Something I learned last night...

[txrandom]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile
Yesterday evening, I heard a lecture by the former German Außenminister Joschka Fischer. (Think the German version of Condi Rice.)

For those who do not know, Fischer is a very popular member of Germany's "Green" party and is a renown product of the "1968" generation.

Anyway, he made an interesting point last night:

The EU27 member nations of the European Union have about 500 million inhabitants. The United States has 300 million inhabitants. But the United States consumes twice (2x) as much energy.

The "Green Product" industry such as wind turbines and solar panels is the most rapidly growing industry of Germany's economy at the moment.

Politics and global warming aside, what happened to USA being a leader in new technology innovation? Don't companies here see the green in being green? I am not only talking new wind and solar technologies but simply efficient products.

Time for us to wake up here!

Takes a lot of energy when you have so much space in the United States.

 

[gunblade]

Originally posted by: Mardeth
US 80 people /sq mi vs Finland 40 /sq mi and so on. It not really about geographocal as it is about infrastructure. The cheap energy has allowed you to build your infrastructure in a way that isnt energy efficient. Examples: living far from work because the land is cheap farther away and gas doesnt cost much and public transportation has a hard time competing etc. Also youve grown accustomed to the plentiful energy and its hard to let go off those energy demanding luxuries.

This is definitely the case here in US. People are too accustomed to their lifestyle of wasting energy due to its low cost. Most people are not willing to change their lifestyle and thus try really hard to deny any benefit of conserving energy.

That and also the Corporate America factor.