2 Comments:

I just heard part of your show talking about economic and environmental savings resulting from replacing incandescent bulbs with fluorescent (an action I heartily endorse).

The conversation seemed to get hung up on whether the oil equivalence savings were ‘real’. Consider– if the nation made a wholesale switch to fluoro, the coal or gas-fired electricity that is ‘freed up’ as a result, could be re-deployed to power electric cars - that would certainly be a real savings in oil.

Coal and gas fired plants don’t need to be carbon-dirty – there are not-so-new technologies readily available for scrubbing power plant emissions to significantly reduce their carbon output.

The real issue isn’t about oil per se, our dependence on oil is only a symptom of the real problem – energy usage. The greatest threat to America’s national security ultimately comes back to the extreme amounts of energy (per capita) used and wasted in the US. Anything that saves/reduces/conserves energy is a move in the right direction.

As an Australian in Atlanta, I’m proud that my country is taking a lead and setting an environmental/economic example in many ways – only one of which is the incandescent/fluoro issue.

posted by  JohnM | May 06, 2007 11:27 AM   | more stuff

Try this tip: Each payday, check how many miles you have driven in your car since last payday (keep a log). Then put aside into an online savings account an amount equivalent to 40 cents per mile that you drove.

When you see your usage pattern emerging, include this 'expense' into your budgeting.

Use the savings account to pay for car maintenance and insurance, when you eventually replace your car you'll have a nest egg to pay for it, and you'll be able to avoid or minimize financing costs.

By paying for car usage with real dollars *as you use it*, it will be front-and-center in your thoughts and you might be encouraged to find ways to decrease your usage - "does it make sense to travel 7 miles to the supermarket and back at a real cost of $2.80 to buy a gallon of milk?".

Oh, and if your driving patterns decrease you'll be saving more barrels of oil ;-)

posted by  JohnM | May 06, 2007 11:45 AM   | more stuff