LOW WATTAGE MORONS

Ever since the first "energy crisis" - the Arab oil boycott of 1973- 1974, occasioned by U.S. support of Israel in her defeat of the Arab forces during the Yom Kippur War - there has been a rising drumbeat of demands to lower energy usage by the United States. At first these demands were made in the name of "National security". Then the 55 MPH national top speed limit was imposed with the alleged intent to reduce fuel consumption. But when consumers realized that this meant that the drive from, say, Washington D.C. to Indianapolis, Indiana had become nearly three hours longer at 55 than at the former 75 MPH, they began to resist. So the government then phonied up some stats about safety.

Actually the 55 MPH limit neither lowered fuel consumption nor did it reduce highway accident rates. It did however create a new revenue stream in the form of speeding citations, issued to folks who had grown up driving 75 on the Interstate and (rightly) saw 55 as unjustifiable pig-pokery. It would take several decades to raise speed limits back to close to where they belonged. (Even then, most "rural" areas were rated for 65 MPH, with some rated for 70; even though the original 75 MPH Interstate limit was designed with cars using mid-1960s suspensions, tires, and technology. Modern vehicles could probably be driven on these same roads at maximum speeds of 130 MPH if the most common tire ratings could handle it. Since most modern tires are rated at a maximum 80 MPH, keeping the limit at 75 max seems to us to be the way to go.)

Also popular during both the 1973 and 1979 energy shocks were the ideas of turning up the thermostat to, say, 75 degrees in the summer and down to, say, 57 degrees in the winter. U.S. President and bumbling idiot Jimmy Carter made a televised address to the nation wearing a cardigan sweater, extolling the virtues of a 57 degree house when it's 5 degrees outside. 

Indeed, curtailing use of electricity was heavily touted as part of the solution of the "oil shocks"; never mind that most U.S. electricity was - and for the most part continues to be - generated by coal, which we have NO shortage of. But in the 1970s, "solar panels" became fashionable as both a way to "save energy" and also save money. Never mind that the homeowner who installed "solar panels" would need to wait at least 50 years for the "savings" they provided to pay for them; by which time they would have needed to be replaced TWICE, thus negating the savings and more, since "solar panels" have an estimated useful life of 25 years (after which they become environmental hazardous waste, which is not only expensive to get rid of, but getting rid of it ADDS to the cumulative national energy annual expenditure).

Nevertheless, idiotic ideas proliferated. For the most part these ideas focused on how to convince Americans that they were using too much precious energy.  The Department of Energy announced in 1977 (we think) a contest to award a prize to the Federal government employee who came up with the best idea as to how to save money spent on energy. The winner?

Some janitor who came up with the idea to install motion-detector switches to turn lights off and on in comparatively infrequently used facilities such as restrooms and broom closets, etc.. This would have been a dandy idea except ALL THESE LIGHTS WERE FLUORESCENT TUBES which using 1977 technology were cheaper to let burn all day than turn on and off twice, let alone three to ten (or more) times a day. And so some dummy who figured out a way to use 200 to 2,000 percent more energy was rewarded in the name of cutting energy use. 

Things  got so ridiculous that at one point the use of electric fans  for cooling was discouraged as counter-productive. And this was the idiot argument used: When one uses an electric fan, the motor of the fan puts out heat, and actually warms the air. So, you see, you only FEEL cooler if you run a fan. 

WELL, YES, YOU IDIOT. GUESS WHAT? IF I FEEL HOT, AND A FAN WILL MAKE ME MORE COMFORTABLE SO I CAN... OH, I DON'T KNOW, HAVE A GOOD NIGHT'S SLEEP SO I CAN BE PRODUCTIVE THE NEXT DAY, THEN I DON'T GIVE A SHIT IF THE ROOM TEMPERATURE IS ACTUALLY  THREE DEGREES HIGHER THAN I PERCEIVE IT."FEELING COOLER" IS ACTUALLY THE OBJECT OF THE EXERCISE; NOT "BEING IN A PERCEIVED HOT ENVIRONMENT BUT ACTUALLY BEING COOLER THAN YOU FEEL".

And finally there are now "hybrid" as well as "all electric" cars (which have been a wet dream of the Left for decades). Let's cut  to the chase, folks. 

"Hybrid" cars are touted as having ultra-high MPGs. However this is due to electricity providing the major fuel source. You hybrid owners might be saving  on paying "Big Oil" for automotive propulsion, but you are still paying "big coal" or "Big Nuke" for your fuel. Until you can fill an electric car with enough electricity to go at least 400 miles (with all the extra equipment such as lights, heater or A/C', radio, wipers, heater/defroster etc. running full blast) and have that refill completed in less that eight minutes into a completely depleted fuel reservoir; hybrids and complete electrics will NEVER CATCH ON until they have all the above attributes AND cost the same or less than conventional petroleum powered vehicles. 

And even so, buying an Hybrid or Electric car will not save you money; nor will it do a damned thing for "the environment". The batteries to propel the things are dug out of the Earth, and when they wear out they must be disposed of; and recycling these materials has its limits. Hybrids and electrics ultimately pollute the planet in their very manufacture far more than the emissions they are purported to reduce.

Oh yes, one more thing . The use of ethanol (drinking alcohol) as an automotive fuel actually generates MORE in so-called "greenhouse gasses" than burning it as car fuel saves. Noted "climate change" guru Al Gore has admitted such and has confessed that he advocated ethanol as  a fuel ONLY TO OBTAIN VOTES IN THE CORN BELT.

And you still believe him on climate change? even after he said 25 years ago that by this time Washington D.C. would be under water unless we reduced our energy consumption?

Don't be a low-wattage moron.