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…

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…

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.”