Twenty percent in ten years…

This is a goal that President Bush has set regarding gas consumption in the USA, a 20% reduction in fuel use over the next 10 years. I’m going to stay away from politics, I have strong opinions when it comes to them, but this isn’t the place.

Energy conservation… For those of you who know me well, this is something that I’m interested in. It was good to hear the “20 in 10″ goal, but personally I think that’s a little weak.

In 10 years time, I’m betting the majority of people out there will have replaced their vehicles. Just doing a quick search of wikipedia I found this: “The average fuel efficiency of European cars is over 40 mpg (5.9 L/100 km), Japanese cars 45 mpg (5.2 L/100 km), and North American cars 20.4 mpg (11.5 L/100 km).” Add to that the fact that Americans lover their SUVs which average “16 mpg (15 L/100 km) highway and 13 mpg (US) (18 L/100 km)”. Do you see where I’m going with this?

European and Japanese cars get double the average fuel economy that American cars get! It’s no wonder that Ford lost $24,000 a minute last year.

Unfortunately for me, my Golf TDI which averaged about 46 mpg was totaled this year. I replaced it with a Dodge Dakota which gets a horrible 15 – 17mpg. Eventually I will replace it or purchase a more efficient daily driver and use the gas guzzler only when necessary.

Hmm, I found this the other day. 80mpg! It’s tempting…

posted at 21:05:00 on 01/28/07 by Tony Rigdon – Category: General

Comments

Adam wrote:

20% in 10 years is off the PROJECTED value if nothing is done. That means gas consumption could still triple dependign on what values he is using. Plus wind and solar are now 1 billion a year industries and they are expected to jump to 50 billion each in 10 years with the way the current market investments and tax breaks are going. Just something to chew on. Congress just doesnt get it, even dems want ethanol which takes in more gas then it produces right now, it just keeps iowa from going into the depression without its farm subsidies. Kepe up the good work tony
01/30/07 13:57:51

Tony wrote:

Thanks Adam! I definitely agree about more gas going into the production of ethanol than it replaces, ethanol production is a joke right now… So when are you going to update your website? I’ve got a link to it under my “links” section…
01/31/07 21:11:57

Tony-s Better Half wrote:

An AUTORICKSHAW??!!?? That thing is atrocious looking… that’s right, I used the word atrocious… I don’t care if it gets a billion miles per gallon… IT IS UGLY… and not safe for someone who is prone to accidents…

Year in review…

I wrote a “2006 Year in Review” several weeks ago, but I won’t be posting it right now. Maybe later this year, maybe not. In a sense I’ve already posted something of a year in review in the form of my results from this year. Of course, with this season in particular, there was a lot more going on beyond what is listed in those results.

This previous post fills in a few gaps. For the rest of the gaps, I guess you’ll have to wait until I post the full review. Or maybe someday I’ll write a book…

21:02:00 – Tony Rigdon

Hold Your Wee for a Wii – Drinking water kills woman

Following is a tragic story, one that would have had a happier ending had the participants and contest organizers been familiar with Hyponatremia

SACRAMENTO, California (AP) — A woman who competed in a radio station’s contest to see how much water she could drink without going to the bathroom died of water intoxication, the coroner’s office said Saturday.

Jennifer Strange, 28, was found dead Friday in her suburban Rancho Cordova home hours after taking part in the “Hold Your Wee for a Wii” contest in which KDND 107.9 promised a Nintendo Wii video game system for the winner.

“She said to one of our supervisors that she was on her way home and her head was hurting her real bad,” said Laura Rios, one of Strange’s co-workers at Radiological Associates of Sacramento. “She was crying and that was the last that anyone had heard from her.”

It was not immediately know how much water Strange consumed.

A preliminary investigation found evidence “consistent with a water intoxication death,” said assistant Coroner Ed Smith.

John Geary, vice president and marketing manager for Entercom Sacramento, the station’s owner, said station personnel were stunned when they heard of Strange’s death.

“We are awaiting information that will help explain how this tragic event occurred,” he said.

Initially, contestants were handed eight-ounce bottles of water to drink every 15 minutes.

“They were small little half-pint bottles, so we thought it was going to be easy,” said fellow contestant James Ybarra of Woodland. “They told us if you don’t feel like you can do this, don’t put your health at risk.”

Ybarra said he quit after drinking five bottles. “My bladder couldn’t handle it anymore,” he added.

After he quit, he said, the remaining contestants, including Strange, were given even bigger bottles to drink.

“I was talking to her and she was a nice lady,” Ybarra said. “She was telling me about her family and her three kids and how she was doing it for kids.”

posted at 13:23:24 on 01/14/07 by Tony Rigdon – Category: General

Network+ certified…

I mentioned a couple of weeks ago in my “A+ Certification” post that I was signed up to take the Network+ certification test on January 4th. When I actually got serious about it and started reading the book on Network+ that I had, I realized I was going to need a little more time. I gave myself an extra week and ended up taking and passing the test on January 10th. So now I’m Network+ certified! If I were to pursue another certification it would probably be Security+ but I’m going to hold off for now, these tests aren’t cheap!
13:11:00 – Tony Rigdon