4.5.2K8: Who cares about gas? I want my Avalanche!

The other day I was in a restaurant with my wife, having breakfast after we'd watched a bit of CNN, and various commentary related to the recently-reached $3.50 per gallon gas price. On CNN, people were screaming about the rising cost of gas, and how something needed to be done.

Yet in the restaurant, a rather heavily-built patron sitting a table away was telling his equally-heavily-built friend: "Man, I'm telling you, that Avalanche is beautiful. I'm gonna get me an Avalanche. Yeah, man."

Yesterday, driving in front of me, was a man in his twenties, proudly driving a seventies Cadillac with temp plates. Yes, he'd just bought it. And he didn't seem at all perturbed that he could be blowing over $50 a week just to keep it on the road. That evening, I watched commercials featuring a beautiful woman driving by herself in her new Cadillac, and feeling superior as she gunned it past two guys sharing a car next to her.

And today, I caught a commercial from my local home and gardening center, majestically displaying suburbanites riding lawn tractors across lawns that were barely twenty feet on a side.

Yes, despite the warnings about global warming, the rising gas prices, and the concern over our environment, Joe America is doing the same old thing: Buying expensive, gas-guzzling vehicles and using them with complete abandon. The highways are still clogged with cars, as commuter trains whizz by next to them. People still buy SUVs to drive themselves, by themselves, to work. Homes are still burning lights all night long, and offices leave everything on, including their computers, after everyone's gone home for the night.

All of this is proof positive that Americans haven't "gotten it" yet. Voluntary measures and common-sense tips aren't cutting it. Americans just don't want to be bothered conserving, and in fact, seem to enjoy going out of their way to waste. This attitude is going to make it that much harder in the long run, because eventually, we are going to hit that wall that demarks the end of available resources. At that point, we will all find out that conserving will no longer be the issue... going without will be the issue. And for a nation that refuses to even cut back, going without is going to be very, very nasty.

4.14.2K8: Wind is backordered?

It's almost hard to believe we could find ourselves in this situation: The world can't get enough wind power!

Throughout the world, wind power is becoming increasingly desirable, providing technically-proven pollution-free energy on-site, or as part of wind farm projects. As the prices of oil, coal and gas go up, windmills are becoming increasingly cost-competitive, as well as ecologically desirable, and everyone from individual farms to governments are lining up to get them.

At the same time, technologically advanced countries (like the U.S.) are seeing more jobs go overseas, and are desperately working to find ways to re-employ their labor force.

Given those two factors... how in the world did we reach the point where windmill production can't supply the demand?

Well, as it turns out, windmill technology may be proven, but production can still be pretty involved... especially for a device with propeller spans longer than some commercial airliners. But add to that the fact that demand has increased far faster than anyone anticipated: Orders to Generel Electric, for example, are up 40% from the last quarter, creating double last quarter's backlog, a total of $12 billion worth of product. Put simply, worldwide demand caught everyone with their pants down.

How fast is GE, or anyone else, for that matter, gearing up to increase production? I wish I knew. But based on this trend, I know that if I was running for president, and I wanted to get a lot of unemployed rust-belters back on their feet, I'd be pushing for wartime-level production efforts designed to build windmills in their districts, for their districts, and for everyone else. Starting yesterday.

4.25.2K8: Living in Harmony

With the U.S. economy in the dumps right now, maybe this isn't the time to be thinking about buying houses. On the other hand, maybe these houses are exactly what we should be thinking about right now. That's because the Harmony development is among the most overall sensibly-built home communities in the country, designed to save homeowners money while helping to save the planet.

This new development, with homes for singles, couples, and families, not only utilizes green building practices, but it offers a significant extra feature: Photovoltaic cells installed on the roof, at no extra cost to the homeowner. When combined with low-E windows, energy-star appliances, and better insulation in gaps and leakage areas, the homes are projected to lower utility costs about 40-50%.

The build itself is also more green than most. The homes are constructed from managed quick-growth wood, and cement that is mixed with fly-ash—a commercial carbon waste product that not only allows for less water used in cement production, it makes the cement stronger (not to mention sequestering carbon). The home construction process is staggered, allowing for less assembly waste, and 60% of that waste is recycled. Finally, low-VOC paints and stains are used throughout.

Altogether, these choices result in a house that is more efficient than California standards by 17%. And one of the facts I like the best is that these homes, while maybe large for global standards, are not McMansions... the various floor plans available average 2,800 square feet, a much more sensible footprint for American family homes.

Although California clearly still has the edge in energy-efficiency efforts, it can be hoped that the homes and building processes used here become the rule, rather than the exception, over the next few years... especially as energy costs rise and waste reduction efforts become more crucial.

4.29.2K8: China's answer: Taxes and efficiency

The U.S. is very concerned about the fact that China's automobile use is growing at such an incredible rate. The fear is that all those new cars will start pumping out huge amounts of CO2 that will overwhelm the atmosphere, and accelerate global warming. Kind of funny, really, when you consider how little we've done to curb our own emissions.

But as it turns out, China may not be as much of a danger to warming as Americans fear, because China is already taking positive steps to mitigate pollution problems. It has instituted an "SUV tax," a surcharge on all vehicles with engines above a certain displacement or below a certain fuel efficiency.

Existing hybrids are unpopular in China due to their high cost (up to 4 times the cost or Chinese cars). The Chinese have shown a penchant for larger vehicles, especially the SUV (wonder where they got that notion from?), further increasing their gasoline use and emissions. But the new taxes are serving to drive Chinese drivers to smaller vehicles, just in time for numerous Chinese companies to introduce their own hybrids and electrics at more affordable prices (below $10,000, and as low as $4,000).

Sounds like something you'd like to get your hands on in the U.S., right? Well, even if these vehicles make it over here, most of them would have to undergo rebuilds to satisfy American auto safety requirements. And many of those vehicles travel no faster than 50-60MPH, and no further than about 60 miles on a tank of gas or an electric charge. So don't expect to see any $4,000 Chinese cars plying America's roads. Still, as long as they seem to be making faster progress in the areas of hybrids and electrics than the U.S., it's a good bet that some of those automakers will make it over here, following the footsteps of the Japanese and Korean automakers to bring us a new breed of car.

I say, bring 'em on.