We Will Not Apologize for Our Way of Life
Obama’s Inaugural Address contained some great hints about what the Alternative Fuel industry can expect with his presidency.
At the forefront, the single phrase, “We will not apologize for our way of life…” says to me that Obama will work to enforce America’s status quo. For this article I will focus on the quo of car culture.
- » See also: Chrysler Goes Public With Dodge’s Future: Electric Cars Missing
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Restructure America?
From reader comments on my last post, a central argument emerged for how to deal with many of our current social problems. The proposed solution: Restructure America to a more “European” model with town centers and mass transit, eliminating the suburbs. This would eliminate the need for most short-trip drives and thereby encourages walking, community and health, while discouraging car ownership.
There are plenty of arguments against this idea: viability, cost, and most importantly, loss of personal choice on where and how to live. Personally, I choose to live in areas where I can walk to the grocery store - it is part of my quality of living. That said, I could never get behind a project that forced a way of life on others - if people value it, they will seek it out or create it.
Cars Will Still Reign
Obama is unapologetic for our way of life and this tells me that cars will still reign. Frankly, I don’t think we can change away from car-based culture at this point in time. There will be changes though, as told by this quote, “…each day brings further evidence that the ways we use energy strengthen our adversaries and threaten our planet…“. By turning fuels and energy inefficiency into an issue of National Security, the floodgates of funding for alternative fuels and fuel technologies will open.
Endorsed Alternatives
Several alternative fuel sources were directly mentioned, “We will harness the sun and the winds and the soil to fuel our cars and run our factories.” This tells us solar power, wind power and biofuels (biodiesel and ethanol) are on Obama’s radar. It will be interesting to see what other technologies he supports - will he stand behind electric cars, hydrogen fuel cells, geothermal, hybrid technology, so called “clean coal“, nuclear power, tide power, etc? Will any old technologies or low technologies get renewed support, like rail, bicycles or even good old-fashioned walking? I for one am excited to see what change Obama brings to America.
Image credit: veni markovski at Flickr under a Creative Commons license
I was really surprised and delighted when I heard Obama say that. I don’t know that it necessarily equals “cars will still reign”.
I think about the future of cars a lot. They have become so synonymous with self reliance and independence, especially in much of the US west, where mass transit still doesn’t cut it. At the same time, they’re smelly and filthy, and their always-growing numbers have changed the Road from meeting place to hazard zone.
Whatever the President meant by his words, it’s still up to us to make their meaning.
Car culture
The truth is that the Car culture must change if we are going to be sustainable.
The steps are first, electric cars with a battery or supercapacitor costing pennies on the dollar of current.
Second, robot driven cars. Most people won’t own cars anymore. They will press a button on their cell phone a robot vehicle will appear depending on how many passengers and the weight of the passenger.
If you are 100 pounds and you aren’t in a rush it will be cheaper.
If you weigh 400 ponds and need to get somewhere in a hurry like a VIP, it will cost a lot more.
But in both cases it will be from 1-4 pennies a mile!!!
NOW THAT’S A CAR CULTURE I CAN LIVE WITH!!!
I am all for whatever drives our vehicles, electricity or hydrogen and biofuel until then. But I wouldn’t want to live in a world where my joy of driving has been taken away by a robot.
To Clarify, I meant to say I am all for whatever POWERS our vehicles
Seriously guys, wake up. Of course the “car culture” is not going to change.
But if alternative fuels and electric power can begin to offset oil usage, we can ramp that up over time. Then we can first stop buying foreign oil, then begin to stop our usage of oil altogether.
All while still driving “cars”.
C
I think he was referring to the threat of terrorism, and not the car culture.
My point is that “walking, community and health, while discouraging car ownership” is like “promoting abstinence as a form of birth control.”
Not going to happen.
And also, I don’t know how everyone in America feels, but I know that I have no interest whatsoever in a “European model” society. Besides, who is going to pay for restructuring places like Socal where planned communities are plastered all over the place? It’s an impossible goal.
We need alternative energy vehicles that offer 300 miles of range with reasonable charge time or home refueling options, etc. This is a very achievable goal.
The big 3 should have been working on this for years already and jumped right in to the market when the gas prices first shot through the roof.
Seriously, this article reminds me of those kindergarteners who played those stupid tricks where they ask you a reasonable question, and then cleverly decieve you, “NOPE, I SAID ‘What is the THIRD WORD,’ GET IT???? I MEANT THIRD WORD.”
The author gives no reason why “apologize for our way of life” even remotely deals with the topic of fueling cars other than “it says to me” ..as in you think? That’s why we’re reading your article?
To summarize, [Obama might like do something, maybe be more like Europe, or not, maybe I dunno.. Obama might do something though, I mean he said we should cuz theres bad guys.. and he knows about solar and that stuff.] Which we read because you think “our way of life” means “drive gas cars.”
It irritates me how such a powerful line “We will not apologize for our way of life” is the title of an article that dwindles down to such meek generalizations and things we were already wondering. Especially from an author that has tackled important subjects and issues not yet thought of.
For a while we are going to see a lot of parsing of President Obama’s statements. During his entire campaign he tended to be as vague as possible letting people fill in the blanks with their hopes. Some people seem to think that Obama promised to give them a free unicorn. They are likely to be disappointed.
When it comes to cars, I think that Obama is likely to push for mandatory flex fuel engines for all new cars and for an increase in CAFE standards, although nothing like the 40 or 50 MPG that some people seem to be salivating for. I would like to see Obama slap down the EPA rules that threaten $5000 a day fines for tampering with emission controls for adding an unauthorized CNG conversion kit to your vehicle.
Given his past history, I think that Obama will largely “vote present” as far as he can and let other people, like California requiring stricter emission controls and higher mileage, push the car industry towards cleaner, more efficient cars. He might go for an oil import tax, although there would probably be an exemption for Canada and Mexico.