Winter is coming, and there’s a chill in the air.  If your home’s furnace is more than 10 years old, there’s a good chance that at least 40% of the energy it consumes is not going toward heating your house.  Compare that to modern gas furnaces that achieve efficiencies of  80-95%.

For those living in colder climates, upgrading to a high efficiency central furnace has never made more sense.   According to Carrier, switching from an old furnace with efficiencies of 55-60% to a high efficiency modern furnace can save you up to $1,000 a year.

To put things in perspective, heating your home accounts for over 50% of total residential energy consumption.  Using numbers provided by the government’s Energy Information Administration, if just 20% of America’s inefficient furnaces were replaced, an amazing 220 trillion BTUs of natural gas would be saved annually.

* Total furnace consumption = 3.6 quadrillion BTUs annually.     3.6 quadrillion x 20% furnace replacements x 30% gained efficiencies = 220 trillion BTUs

Click here to view natural gas datasheet (.pdf)

Image courtesy of Carrier

‘If ifs and buts were candy and nuts, we’d all have a merry Christmas.’ - Don Meredith ***

America is on her back, her soft underbelly exposed.

Forget about your party affiliation.  For the last 35 years, our executive and legislative branches have totally ignored America’s energy problem and put our national security at risk.  From the mid 70s until just recently, drunk on artificially cheap imported oil, America enjoyed one of the greatest periods of economic growth in history.  There was no immediate need to develop alternative energy sources, nor was there reason to construct nuclear or coal-fired power plants.  Lacking a visionary leader, America fell asleep at the wheel.

In a period of prosperity, our infrastructure began to crumble.  Elected officials and corporate executives alike were more interested in short-term gains than in the country’s long-term health, and the consequences could prove devastating.  As is the case in most economic booms, governments and businesses made counter-intuitive economic decisions.  Rather than saving for a rainy day, they spent like drunken sailors, and leveraged themselves based on projected revenues and income.  They mortgaged our futures.

During the good times, many individuals became consumed with financial and material excesses.  Not surprisingly, in many cases, personal gratification and narcissistic behavior had negative impacts on family and personal relationships.  Many children, often the innocent victims of divorce or separation, began to withdraw.  Exercise and social interaction were replaced with computers and games.  Feeling as if something were missing, an increasing percentage of the population turned to prescription drugs to somehow fill the ambiguous, anxious void.

Driven by consumer demand skewed by cheap oil, personal vehicles grew to grotesque proportions. The Big 3 auto manufacturers continued to resist the move to smaller vehicles, and successfully convinced Congress not to raise minimum fuel economy standards.  What was the result?  Sitting on massive quantities of cash earned from the sales of high-margin trucks and SUVs, Ford and GM went on buying sprees, and paid handsomely for the likes of Land Rover, Saab, and Volvo.  Driven by the artificially low price of energy and commodities, personal vehicles continued to gain weight, resulting in the need for yet larger engines.

After just a few years of high oil prices, their cash is gone.  America’s auto manufacturers are left producing many vehicles the public no longer wants, and are selling off assets to avoid bankruptcy.

The over-inflated real estate market has collapsed, and industries dependent on new construction are reeling.   Fueled by greed, artificial demand, and undercapitalized risk, our financial markets are on fire.  Televisions continue grow in size, as does the percentage of the population that can be classified as obese.  The middle class shrinks, as the income gap between the poor and rich grows.  Excuses replace personal responsibility, and fundamental liberties are at risk.

There is little wonder why the current presidential election has energized the electorate.  Americans are a practical bunch.  We, the people, realize this country is at the edge of a great abyss.  Now, all we can do is hope and pray we take a step in the right direction.

Anyone who works for a motorcycle or moped dealer will tell you sales would increase if motorcycle license requirements were less stringent.  Potential customers are turned off by the idea of spending precious hours of their time to obtain the endorsement or license required to legally ride a bike.

Raising state cc license exemptions from 50 cc to 250 cc would greatly increase the pool of motorcycles and scooters immediately available to the public, and would create demand for models not currently exported to the States.  Bikes and scooters that are light and fitted with a low seat height are relatively easy to ride, and every dealer we spoke with would provide free or low-cost day classes to get customers comfortable with their new rides.  For those that may be intimidated by cruising around on two wheels,  Piaggio’s MP3 line of scooters comes equipped with two front wheels for additional stability.

Ninja 250R - Image courtesy of Kawasaki

Modern scooters and motorcycles with displacements of 250 cc can achieve 60-80 mpg, and depending on geography, are a good fit for many urban commuters.  And because small cycles and scooters require so little gas, their widespread use could markedly reduce America’s thirst for imported oil.

Feature image courtesy of Piaggio USA

The transition from small family farms to large corporate enterprises and the resulting economies of scale has allowed Americans to spend an increasingly small percentage of their income on food. Unfortunately, the demand for cheaper food has put our health at risk.

Image courtesy of Flying Pigs Natural Farm

Large farms now dominate the production of beef, chicken, pork, eggs and dairy products that supply most of America’s protein. Because more profit can be realized by the concentration of animals, antibiotics are widely used to prevent illness, and since protein is valued by weight, steroids are introduced to promote growth.

Our exposure to meat containing residual antibiotics and steroids is huge. Studies have shown an earlier onset of puberty in girls who consume beef injected with steroids, and earlier puberty increases the risk for breast cancer. And while there is no iron-clad evidence that residual antibiotics in food constitute a health hazard, why take the chance?

Meats are not the only foods at risk. As the price of fertilizer rises, fruit and vegetable producers are tempted to use sewage and other waste to supplement nitrogen and increase yield. The result has been several major E.coli outbreaks in the last decade.

What can the concerned public do to help? First and foremost, stop basing every purchase on cost. The American consumer’s pattern of maximizing utility by purchasing whatever is cheapest is sending the food industry the wrong message. Insist on meats that are raised without antibiotics and steriods. Resist the urge to purchase inexpensive, farmed seafood from the Far East. Instead, buy fresh, sustainable foods that are available in your region of the country, and insist that your grocer do the same.