[Ferretlover]

It's all about the money.
And power.

[BobWallace]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ferretlover', 'I')t's all about the money.
And power.

[Ferretlover]

I don't work outside the home.

IMHO, By the time those companies decide how to make their millions in alternative energy and conservation, they probably won't have the ability to manufacture and distribute their products and services using only paper money as a resource.

[mommy22]

I agree with Ferret, I think it's all about the money for all corporations. Hopefully, with $100 oil and electricity costs looking at them (and us), that will prompt them into these crazy hippy ideas.
A couple things that they (we) could do are things that are commonplace in Europe, and have been done for a long time. Simple things like putting timers on hall lighting (when you walk into a hallway, the individual presses a switch and she has light for the period of time it takes to walk down the hall, rather than on 24/7.)
Also, something that I think is unbelievably simple...most escalaters (like in malls, airports, etc..)have a senser of some sort that senses when someone is on the escalater, and it goes till the sensor stops sensing people are on. then it stops. SIMPLE. Not going for hours on end with no riders. Use only the energy that is necessary for the time, otherwise, it's just wasted electricity (and coal, mountaintops, nuclear risks, etc...), that could be conserved.
The high cost of electricity spurs people and corporations to find energy solutions. We could mandate that all nightime lighting (streets, playing fields, etc..)have lights that only send light down where people need it...not up into the sky!!Yet another HUGE waste! I think that the more we look around us, and hopefully borrow technologies from abroad, from those who seem to consider conservation as an important part of all of their lives, we can find ways to change...some being unbelievably simple.
Asking us all to consider "vampire electricity use" and pull out our plugs from electrical outlets in our homes is a fine start, but there are other things that society needs to demand or at least point out as an obvious way to change. Only in making changes will we even be in the race, if never a leader in green solutions. We've got a lot of catch up work to do.

[efarmer]

Americans do have a good track record of coming up with new ways of doing things and solving problems, we enjoy no monopoly on it, but can cite a large amount of contributions. I think we ARE very much hard at work on innovations, but we have the inertia of having created a sprawled out, energy hungry, extreme consumption, nation, and much of our effort is for the creation of silver bullets to keep what we have made running past when it really should or even can do so.

Realities will have to make us fall out of love with sprawl and outrageous consumption before the native genius is applied to the right set of problems. I hope we get that chance.

[Armageddon]

During the Sunday night football game, every other commercial is talking about energy savings, and the network decided to have them do the halftime show without lights for energy awareness. And now they are having reporters from all ends of the earth to show the effects of climate change. Desperate times calls for desperate measures.

Then I decided to check the football message board to see their reaction. They were saying what a bunch of liberal and PC BS.

They will never get it.

[aflurry]

Never mind the yahoos, they are preoccupied with the culture wars and facts are only of interest if they can be mobilized as weapons in that conflict of make-believe.

However, and for the same reasons, I see nothing at all to cheer about regarding so-called green advertising. It's just a case of sharks smelling blood in the water. In this case the blood is a market niche.

They are drawing that unconscious association between a sustainable future and that logo you see at the end of the commercial. And that is all they are doing.

Relatedly, has anyone noticed that the corporate underwriters of all those fancy pants lefty PBS documentaries on environmental catastrophe always seem to be those with the greatest stake in protecting themselves from that association? Dow, ADM, Exxon Mobile, Monsanto.

[efarmer]

We are bombarded with advertising in return for cheaper or free entertainment. Advertising has succeeded in defining our lifestyles to an unprecedented degree and our role models and heroes are by nature outrageous in their consumption of all things including energy.
We cannot lead in green solutions because they are not cool and stylish, and cool and stylish is defined by corporations who depend on unsustainable lifestyles to make profits. We have programmed ourselves to be a consumption machine that eats to depletion while it believes it is the most stylish set of humans yet to grace the globe.

[loudak]

American's can't lead in green solutions because they are too busy pointing the finger at BIG BAD OIL or the nasty AUTOMOBILE MANUFACTURERS.

The simpilist and most effective green solution is CONSERVATION.

When was the last time you heard a congressman mention conservation when taling about the "energy crisis", or propose lowering the speed limit on interstate highways to 55 mph?

If JQ Public wants high gasoline prices to moderate and combat global warming they will;

drive at 55 mph
obey the speed limit in city driving instead of racing from stop-light to stop-light
use public transporation/car pooling
park the car at the fast food restaurant rather than sitting in a car with the engine idling

Will it happen, no way as it is easier to make excuses why tjey can't do any of the above than be accountable and admit they are contributing to the problem.

[xrotaryguy]

Ups is using a small fleet of electric trucks to deliver packages. Cool

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'U')PS to Use ZAP Electric Car and Truck Fleet for Deliveries

PETALUMA, CA -- (November 13, 2007) -- It will be a green holiday this season for United Parcel Service (UPS), who rolled out a small parcel delivery service this week in Northern California using 42 electric cars and trucks from ZAP (OTCBB: ZAAP).

The UPS branch in Petaluma, California has leased an initial fleet of 42 ZAP Xebra® electric city cars and trucks for their small parcel deliveries. This is the first time that UPS has used electric city-speed vehicles for this purpose.

Small parcel deliveries are becoming more challenging for the trademark big, brown UPS delivery vans, which is why UPS is using the electric city cars and trucks to handle small parcel deliveries. The ZAP vehicles lessen fuel consumption and reduce automotive emissions produced by current delivery vehicles. Drivers will be monitoring their electrical usage to carefully analyze cost-savings and emissions reductions... more

[emersonbiggins]

Good news - we need delivery vehicles to scale down so we can go back to having tighter curbs & narrower, more walkable streets and neighborhoods. This effects of this move will indirectly be a boon for property values.

We need fire trucks to do the same as well.

[ResultsNotTypical]

A good start, but small. Wake me when they retire those DC-8's and 747-100's in favor of something more fuel efficient.

[Graeme]

U.S. Military Leads Green Charge

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he U.S. military is not just setting standards in the areas of advanced weaponry. It's also leading the renewable energy charge. It's involved in solar, geothermal and wind projects and its stake in the field will continue to grow.

Consider the solar arena: If you thought the biggest solar array in the Americas was in the Southwestern United States, you'd be right. At 140 acres, the site's 70,000 panels produce peak energy of 14 megawatts, or enough energy to supply 14,000 homes.

But what may not be widely known is that the solar site is at the Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, providing about one-fourth of the base's power, with the capability of selling renewable credits back to NV Energy. The site, completed in late 2007, can produce about 30.1 million kilowatt hours per year.