Na don't ban power steering just disable it when women are driving.... (Note to self: Must design sensor for this) 4x4 will stay in the fields and all the kids will get picked up in Smart cars... Steve -----Original Message----- From: piclist-bounces@mit.edu [mailto:piclist-bounces@mit.edu] On Behalf Of Howard Winter Sent: 12 September 2006 18:23 To: Microcontroller discussion list - Public. Subject: Re: [OT] If engineers ruled the world... Xiaofan, On Tue, 12 Sep 2006 12:42:43 -0400, Xiaofan Chen wrote: > On 9/12/06, Vasile Surducan wrote: > > > > Maybe I am not a typical engineer, but IMHO the energy prices are *way > > > too low*. > > > > Wouter, definitely you're not moving too much from Netherland... many > > people will disagree with you. > > > > > > Actually I agree with Wouter. Energy cost is really low. The gas price > here in US does not really affect people's driving behavior. In my > opinion (risk of being flamed), it should be raised by another 100%. Except that it doesn't work! Here in the UK the Government a few years ago decided to increase the cost of petrol each year by 5% above inflation, to discourage people from driving. On top of the huge increases that have happened over the past decades, you'd think that would work, but it hasn't. The milage driven each year has increased almost linearly for several decades, and over the long term has shown no sensitivity to the price of fuel whatsoever. When a sudden price rise happens there is some cutback by a few people, but they soon drift back into their old habits. Petrol prices in the USA a few years ago (say 5) were about 1/4 of those in Britain - now they're about 1/2 of our prices, so in real terms they have risen 100% over there - has it reduced driving mileage? Hardly. Would another 100% increase do so? No! A friend of mine had an idea to cut back on huge fuel-guzzlers: ban power steering! Then see how many people would choose 4x4s as the right car for the school-and-supermarket run! :-) Cheers, Howard Winter St.Albans, England -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist