On Mar 8, 12:40 pm, "Amy Blankenship"
wrote:
"Pat" wrote in message

ups.com...



On Mar 8, 11:01 am, Bill Baka wrote:
Pat wrote:
Finally, electric that needs recharging like you have would work for
most people around here. We have too many people traveling too far
for it to work. Tomorrow I'm going about 7.5 hours for a trip.
That's a long ways to go on a battery, esp. if you are using it to
heat the car (10F and 70mph wind chill). It might work in some areas,
but you're still burning something for electricity.

(side note, we are 100% hydro, but not for environmental reasons. our
muni electric buys it from Canada because it's cheap).

Rather than getting rid of cars, that aren't used all that much. Why
not just get rid of air conditioners. they are on all of the time and
use a huge amount of electricity.

Try living in central California where 100's are common or Arkansas
where 98 degrees and 98% humidity makes sweating in the shade a sport.
Some places need A/C.
For the record I owned a huge 5,000 square foot house in Minnesota north
of the twin cities and it had 4 kinds of heat.
1. Propane forced air.
2. Electric baseboards.
3. Oil fired hot water radiators.
4. 2 wood burning stoves and a fireplace.
5. Even a fire place in the detached 1,000 square foot garage.
When it got to 25 below zero I used wood as much as possible but needed
to use the others when the wood ran out at about 3 in the morning.
Except for the wood which just required me to chop it, the rest cost
real money.
There are no free rides.
Bill Baka

That's exactly my point. AC allowed the development of California
and Arkansas and then people pitch about the energy usage an
pollution. If you want to do something real about pollution, move
somewhere that requires less energy to live. Even as it is,
electricity is notoriously inefficient. I heat my house from maybe
November to April (or so, depending on the year) and then use no power
for heating and cooling (other than cooking and hot water) for the
rest of the year. No energy usage is the only free ride. I use 1 fan
upstairs if it really hot out. It isn't cars that create the energy
crisis and pollution, it is AC. Its impact on society has been huge.

So wouldn't you agree that farmland protection in warm areas (which often
are well-suited to growing crops) would also serve the purpose of preventing
the building of McMansions in those areas, which will have a legacy of
increased power consumption for at least 50 years?

No, it won't prevent anything. It just means the they will build them
farther out from the city in another field or cut down another
hillside to build them. If someone is hell-bent on building a house,
they will build it somewhere.