The death of the Hummer?
by Adam Stein
Damn, these gas prices have some bite. American automakers, who depend disproportionately on sales of SUVs and light trucks, are getting hammered.
GM saw a 28% drop in light-vehicle sales in May. Ford’s sales fell 16%. The Ford F-150, the most popular vehicle in the United States almost every year for the past three decades, was knocked off its perch by both the Toyota Camry and Toyota Corolla.
Hummer sales fell by 60%!
GM has announced the closure of its Janesville assembly plant, and the discontinuation of the plus-sized Tahoe, Suburban and Yukon lines as early as 2009. No word on the Hummer, but the buzzards are circling. GM will add additional shifts to plants that produce more fuel-efficient cars, and the company hopes to have the electric Chevy Volt in showrooms by 2010.
(Update: GM is considering selling the Hummer brand. Solve Climate snarks about possible buyers.)
Bad news for Detroit in this case happens to be good news for the climate. Car purchases are sticky. Consumers may lose their passion for conservation after they acclimate to higher gas prices, but they’ll still be driving more fuel-efficient cars for years to come. Further, getting light trucks off the road is one of the best levers for reducing transportation emissions, much more so than getting drivers into hybrids.
Thomas Friedman recently called for a $4 floor on the price of gasoline. This will never happen, but it’s easy to see why such a policy would be more effective than CAFE could ever be.
Help Dad lower his footprint
by Pete Davies
Some Father’s Day gifts that will save energy and often save money as well. And they can be used every day (not like those cuff links you gave last year…)
Around the home
Consistently our top seller is the Smart Strip. Plug the computer or TV and all the peripherals into one of these and watch the savings. It’s simple: devices on standby use energy. The Smart Strip turns them off when they’re not needed and back on again when they are. For a really fancy power strip, try the Isole motion sensitive power strip from WattStopper. It turns off my desk lamp and computer screen whenever I go for coffee!
In the car
If Dad has to drive, then we have a couple of great products for helping him to get the most from a tank of gas. LED Tire Alerts let you know if your tires need more air. Properly inflated tires keep you safer and can save 2-3% in fuel costs.
For the wannabe Prius driver, the ScanGauge II car computer is a great way to get real-time mpg data as you drive. Driving while trying to be as fuel efficient as possible (rather than as fast as possible) is a great way to beat those high gas prices.
For big kids
We have toys too. My favorite is the Fuel Cell Car and experiment kit. Complete with solar panels, fuel cell and a watt meter, the box also has materials for 30 experiments based around renewable energy and energy generation. And at the end of it, you can assemble your own car powered by the fuel cell.
Gadgets
And of course we have the renewable energy gadgets. Take your pick from solar or wind turbine chargers or if wind-up is more your thing, the Trevor Baylis radios and mp3 players will keep his tunes playing for as long as you keeps turning the handle.
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