This version of the Volt article is paginated and has a different photo of the car on each page. It does look cool, but 40 miles on one charge and then 300 miles on electricity generated from gas...well, it's quasi all-electric, but leaves me confused. Is there an edge given by those 40 miles?
Most people drive fewer than 40 miles each days. And IC engines are so inefficient that it takes less fossil fuel and fewer emissions to drive a mile on electricity than a mile on even the most efficient gasoline car even when the electricity is generate from fossil fuels. Plus if we want to we can completely decarbonize the grid and make it 95% plus wind, solar, hydro and geothermal.
The thing I don't get is why oil companies aren't very publicly pumping umpteen billions of the profits they're making into renewable energy technology. We're going to have to switch sooner or later, and having the setup in place for widespread manufacture of company-controlled windmill fields and solar panels would ensure that they'd still be making money in the energy business long after the oil gets too scarce to be a practical energy source.
The thing I don't get is why oil companies aren't very publicly pumping umpteen billions of the profits they're making into renewable energy technology.
Because, as the current economic crisis shows (to name just one example,) people are stupid, greedy, shortsighted, and averse to change until everything comes crashing down around them.
Petroleum is a vile substance, that corrupts the souls of everyone who deals with it.
Except the Norwegians, for some reason.
The thing I don't get is why oil companies aren't very publicly pumping umpteen billions of the profits they're making into renewable energy technology.
They are pumping a lot of money into the renewable energy sector, but their board members and shareholders have seen the craze for renewables come and go before, and a lot of them remain unconvinced that changing course like this is the best way to go. Scalability is still a huge issue, environmental factors loom large (like, say, wind turbine fields killing scores of birds), and the U.S. government has removed tax credits for developing renewable energy. A lot of this really does have to do with the government - if there was a program in place to strenuously encourage renewable-energy development, we'd be seeing a lot more movement in that area (like Spain has). As it is, we're dependent on wealthy people like T. Boone Pickens and Vinod Kohsla to get that ball rolling.
Also, people really are adverse to change. But if the money is there, they'll go for it.
I think a lot of it is that even though in their duty to their stock holders, they're
supposed
to think long-range everyone tends to focus on quarterly results. Government initiatives would help on that front as well.
T. Boone Pickens
I know this is a real person, but every time I see the name I picture the crazy rich cowboy from The Simpsons.
Sarah Palin baby name generator: [link]
My Palin name is Blitz Harden Palin!
