The Oil Drum | A bit of optimism in the air today

125 comments on A bit of optimism in the air today

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davidsmi on February 14, 2006 - 11:54am

And consider the other end of the equation as well. Who can afford individualized solar collection equipment? Certainly there is a certain portion of the planet that could manage, but what about the rest? Do we become a planet where the top 5% create and manage their own electricity generation and the rest have no hope to do so? And can we expect that they will just sit by and watch those that continue to live the "powered lifestyle"?

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SocraticGadfly on February 15, 2006 - 1:03am

Exactly. A world of electricity elitism like that would separate the rich-poor gap even more than today.

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step back on February 15, 2006 - 7:28am

Very good point.
There are Gaussian distribution curves as to how many people have economic access to the better, more efficient technologies and who they are in the scheme of things.

Consider how many people own hybrids (i.e. Priuses) versus how many people own oil burning, broken down jalopies and where they fit in the income and population distribution curves.

My guess is that there way more poor people driving low mileage (low MPG) wrecks than there are movie stars strutting their Prestige Priuses around town.

And the low MPG drivers are usually also the low wage earners who have to drive that many more miles from outlying rural areas to get to work in the high-rent town centers.

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SocraticGadfly on February 16, 2006 - 11:06pm

Arguably, rather than tax deductions for Priuses, government-funded discounts for the poorest people to buy newer cars would do much more to reduce gasoline consumption in our country. Given that many of these cars are also burning major amounts of motor oil through bad valves and/or rings, it would make an even greater difference in air quality, especially in metropolitan areas.

Of course, and running the risk of sounding like I'm stereotyping, getting urban minorities to sell big boats isn't going to happen very easily.

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125 comments on A bit of optimism in the air today

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“Of all races in an advanced stage of civilization, the American is the least accessible to long views… Always and everywhere in a hurry to get rich, he does not give a thought to remote consequences; he sees only present advantages… He does not remember, he does not feel, he lives in a materialist dream.”

—Moiseide Ostrogorski (1902, 302-303)