>I think this really represents the crux of the problem. Convincing >everyone on the planet to reduce their usage. Reducing the power >consumption incandescent lights generate by the 5% they represent will >require 100% participation, and that's just for a 5% improvement!
Even still, if more of us would just do 2 or 3 things that had a small improvement, that would make a difference. I personally resolved this year to keep my heat lower, even though I really hate to be cold and have to wear sweaters in the house. ;-) And anytime I leave the house for any long amount of time, I turn the heat WAY down even though I have to sit around in my coat until it warms back up. So far though, it's been so warm it's not been a problem! >While it's certainly noble to attack the problem from both the supply >and consumption sides, getting real traction on the consumption side >requires time for those ideas to sink in. Very true, but that's why I do try to talk to people about it as much as I can. If more of us continue to discuss it and bring it up and share ideas about what we are doing, maybe it could get some momentum. >The problem also lives on the supply side, and it's really the supply >side that can change quickly if we care for it to. The problem is this won't happen unless we demand it from our government. We've waited to see what they are going to do on their own...and clearly, it's not much. >From the auto side, when the auto industry starts offering >cars that are more efficient, and then sell a million of them in a >year - that's a big impact. That's a big difference in our country versus others. The efficiency requirements in other countries demand that the cars be more fuel efficient. Not so here. They certainly are *capable* of making them, but unless they are *required* to they won't. Otherwise you are back to the problem of making the consumer make the decision, and they are always going to buy the cheapest car that has what they want. They aren't going to pay more just for fuel efficiency. I'll talk to people about getting a hybrid SUV for instance, and they'll say, those cost more, and you don't save enough in gas to make up for the cost. The fact that it might put out thousands of pounds less of greenhouse gases doesn't even enter into the equation. >Tackling energy supply is what interests me the most for sure. Yeah, >I'm still going to use compact fluorescents and do other things that >save energy in the meantime, but for the entire planet to solve this >problem we really need to start developing better products, fuels and >energy sources. And some people do predict we will see that a hundred years from now. In the meantime, we just need to do what we can to slow the progress of the damage until we get there. --- Mary Jo ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Create robust enterprise, web RIAs. Upgrade & integrate Adobe Coldfusion MX7 with Flex 2 http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;56760587;14748456;a?http://www.adobe.com/products/coldfusion/flex2/?sdid=LVNU Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:223985 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
