March 30, 2008 by Rob.

I’ve been floating an idea with my friends (and mother-in-law) that has passed the sniff test for posting here.  I propose that we connect the costs of the war in Iraq directly with the price of gas.  This is logical because (at least some of) the need for the war is to protect crude oil supplies.  This is not a new tax because our taxes are currently financing the war - it is simply a different path for our tax dollars to flow from our paychecks into the military complex.

My specific proposal is that American should have 1% of the war cost paid by increasing the gas tax for 1 month.  After that it should increase by 1% each month.  This relatively a small ration but highly symbolic amount that directly connects the American people with the currently hidden true costs of the war.

Disclaimer: It is true that I don’t pay gas taxes on my electric car miles.  Sadly, >70% of my families miles are still powered by hydrocarbons.

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March 30, 2008 by Rob.

Reminiscing about the Space Shuttle got me thinking of just how far past the “space age” we’ve gotten.  I’ve generally considered us to be in the “silicon age” and have greatly enjoyed the connectedness, abundance resources, wealth, and productivity that computers have created for us.

I believe that we’re now entering a new age - the age of constraints.  In the age of constraints, the driving force behind our life decisions will be how our choices fit within our constrained resources.  In the silicon age, the primary constraint was time, but today those resources are physical.  We’ve reached limits on how much energy, oil, water, metal, corn, et cetera can be cheaply applied to create wealth.

It may be inconvenient compared to our current lifestyle, but this new age will reward the innovative.  We are so wasteful today that there is great wealth to be made in replacing efficiency for waste.  For example, tremendous fortunes will be made from ecosystems around LED lighting.  Some entrepreneur will profit every time a morsel of efficiency is wrung from converting egregiously wasteful space age products into sleekly efficient AoC artifacts.

Note: I’m working on a catchier name…I’m just a pundit in training.

Posted in Commentary, Green Tech | 1 Comment »