Five Percent: Conserve a Little Energy

GM Killed the Hummer. Celebration! The symbol of excess is finally retreating as fast as the glaciers. By taking this 10 miles per gallon hulk off the road, GM has met the proposal by Bush that fleet average mileage for light trucks be increased by 1.8 MPG over the next four years, starting next year.

Close, but not really. Actually not even close. (more…)

A few years ago we got a new dishwasher. Amongst other things, it has a feature not present on the prior model: it didn’t require that dishes were clean before you put them in. I saw this as a challenge, and now try to avoid turning on the faucet at all when washing the dishes.

This is a challenge for some human dishwashers. In other words, people like my Mom (more…)

TerraPass is a simple idea: pay for what you use. If you drive your car you’re sending CO₂ and other greenhouse gasses into the air. But this is a cost that isn’t accounted for (no, your gas taxes go to pay for roads and many other things … but not for the cost of pollution). So if you must drive, you can pay your share. TerraPass has a calculator that figures the amount of CO₂ your vehicles produce each year, you purchase TerraPasses at a rate based on that. You get a window and bumper sticker for your car so you can spread the word. And TerraPass uses this money to fund clean energy projects. A pretty good deal all around.

Except that it’s voluntary. (more…)

Whole Foods Market gets it. They are purchasing energy credits to “offset 100% of the electricity used in all stores, bakehouses, distribution centers, and offices”. You can participate by buying credits at RenewableChoice.com, and Whole Foods will even share some of the costs.

Whole Foods is purchasing wind power. That power is probably not used by Whole Foods in particular, but it is used by someone — electricity is electricity. In most case throughout the country today, it is produced by burning fossil fuels. But the key is, someone close to a wind farm will use that electricity and not use fossil fuels.

The economics of energy credits are as simple as economics get … in other words gnarly. (more…)

Rechargeable Lawn Mower

But I am now faced with a moral dilemma. (more…)

A strong country is a robust country. Our economy is strong, and appears to be resilient to sometimes even rather significant changes. Ford and GM are in trouble because they got caught with their pants down, in which position they weren’t very nimble. I’m really not a big believer in legislation to “help” business; it seems like it almost always ends up hurting them in the long run, perhaps saving some short-term pain.

So when it comes to fuel economy standards why not set a high bar? We can pretend (more…)