Posts Tagged by Arlene Allen
How Will Various Demographic Groups Embrace Sustainability?
| April 26, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Renewables - Business |
Frequent guest blogger Arlene Allen notes that there are demographic groups that will embrace sustainability differently. She points out…
There are financially secure people who can afford anything, and will simply buy an electric car when they want one, …. vs. the 30-40% of the total population and has been getting worse as the distribution of wealth continues its modern adjustment upward.
I’m not a social scientist, and thus I don’t know exactly how to weigh in on this. Having said that, I’m not sure it breaks down along the lines of affluence. In fact, I see all kinds of factors pointing in various different directions, for example:
Wealthy people don’t generally lead the adoption curve for altruistic behavior, and
The underclass often purchases things they can’t afford, like expensive gym shoes
I believe sustainable solutions will come into place when the cost-benefit becomes obvious to everyone at all levels of the socio-economic spectrum. And fortunately, this seems to be right around the corner. The key elements of this cost-benefit calculus appear to be
- Declining costs (and thus prices) of renewable energy and other sustainability products as technology improves and economies of scale arrive
- Incentives that work in the favor of renewables: removal of subsidies for fossil fuels, tax credits for electric vehicles, etc.
- “Internalizing the externalities,” i.e., assigning costs to fossil fuels that contemplate the complete ensemble of healthcare and long-term environmental impacts, and
- Biomimicry, learning the most efficient and economical way to design things from the principles handed down from four billion of natural evolution. Nature truly can show us a way to lower costs.
Some People Are Disgusted by Efficient Little Cars
| March 6, 2010 | Posted by Craig Shields under Electric Vehicles |
Re: my piece on changing attitudes to electric vehicles, guest blogger Arlene Allen writes:
I’ll roll with you on shifts in attitude. They are, however, notoriously difficult to predict. I don’t particularly give such a shift good odds when it comes to cars….I’m not yet a believer that people will come to embrace the little ducklings of our industry such as the original Insight, the Smart, i MiEV, etc. And even if such an event happens, there will be a general disgust rather than embrace…
You bring up a good point when you mention “disgust.” I notice that some people sneer at drivers of clean little cars — as if those of us who care about our world and the well-being of those around us are weak, pathetic, bleeding hearts. It’s an interesting phenomenon. And it will be more interesting to see how — or if — this dynamic changes over time.
But speaking of dynamics, one thing that is evident to anyone who’s every driven an i-MiEV or a Mini E is that they perform like little rocketships. The Mini E has a 200 HP motor (about the size of a basketball). With maximum torque at zero RPM, the G-force when you hit the accelerator from a dead stop is absolutely ridiculous. In my test-drives of both cars, I notice that this creates a kind of fun little dynamic in the minds of both drivers when my little EV blasts past a Corvette or a Porsche.
