Quote:
Originally Posted by Old Mechanic
High energy costs destroy the economy. Even the Saudis know that. Triple the energy costs in the US and watch a trillion dollars of our national net worth go overseas every year. That's close to 2% of the total net worth of every asset in the US, and we have already spent our national net worth in long term unfunded obligations.
Conversely inject the currently lost 350 billion, we send across out borders, into out economy every year and the banking system would multiply that into at least another trillion in new capital into the economy which would go a long way to solving our economic issues.
The key is greater efficiency. Waiting fro drivers to drive more economically is going to be a very long wait. If it wasn't we would see millions of hits on this site and hypermilers becoming the majority instead of the smallest minority.
Cars today could average 50-60 MPG with existing technology. Short term capacitive storage and release of energy is the secret that has yet to become the focus of designing for efficiency. It does not need to cost the driver in performance and it does not need to penalize the driver for less than the most stringent hypermiling techniques.
Hypermiling demonstrates the paltry state of vehicle design.
regards
Mech
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"High energy costs destroy the economy" People arrange their lives around cheap energy (long commutes, guzzlers, 67 phantom electrical devices on 24/7, idling, stuff left on, etc.) and businesses do much the same. If they KNOW energy costs are going to be X, they can take steps to build that into their personal budgets and business models. But for the most part, it ain't gonna happen until it HAS TO, and not a second before.
"Cars today could average 50-60 MPG with existing technology" In the early '80s cars were well on their way to doing that. However thanks in large part to a booming economy, all that was forgotten and the next two decades were devoted to a largess pissing contest- who can build the biggest McMansion the farthest from town and use the most ridiculous Hummer-type thing to tear around in? Maybe booming economies- like too much Halloween candy- are bad for us?