New Hurricane Thread

Agreed, but I'm not sure why we have to think of it as tax money going to other countries.

How about we create a million new US jobs building solar and wind and tide applications for developing countries, then selling them? And doing the financing?

And how much do 20 million US cases of asthma cost us annually?

We're going to have to make the switch from coal and oil once they run out anyhow.

Seems to me there are lots of way to think creatively about all this.

 

Don't need to. I grew up in that world. So did many of us. Now give others the same chance without the handcuffs that we refused to wear until we had achieved global economic superiority.

Replace "carbon-friendly" with "price-friendly" and "environmentally sound" with "day-to-day feasibly sound" and everybody will get on board in a hurry. Just don't try to tell people they have to trade in their cars with a 450-mile range for one that needs to be plugged in every 80 miles.

 

Improvements in battery technology have extended ranges of pure electric cars. Their sales will vary in direct proportion to the price of gasoline, as always. A war with Iran (just a hypothetical here, not a prediction) would send Tesla and Prius sales skyrocketing.

 

I'll pay $10/gallon for gas --- and drive more intelligently --- before I pay $40K-$45K for the cheapest Tesla.

 

Tesla was a bad example on my part, I agree. But if gas prices rise, sales of those tricked out F-150s will drop for sure, and sales of fuel-efficient, hybrid and electric cars will rise.

 

The increase in fuel efficiency has been impressive with newer vehicles. When I went on a vacation last year, I rented a '17 Nissan Rogue, a mid-sized SUV. It got better gas mileage than my '11 Altima does. I just put some money into the Altima to keep it running for a while (spark plugs, CV joint, wear-and-tear type of stuff) but I'm definitely looking at a Rogue when I decide to buy new. I'm just enjoying life without a car payment too much right now to want to but something new.

 

If we break out the hidden cost of things like the taxes we pay for defense spending to keep the navy in the Straits of Hormuz and the Gulf of Oman, and to keep a lid on the Middle East, and the environmental and health costs of an internal combustion America, we're likely already paying a great deal more than $10 a gallon.

 

I just stumbled on this post. But environmentalists being the enemy of the third world poor is a crock. I have been in Beijing when the streets were empty, the schools closed and I could not see three blocks out of a seventh floor hotel room. I was been in New Delhi, which has a lot more visible and desperate poverty than Beijing, 15 years ago and the pollution was overwhelming.

The increased pollution was the result of a growing middle class buying cars and air conditioners. Most of the very poor did not have electricity and certainly did not cars but they had to breath the byproducts of those products. I do not begrudge anyone a car or an air conditioner but surely the environmental impacts need to be mitigated. Solar and wind are not that much more expensive than coal or diesel in most third world countries. And the need to breath at least halfway decent air is important.[/QUOTE]

 

So Hurricane Michael has impacted national security. The complete destruction of Tyndall AFB has resulted in the destruction or damage of 10 percent of the US force of F-22s, currently our main fighter v. fighter aircraft. There is a very good article in the blog War on the Rocks explaining why such aircraft cannot easily or even at all be flown out of a storm's path. Short version: High performance aircraft are in the shop a lot.

 

You'll have a private beach for a long time, though. Of course, the construction noise might drive you bonkers.

 

Unfortunately, with these massive steps forward in technology, the American public has decided...to buy SUV crossovers that attenuate much of the progress made.

I build hybrid engines most every day that will get 47-55 miles per gallon. The cars cost $30,000-$40,000. We'll sell hundreds of thousands more small SUVs at the same exact price that get 28-34 miles per gallon. And you really don't get that much more room in the little SUV than you do the sedan.

We're squandering the opportunity of a species to reverse this and we aren't.