There are good ideas here. Perhaps I am less informed despite being an engineer, but I am surprised that in forty years of high awareness so little emphasis has been put upon realistic conservation measures like:
1. Incentivising population movement to energy efficient moderate-climate regions;
2. Incentivizing movement of employers to transportation hubs rather than suburbs;
3. Converting major roads to compact limited-access 35mph connectors to avoid start-stop driving and use of inefficient highspeed roads (average commute speed is 35 despite fast roads, and consumption rises rapidly at higher speeds);
4. Tax penalties for inefficient and under-occupied vehicles;
5. Free insulation and tax penalties for conditioned space in excess of occupant needs;
Until mass media and politicians create sufficient incentives, the inconvenience of conservation is prohibitive. The incentives at 10K per family would have cost far less than the Iraq war, and create far greater economic stimulus and far fewer enemies. If we can print money to bail out scamming banks, we can afford conservation any time.
There are good ideas here. Perhaps I am less informed despite being an engineer, but I am surprised that in forty years of high awareness so little emphasis has been put upon realistic conservation measures like:
1. Incentivising population movement to energy efficient moderate-climate regions;
2. Incentivizing movement of employers to transportation hubs rather than suburbs;
3. Converting major roads to compact limited-access 35mph connectors to avoid start-stop driving and use of inefficient highspeed roads (average commute speed is 35 despite fast roads, and consumption rises rapidly at higher speeds);
4. Tax penalties for inefficient and under-occupied vehicles;
5. Free insulation and tax penalties for conditioned space in excess of occupant needs;
Until mass media and politicians create sufficient incentives, the inconvenience of conservation is prohibitive. The incentives at 10K per family would have cost far less than the Iraq war, and create far greater economic stimulus and far fewer enemies. If we can print money to bail out scamming banks, we can afford conservation any time.