Across our nation, major municipalities and school district are competing to become the next “American Idle.” Vehicles such as buses and garbage trucks in many areas are now subject to formal policies that forbid them from idling for extended periods of time.
It is estimated that over a billion gallons of diesel fuel, five percent of the country’s supply, is burned during idling. These policies are therefore designed to serve dual purposes, cutting down on gasoline costs and keeping the air fresher, particularly around schools.
Even small steps towards reducing energy waste are positive ones, but in terms of innovation we could be doing much better. Such a policy might seem revolutionary to the energy director of the cartoon City of Bedrock, but I think it is about as innovative as having Fred Flintstone save fuel by putting his feet through the floor board and running his car back and forth from the Slate Rock Quarry. There are better ways.
When are we going to get serious about our energy independence? Now is the time for local governments to move into the 21st century and explore the use of bio-diesel for municipal fleets. It is a cleaner fuel source and can be grown, processed and distributed right in the agricultural heartland of the United States of America.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 21st, 2007 at 4:40 pm and is filed under Climate Change, Politics/Government, Pop Culture . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
February 22nd, 2007 at 6:46 am
I agree with the idea of local government exploring the use of renewable fuels. However I dont believe that conservation is the path toward energy independence. First, the cost of not idling must be weighed against the cost of idling. Another problem with conservation is that is drives down the cost of oil which make alternative fuels less competitive and promotes the use of more oil since it is now cheaper.
It seems there are three issues which get keep getting tangled up in the debate, they are global warming, energy independence, and conservation (because we are running out of oil). We need to decide what we really want and work toward that goal. To me, this means energy independence since our security as a nation depends on it. Global warming is a bunch of nonsense so I see no point in spending time and money on that issue. Conservation just delays the inevitible so whats the point. This does not mean we should wontonly waste, but to stop idling our engines, drive 55mph, or run out and buy fluorescent light bulbs is really just feel good that does little to get us to energy independence.