tesla team will find ways to appeal to the desires for status, sex, and power, while reducing ecological and resource impacts to a tolerable level. That would be a good thing, as carrots are always preferable to sticks.

[Frank]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Concerned', 'D')o you have any links to family style electric cars, vans and small trucks? That is where the biggest market segment is.

[Kez]

It seems like once a week I'll see some new device or gadget that finds ever more ways to take energy, usually electric, and waste it.

For example, I was watching some car commercial (Mercedes?) and they were hyping up the fact that the windshield wipers will now turn on automatically when the windshield senses rain. Is this really what customers are demanding?

Also, American Express blue cards used to be mailed to me once a week. I always took everthing, put it back in the pre-paid envelop, write really big in black to stop filling up my landfills, and sent it back to them. It took them 20 or so mailings to stop sending me that crap.

I wish I could remember all the absurdities like this. If anyone has some, please share.

It's also becoming more evident that people want little handheld, electrical gadgets instead of pen and paper. Each one of course requires batteries that only last so long and must be recharged constantly. While electricity isn't such an issue as oil/transportation, it seems to be getting pretty precarious to me, even if it is only a watt or two here and there, still, it adds up quick with waste, cheap cost (just throw it away and get another one), and 300 million people.

[basil_hayden]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kez', '
')Also, American Express blue cards used to be mailed to me once a week. I always took everthing, put it back in the pre-paid envelop, write really big in black to stop filling up my landfills, and sent it back to them. It took them 20 or so mailings to stop sending me that crap.

.

[pimptaddy]

Thats nothing compared to the waste I see in some idiot nearby. He uses $580.00 of water a month. Just watering a lawn that is in the middle of nowhere. He also has three cars, all SUVs and he guns and speeds the engine. His utility bill is nearly one thousand dollars a month. He leaves all his lights on all night. Every house light is left on , exept his bedroom. The water from his lawn rolls down the street just being wasted. I have learned that people with money are not smart. They view the wasting as a luxery. Like a peacocks tail, a showing of power. IN his mind, he thinks the water and power use is a sign that he is in control. He can afford to waste.

BTW... Kez I am in north texas as well. There are alot of idiots like this guy around here.

[Concerned]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pimptaddy', 'T')hats nothing compared to the waste I see in some idiot nearby. He uses $580.00 of water a month. Just watering a lawn that is in the middle of nowhere. He also has three cars, all SUVs and he guns and speeds the engine. His utility bill is nearly one thousand dollars a month. He leaves all his lights on all night. Every house light is left on , exept his bedroom. The water from his lawn rolls down the street just being wasted. I have learned that people with money are not smart. They view the wasting as a luxery. Like a peacocks tail, a showing of power. IN his mind, he thinks the water and power use is a sign that he is in control. He can afford to waste.

BTW... Kez I am in north texas as well. There are alot of idiots like this guy around here.

[Ingenuity_Gap]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Kez', 'F')or example, I was watching some car commercial (Mercedes?) and they were hyping up the fact that the windshield wipers will now turn on automatically when the windshield senses rain. Is this really what customers are demanding?

[Eddie_lomax]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ingenuity_Gap', '
')
I drive a Mazda3 2005 with automatic wipers and I can't tell you how happy I am. I don't have to continuously change the wiper speed when the rain is changing its intensity. It's all done automatically. When the rain is just a drizzle, the wipers don't start until the windshield is blurry enough. When the rain is pouring, the wipers are moving just fast enough. It may look frivolous to you but then why even bother driving a car.

.....

Automation is one big way of improving energy efficiency (and quality of life by the way).

[mekrob]

I got one: people talking about others wasting energy when they themselves are wasting energy by using a computer to talk about others wasting energy which does not good to conservation because they are preaching to those that already conserve.

[nemo]

Street lights in odd, out of the way places, blazing away in the wee hours with absolutely noone around to benefit from it. Motion sensors and/or push-button timers could perhaps be an improvement?
In all honesty, this probably annoys the stargazer in me more than the conservationist. Light pollution sucks.

[JoeCoal]

I actually saw one of these last week: jpg. I flipped it off for it's entire length as I drove by...

[SILENTTODD]

[quote="JoeCoal"]I actually saw one of these last week: jpg
In So Cal I see these every week, and I don't drive that much. I don't flip them off, they're bigger than me and could run me off the road!

[Vexed]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JoeCoal', 'I') actually saw one of these last week: jpg. I flipped it off for it's entire length as I drove by...

[Lighthouse]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('JoeCoal', 'I') actually saw one of these last week: jpg. I flipped it off for it's entire length as I drove by...

[gg3]

The Jaguar E-type (all 12 cylinders) is a classic sports car from an era when no one (aside from a few people in the universities and industry) anticipated an energy crunch. And it's a real sports car, i.e. fast, nimble, sticks to the road like a treefrog on a window, takes actual skill to drive properly, and can participate in races on road or track with no modifications.

SUVs are neither sporty nor utilitarian, they are oxymorons on wheels for morons behind the wheel.

And as for the Hummer: why the hell would anyone want to drive a vehicle named after an act that got a President impeached? (If that's what you want, go to Scarab Road Sweepers UK and buy their "Monic" model, which was in fact named after Monica: sturdily built, highly maneuverable, and plenty of powerful suction!)

---

As for flat-out dumb wastes of energy, electrically-powered "room scent dispensers" are a good candidate, and "bathroom towel warmers" use almost as much power as clothes dryers.

---

Re. the guy who pours water on his lawn and leaves his lights on all night: Ask him if he knows anyone who's in the active duty military at the moment. Ask him if he's willing to enlist or have his sons enlist. (Chances are the answers will be no, no, and no.) Then tell him he's being a lazy slob and a disgusting coward for wasting all that energy without being willing to fight for it. Tell him that wasting resources in wartime is spitting in the faces of every single active duty soldier in the war zone and he should be ashamed of himself.

[Dukat_Reloaded]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')h yeah I love this "My dick is bigger than yours" cars.