Comment

Comment by Andy Karpinski on January 22, 2011 at 12:00am

We really need to be much more efficient in our use of energy.  The average household in Europe and Japan uses one third the electricity of the typical US household.  Yet they have comparable living standards to what we have in the US.  In fact, many of these countries are now rated as having better standards of living than what we have in the US.

 

Also, about five years ago the EPA changed the way they tested automobiles for fuel economy because many people complained that they were getting less than the EPA ratings.  I, and many others, always got at least as good, and usually better, gas mileage as what the old EPA ratings were.  The old rating showed what the vehicles were capable of if properly driven.  People just don't drive properly.  They are too busy talking on their cell phones or are in too much of a hurry to get where they are going because they didn't budget their time properly.

 

Our energy use is so high because people just don't care.  They don't think it is that important.  Yet at least half the problems in this world, and most of the problems that caused this site to be created, like peak oil and global climate change, are due to our excessive use of fossil fuels.  Solve the fossil fuel problem, and most of the other problems are greatly reduced, if not go away.  And conservation is the cheapest, easiest, and most dependable way to attack this issue.

 

The other countries got their people to care by jacking up the price of energy, either through more limited access or higher taxes.  Only higher prices will get anyone to care in this country.

Comment by Eric Stewart on January 7, 2011 at 10:55am

Add your ideas on how we can coop an energy revolution! How can we work as a community to lower the cost of energy generation?