On 12/3/07, William Chops Westfield wrote: > > On Dec 2, 2007, at 6:28 PM, Xiaofan Chen wrote: > > > The problem is that oil is still too cheap (hopefully it will go up > > to US$300 per barrel in the near future --Disclaim: I do not have a > > car) > > You're very cruel. It won't just be wasteful Americans with SUVs who > end up suffering if (when) that happens. There are already people > concerned about the social outcomes of surplus corn (or perhaps not > so surplus) getting turned into ethanol for fuel instead of feeding > people who are hungry. Actually I am not so sure if those surplus corn from USA is really feeding the poor... And do not worry, before the day oil price hits US$300, the alternative energy will already be viable. The problem with the current situation is that oil is still much cheaper than the alternative energy. To me, we do not really need too much regulation and do not need to worry too much about all those things (including global warming --even though it is always good to have scientists doing the research work well in advance), there will be a balance by market forces (supply and demand, etc). In fact, given enough incentives, the big auto vendors can come out of good pure electrical vehicles, the utilities will come out charging stations all over USA very soon since the technology is already there. Xiaofan -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist