by Pops » Sun 20 Jun 2010, 15:33:37
Sure, oil is a primarily a transport fuel but it's silly to make such distinctions. Save oil by driving an EV and you just burn coal instead.
The problem isn't the car, it's the driver and his need to drive because of his past decisions. Fuel use/ mile driven really doesn't change all that much regardless of fuel price, CAFE standards, etc does it? Until oil went over $80 (and caused a drop/and the recession kicked in) miles driven just kept right on increasing:
Bigger ChartThe best thing that could happen, realistically, is oil between $80 and $100, but increasing a few % each year. Consumers then get the idea and move a little closer to work, force their neighborhoods to build sidewalks and a place to play soccer, the strip center to have a few actual stores instead of nail and tanning parlors and they wouldn't need to drive so much.
The legitimate object of government, is to do for a community of people, whatever they need to have done, but can not do, at all, or can not, so well do, for themselves -- in their separate, and individual capacities.
-- Abraham Lincoln, Fragment on Government (July 1, 1854)