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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Joe NYC who wrote (356779)	11/1/2007 4:05:21 PM
From: Road Walker	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1570514

What's the point of even thinking about transportation, if the replacement for oil (electricity, hydrogen?) will come from power plants that currently consume coal or natural gas? Or are you thinking strictly from the POV of oil, not in terms of CO2 emissions? I'm thinking strictly oil, and peak oil (or a political interruption) effect on the economy. I'm pretty sure we haven't already turned the peak oil corner, and things could cycle out of control in a very short period. We can't wait for the 'ultimate technology'; the shit is already happening to us. Oil is way too precious to burn a gallon of the crap to move a 3000 lb vehicle with one passenger 10 miles. Anyway, it will take bringing cheap electricity online, from non-CO2 generating sources before you can expand to transportation. The only other option is to build a bunch of coal / natural gas powered plants (they can be built fairly cheaply and quickly) only to shut them down 10 to 15 years down the line. If we can improve fleet efficiency by 5% a year, not hard to do with an average ~15% yearly vehicle turn over, we MIGHT be able to 'contain' some of the damage from peak oil. At the same time we work towards the 'ultimate solutions'. The reward / penalty is instant - at the gas pump. Look around you and you will see it's obviously not working. What if you had to pay $5K in license registration every year for a vehicle that gets less than 24 MPG. But if you buy a vehicle that gets 40+ MPG you get $5K a year? Would that alter most behaviour? Would people react pretty quickly? Another way to look at it is that we have a plenty of "fat" that can be cut before you get to muscle, while others don't have much room to cut. Absolutely correct! What an opportunity to feed extra $'s that are currently going up in gas fumes back into the economy... and quit sending money to the Mullahs, Communists and nutty SA dictators. But... we have to act. And all I see is stupor from our lawmakers.