Article by: Amanda Ripley for TIME magazine
The world had long assumed that Americans were just unrepentant energy pigs. If gas prices went up, well, we kept our Explorers aimed at the horizon, and little changed. We truthfully didn’t have lots of options. Unlike Europeans, we didn’t have jobs we could bike to or convenient public transit. Gasoline prices never stayed high enough long enough to force those kinds of shifts in how we lived.
Full article here
1. Globalized Jobs Return Home
2. Sprawl Stalls
3. Four-Day Workweeks
4. Less Pollution
5. More Frugality
6. Fewer Traffic Deaths
7. Cheaper Insurance
8. Less Traffic
9. More Cops on the Beat
10. Less Obesity
Hey, I decree that civil servants must chill on Friday – Utah Governor Jon Huntsman
Starting next month, thousands of government employees will only work 4 days per week, in an effort aimed at reducing energy costs and commuters’ gasoline expenses.
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Starting next month, it will be “TGIT” for Utah state employees. As in: “Thank God It’s Thursday.”
In a yearlong experiment aimed at reducing the state’s energy costs and commuters’ gasoline expenses, Utah is about to become the first state to switch to a four-day workweek for thousands of government employees.
They will put in 10-hour days, Monday through Thursday, and have Fridays off, freeing them to golf, shop, spend time with the kids or do anything else that strikes their fancy. They will get paid the same as before.
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Summary
- yearlong experiment aimed at reducing the state’s energy costs and commuters’ gasoline expenses, Utah is about to become the first state to switch to a four-day workweek
- Golf courses expected to benefit greatly from the extra free time
- Republican Gov. Jon Huntsman’s order will affect about 17,000 out of 24,000 executive-branch employees.
- Turning off the lights, the heat and the air conditioning on Fridays in 1,000 of 3,000 government buildings will save about $3 million a year out of a state budget of $11 billion
- many states are looking at cost-saving measures, including expanded telecommuting, compressed workweeks and more flexible schedules.
Old ideas, revived in an era of new relevance…bring on the “new normal.” Kudos to another Republican for grabbing another low hanging fruit! I wonder if Mr. Huntsman stole this idea from the Work Less Party manifesto?
In praise of slow – Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia
WASHINGTON (AP) — An influential Republican senator suggested Thursday that Congress might want to consider reimposing a national speed limit to save gasoline and possibly ease fuel prices. Sen. John Warner, R-Virginia, asked Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman to look into what speed limit would provide optimum gasoline efficiency given current technology. He said he wants to know if the administration might support efforts in Congress to require a lower speed limit.
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Synopsis:
- Congress in 1974 set a national 55 mph speed limit because of energy shortages
- 55 mph speed limit saved 167,000 barrels of oil a day, or 2 percent of the country’s highway fuel consumption, while avoiding up to 4,000 traffic deaths a year.
- Spokeswoman for DOE says “If Congress is serious about addressing gasoline prices, they must take action on expanding domestic oil and natural gas production.”
- fuel efficiency decreases rapidly when traveling faster than 60 mph. Every additional 5 mph over that threshold is estimated to cost motorists “essentially an additional 30 cents per gallon in fuel costs,”
Hip hip hooray for a Republican…wow that sounded weird.
EcoDensity here to stay
Despite Mayor Sam Sullivan’s electoral loss, the plan to increase city densities has widespread support
Frances Bula, Vancouver Sun
Published: Thursday, June 12, 2008
VANCOUVER – For the past two years, EcoDensity has been ridiculed as a marketing ploy, an empty phrase for self-promotion by now-deposed Mayor Sam Sullivan, a giveaway to developers, and a recycled version of existing Vancouver policy.
But it was also praised as a much-needed and exciting kickstart for Vancouver in thinking about how to build a more sustainable city.
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EcoDenisty – A flashy name or a mechanism for change? Time will tell
