Posted in energy security on Jan 30th, 2008
I am recommending a plan to make us invulnerable to cutoffs of foreign oil. It will require sacrifices, but it–and this is most important–it will work…A massive program must be initiated to increase energy supply to cut demand, and provide new standby emergency programs to achieve the independence we want by 1985…Increasing energy supplies is [...]
Posted in barriers, general, technology on Jan 29th, 2008
… I do not think there is the slightest chance of its [electricity] competing, in a general way, with gas. There are defects about the electric light which, unless some essential changes take place, must entirely prevent its application to ordinary lighting purposes. Select Committee on Lighting by Electricity, British House of Commons, 1879
Posted in climate, energy addiction on Jan 28th, 2008
The automobile is our worst polluter of the air. Adequate control requires further advances in engine design and fuel composition. We shall intensify our research, set increasingly strict standards, and strengthen enforcement procedures — and we shall do it now. We can no longer afford to consider air and water common property, free to be [...]
Posted in energy efficiency, individual action on Jan 25th, 2008
The average household spends $1,400 each year on energy bills. By choosing Energy Star-qualified products, consumers can cut this by 30 percent, saving about $400 each year. Alliance to Save Energy, 2005
It is from numberless diverse acts of courage and belief that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope; and crossing each other from a million different centers of [...]
Posted in renewable energy on Jan 23rd, 2008
The use of solar energy has not been opened up because the oil industry does not own the sun. Ralph Nader
Posted in general on Jan 22nd, 2008
The energy crisis is certainly one of the most complex subjects ever put before the media, and through them, to the American public. It encompasses international relations, economics, science, and that most unpredictable of groups, the consuming public. Walker, H E: The other crisis – energy and the media: Vital Speeches of the Day: Vol [...]
Posted in energy efficiency on Jan 21st, 2008
These “negawatts” have been every bit as valuable in economic terms as the “produced watts” of energy they replaced. With today’s energy prices a negawatt of energy savings costs about half of what it costs to produce the same amount of energy. The cheapest, most competitive, cleanest and most secure form of energy for the [...]
Posted in energy efficiency, transport on Jan 18th, 2008
The difference between a car that gets 20 MPG (miles per gallon) and one that gets 30 MPG amounts to $1,800 over 5 years, assuming gas costs $1.80 per gallon and one drives 12,000 miles a year. Alliance to Save Energy, 2005
There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain of success than to take a lead in the introduction of a new order of things, because innovation has for enemies all those who have done well under the old conditions and lukewarm defenders in those who may do [...]
