Has anyone else noticed how sustainability is showing up everywhere now? And the long term greenies are getting a bit anxious... because their once strong and secure position in a field ignored by big business is becoming eroded... and this is exactly what they have been fighting for!
It's a double edged sword with a poison handle. So recognition is due and I'm not the one to do it. But others will. And even more will co-opt this incredibly enlightened position and take the money and the power that comes with being involved with a trend of this magnitude. For instance, GE just 'released' an electric car!!!! The Chevy Volt. CRAP! A press release so full of lies it is unconciousable to consider this a step forward. GE has been doing EVERYTHING in their power to hinder the advances in the electric car industry. If you want more proof see "Who Killed the Electric Car" because it's incredible just how low these people are, and sad how they have an open door into the wonderful field that has been sown by so many brave, sacrificing individuals.
But we are a community, and we are strong and it is not the time to be guided by fear.
Innovation knows no bounds so let us move forward again.
2 comments:
What's up, E?
Firstly, GM has in no way "released" an electric car. They have unveiled a concept car. In the auto industry, that means they have a model of a car they'd like to produce but have no idea of how to actually do it yet.
GM officials stressed that development of the battery pack is critical to the concept vehicle reaching showrooms, and the technology likely won’t be available until 2010 or 2012
Then they add that they "realize the Volt’s price will have to be competitive."
So, basically, except for knowing how to make the battery that's going to run the car, and how to make the rest of the car cheap enough to compete with a standard car, they've got everything else handled.
Yes, the Volt could save the owner up to $900 per year in gas. That's great, but I wonder about total energy footprint - something many enviros (not you, dude!!!) conveniently ignore or forget when considering economies of scale as large as GM's. The car company says nothing about whether the energy input cost as well as operational energy (i.e. plugging it in) will be less than the energy needed for a standard car of the same size and curbweight. Without that info... it may not be that green after all.
In other words: it's a very long way from "concept car" to "production car."
Don't believe for a second that GM has hindered the development of an electric car. If they did, they'd be stupid. If there's a market in hybrid cars, then a competent car company would be foolish not to try to fill that niche. Demand creates it's own supply. It's just that they don't know how to make the car profitable yet so they're moving slow.
But I agree with you; it's a good thing that sustainability is catching on. It just proves the free market theory, if there's a market for ecofriendly schtuff, entrepeneurs - large and small - will line up to service that market. The reason that big businesses, as you imply, are slower to catch on is that it takes longer for fledgling markets to get big enough to justify the huge expenditures and investments at large economies of scale.
More news on this.
The Big Three US auto makers are now claiming they can't compete in the hybrid market without help from the government.
They've sent a request to Congress asking for half a billion (yes, billion... with a "b") to help make the battery technology.
Worse, USA Today's editorial board thinks that's a good idea.
More thoughts on my blog here.
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