Zseni wrote:

All of that darling stuff aside, do you honestly mean to tell me we are using less oil, even per capita, than we were in 1974?
One set of figures outlining per-capita usage between 1970-1993 in Washington State
World per capita oil consumption 1965-2000 which does demonstrate that on a global scale we are indeed using less oil than in 1974, but most of the decrease occured prior to ~1983 and we've flattened since then.
BP's review of US energy 2001
Look, however you want to cut it, I don't see a lot of what we in the social sciences like to call "learning behavior" here. At least, not enough to satisfy me. In any event I don't see enough to morally justify war in Iraq on a economic basis, which was the point.

Zseni wrote:

Why wean when we can just cut back? Seriously, Ray, it's one thing to protest the difficulty of switching energy sources, but hey - let's have a victory blackout for peace in our time? Two hours a night, we turn everything off.

Zseni wrote:

The problem isn't just the difficulty for the average guy: it's the guys upstairs. The guys with the big money don't want alternative energy, which is going to lose them money.

Zseni wrote:

Do you have any idea what kind of conniptions Detroit goes through over every fuel-standards proposal?