I stumbled upon this Atlantic article from January 1995 on reinventing the automobile. It seems appropriate to read this article in 2009 (a full 14 years later) now that the American auto industry is on the brink of complete and utter collapse. Be careful when you read this though, because it might make you sick yo your stomach or blind with anger. The technology to make cars energy efficient and have lower emissions was there in 1995 and before. The automotive companies simply chose not to make them and instead relied upon status quo and cheap gasoline. I'm convinced of this.
One of the concepts in the article that intrigued me was making the undercarriage of an automobile smooth, thereby making it more aerodynamic. Something so simple smoothing out the undercarriage would grant us a few more miles per gallon. Is this concept on any of our cars or trucks today? Nope. Nada. Zilch.
So read the article (it's by Amory Lovins the genius that founded the Rocky Mountain Institute) and let me know what you think.
Moving toward a more sustainable, renewable, and efficient world.
How do we get there?
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