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Politics : Rat's Nest - Chronicles of Collapse -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Beobe who wrote (4379)	7/3/2006 9:13:38 PM
From: Wharf Rat	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 24235

Chicken feed. How about a nice round billion bucks? A 100-mpg car? Let's start the race How about a $1-billion prize for the first American automaker to take fuel efficiency to the next level? By Dan Lungren, REP. DAN LUNGREN, a Republican, represents California's 3rd District. June 30, 2006 WHAT WOULD happen if the United States were to offer a $1-billion prize for the first American automaker to sell 60,000 midsized sedans that could travel 100 miles on one gallon of gasoline? It wouldn't be a panacea for our energy problems, but it would stimulate the development of viable technologies to reduce oil consumption while we develop alternatives to petroleum. There is a long history of offering prize money for important inventions. As Amory Lovins and E. Kyle Datta point out in "Winning the Oil Endgame," the Orteig Prize for aviation, offered in 1919, was awarded to Charles Lindbergh in 1927 for his flight across the Atlantic. In fact, the 1895 Great Chicago Car Race — which was really a test of innovation rather than speed — played an important role in giving birth to the American automobile industry. Competition for a prestigious prize is far more likely to get results than government programs aimed at anticipating and funding "winners." Although occasionally effective, federal subsidies are paid before an industry proves it can achieve what it set out to do, and all too often such subsidies are given to the politically influential, not the meritorious. But prize money is paid out only when the goal is achieved. Last month I introduced the New Options Petroleum Energy Conservation Act in Congress to establish a prize for a 100-mile-per-gallon car. To win, a vehicle would have to prove itself commercially viable and meet all federal safety standards. more... latimes.com =============== The next X-Prize: How about a 250 m.p.g. car? By Mark Clayton \| Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor The challenge: Build the world's most fuel-efficient production car - one that gets maybe 250 miles per gallon and causes little or no pollution. The payoff: prize money from the group that awarded $10 million for the world's first private spaceflight two years ago. When the X-Prize Foundation unveils its new high-mileage car contest later this year, it will join a small but growing number of competitive prizes for energy development. Instead of watching President Bush and Congress wrangle for months to just get Detroit to boost fuel efficiency by a few miles per gallon, why not offer fat cash prizes to the private sector for breakthrough technologies? Proponents say it's a cheaper and faster way to unhook America from its oil dependency. "Ford's Model T got 25 miles per gallon, and today a Ford Explorer gets 18 miles per gallon," says Peter Diamandis, X-Prize Foundation chairman. "We believe the time is ripe for a fundamental change in what we drive - and we believe an X-Prize in this area can drive a substantial change." Several of the prize ideas are coming from the federal government. For example: • The Department of Energy (DOE) is authorized to award up to $10 million in incentives for next-generation technology that could turn wood and other fiber into ethanol. • The DOE was also authorized by last fall's energy legislation to offer a $5 million "Freedom Prize" for tangible methods to cut US dependence on imported oil. more csmonitor.com