The Ruinous Cost of Gasoline
Ford Prodigy, cutaway view of a ‘concept’ car we could someday be able to buy… maybe. Or not.
The 100 miles per gallon car. One that carries four adults, has all the safety features that protect in accidents but weigh a lot. Peter Diamandis’ X Prize Foundation has turned their focus from space travel to automobiles. The automotive X Prize went live in April of 2007 at the New York Auto Show with a $10 million award to the winning designers of a production-ready vehicle capable of exceeding 100 mpg.
It’s not that hard to get 100 miles per gallon if you don’t mind a seriously “minimalist” vehicle. Heck, if you make it lighter than a motorbike and gin it up with solar cells, it’s not that hard to get 1,000 miles per gallon (downhill, with a tailwind, driver lying flat). But the solar cell idea isn’t that bad, now that we hear there are new plastic coatings that will generate even in low-light situations. And what about a hood scoop to use the wind of forward motion to help charge those batteries too?
Filed under Alternatives, Biodiesel, Conscious Living, Conservation, Economic Recession, Energy, Fuel, Mechanics, Transportation | Comment (1)Wall Street “Crisis” Double-Speak
What it Means to the Home Mortgage “Crisis”
Many of us watched with serious confusion the strange financial market machinations that led to the Fed bailout of investment bank Bear-Stearns, taxpayers taking on bad debt paper held by speculators rather than any actual member of the central banking community. JP Morgan bought B-S for mere pennies on the dollar, ending up buying for just a 5th of what B-S’s Madison Avenue headquarters building is worth – the rich folks have taken their hit. What matters now is how much of a hit the average cash-strapped citizen will have to take.
Government bailouts of junk paper speculators is outrageous, and does not a thing to help homeowners whose mortgages far outstrip the current reduced value of their homes – while the price of every necessity is going through the roof. Yet at the same time Fed chair Ben Bernanke pledged to “do all that is possible” to help struggling homeowners. There actually may be hope on the horizon, though nobody should bank on Fed “pledges.”
Filed under Brand New Used, Debt, Economic Recession, Housing, Resale | Comment (1)Recycled Fashionables
The Beauty and Style site List Maven has posted a linky article entitled…
35 Accessories Made From Recycled Materials
It’s truly imaginative. I particularly like the crocheted plastic grocery bag necklace, though I use my plastic grocery bags as trash basket liners if I forget to take my many forever re-usable canvas bags to the store with me. And I’ll definitely have to make my grandson those computer key cuff links for the prom, since he’s determined to win the Duck brand Scholarship for best Duct Tape tuxedo…
Filed under Alternatives, Brand New Used, Crafts, Do It Yourself, Fashion, Green Living, Humor, Recycling, Thrifting | Comment (1)Skyrocketing Budget Problem: Fuel
I’ve added a new blog to my blogroll, Save Fuel – Save Money today. I don’t know about your locality, but gas is pushing $4 a gallon right here in my neck of the woods right now, and will probably go to $5 a gallon before summer tourist season hits. Or, more likely, doesn’t hit this year due to the prohibitive cost of gasoline. Which as of this morning, March 11, 2008, is trading on the futures market for $109 a barrel. It probably won’t be coming down.
Sure, Europe has had $5 gasoline for years now, but Europe’s not all that big. One can drive from one end of a country to the other in a few hours, and most European countries have reliable and comfortable mass transit systems. Things we don’t have in the U.S. if you don’t happen to live on either the right or left coasts. Worse, it takes me as many hours to drive to my own state’s coast as it takes me to drive to Florida and visit relatives! It takes two long driving days to visit Mom in Oklahoma, and I’ve friends in Arizona and California I haven’t seen in years because it’s just too far away.
Filed under Alternatives, Biodiesel, Economic Recession, Ethanol, Fuel, Transportation | Comments (3)