The solution is to find the political will and foresight to use the silver BB’s at our disposal. I agree completely on plug-in hybrids (particularly the series variety) and cellulosic, but I think we’ll also have to resort to a healthy dose of conservation. In other words [insert dramatic music here] sacrifice. Getting mainstreamers over the conceptual hump to accept even a little sacrifice could be the biggest challenge of all.

1) everything we do is irrelevant because it is subsumed by all of the growth in the rest of the world, -so why bother?

2) the only thing that will save us is a “transformational technological breakthrough in the energy space” (he likes sequestered coal and nukes, who is in denial?) -so why bother?

Thanks, Tom, for making all of your readers on Central Park West feel better about their four homes.

For example, Doha might fall on hard times in a post-petroleum world, except they might find that energy is still their lunch ticket, but instead of pumping it out of the ground, solar thermal electricity generation in the desert might be what keeps those skyscraper lights on. (Whether Europe would like to buy that electricity is another matter, given the security issues.) China has plenty of desert too for solar (though not in Dalian), and of course global warming is expanding those deserts all the time. China also has a pretty large fleet (percentage wise) of alternative fuel vehicles. They are experimenting during their growth spurt. There is a better opportunity to lock in a change (e.g. EVs) in China during the spurt than perhaps here in the U.S.

I’ve yet to ever have the NYT print one of my letters to the editor, but if people submit enough “there is a way” letters, the editors are likely to pick one to print. As Felix Kramer of CalCars likes to point out, when we needed to after Pearl Harbor, ‘In a few short months, Detroit turned from producing Studebakers and Buicks to Sherman tanks and B-24 bombers. It was the engine for the “arsenal of democracy,” and we couldn’t have won the war without it.’ We are capable of enormous change when challenged. The problem is that we don’t feel challenged, despite 2005.08.29 (a far more important wakeup call than 2001.09.11). How to generate that sense of urgency is the key question.

In fact, some of China’s efforts are beginning to spill over to the United States as they are now beginning to export electric vehicles through an LA distributor/manufacturer called MILES Electric Vehicles. Associated with company is also a very interesting non-profit called No Gas Required that helps students learn about the environment and teaches them how to take action on their campus through conventional and unconventional methods. nogasrequired.com is the website. Very interesting. Despite Tom’s pessimism there are people continuing to make an effort despite the challenges. This message is more powerful than Tom’s persistent lazy whining.