Cars, Economics and Politics. Green Means Money- Yours!

Caption: The 8' long by 4' wide MyCar has a light plastic body. It is a micro in the same class as the Smart car . Designed by Italian Italdesign-Giugiaro and built by Hong Kong based Innovech. "Explosion engine" (gasoline/diesel) and electric models will be manufactured in China. The most powerful models will go about 50 mph and will cost about $7,000. It is expected to get between 60 and 90 mpg. Micro cars are designed to be short-range city street vehicles.

In the early 1980's I had a 1976 VW Rabbit Diesel that got between 50 and 60 mpg. In 2007 I had a "state of the art" 2005 Toyota Prius that also got between 50 and 60 mpg. Thirty years later, the mideast is the puppet master and the U.S. is Howdy Doody. What happened? Is this government and industry progress? Or, were we all just asleep at the wheel? -Ray Carr

Caption: Daimler Smart car.

Click on the photo above and link to NPR 6 minute 14 second streaming audio story: America's Car Culture Clashes with Climate Change by Laura Sydell. For the last century, Americans have had a love affair with their cars. Americans drive bigger cars than any other country. And, even if they're currently trendy, fuel-efficient cars still don't sell as well in the United States as elsewhere. Can America change?

Click on the photo above and link to World Affairs Council portal and type Lovins into the search box at the upper left for a 1 hour 9 minute 48 second streaming audio lecture by: Amory Lovins, described by Newsweek magazine as “one of the Western world’s most influential energy thinkers”, Amory Lovins is cofounder and CEO of the Rocky Mountain Institute. A consultant and experimental physicist educated at Harvard and Oxford, he has advised the energy and other industries for over 30 years, as well as the U.S. Departments of Energy and Defense. The title of his speech to the World Affairs Council is The Future of U.S. Energy: The Oil Dependence Dilemma. Amory Lovins has outlined a strategy for American business and military leaders to shift the United States functionally and profitably away from oil by 2050. Lovins argues that by 2015, the United States can save more oil than it receives from the Persian Gulf; by 2025, use less oil than in the 1970’s, by 2040, import no oil; and by 2050, use no oil at all. He believes American business can lead the nation and the world into the post-petroleum-era, a vibrant economy and lasting security.

Click on the photo above and link to World Affairs Council portal and type Vaitheeswaran into the search box at the upper left for a 1 hour 9 minute 48 second streaming audio lecture by: Vijay Vaitheeswaran, award-winning Global Environment and Energy correspondent, The Economist in conversation with Daniel Kammen, Director of the Renewable and Appropriate Energy Laboratory and Professor in the Energy and Resources Group, UC Berkeley. The Economist correspondent Vijay Vaitheeswaran and ZOOM co-author Iain Carson write: "Oil is the problem. Cars are the solution." Vaitheeswaran joins the Council in conversation with Daniel Kammen to discuss issues raised in his new book: Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel the Car of the Future. With an eye on both global warming and world energy supplies, he will look at how pioneers in Japan, India, China, and the USA tackle the challenge of creating automobiles that will run on cleaner energy sources. Tracing the history of the linked industries of oil and automobiles, the "industry of industries," and how the two have shaped domestic capitalism and the international landscape, he will discuss how Toyota topped American competitors to become the world's largest automobile manufacturer and, more importantly, a leader in hybrid cars using electric power. Will the combustion engine go the way of the steam engine? Will the big oil companies go the way of the dinosaur? Will the minds that made (and the money made from) the Silicon Valley giants revolutionize the auto industry?