Letters to the Editor
NapalmGod
Published Letters: 10 Editor's Choice: 5
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Bad Boss.
[Read the article: My business trip ended with me in four-point restraints!]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]For once, I agree completely with Cary. This is your boss' fault. You had a deal, and they broke it. Tell your boss you will not fly anymore. If they balk, go to HR, explain what's going on, and tell them you will not fly anymore. If you want to, go ahead and explain the deal you had with your boss before you were hired and how that changed, and that you've been trying to accomodate his requirements, but it is obviously not working. Don't feel bad about throwing your boss under a bus here.. If you end up talking to HR about it, then they deserve it.
If you suspect they are going to give you trouble, visit a therapist/psychiatrist first, explain what happened, and get them to write you a note saying that under no circumstances should you be forced to fly on an aircraft.. IANAL, but I would think that would qualify under the Americans with Disabilities Act. Won't get you a prime parking space, but accommodating you shouldn't be that onerous on the company.
Good luck!
-ng
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Changing the behavior of consumption
[Read the article: Why we never need to build another polluting power plant]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I think you make a valid point, but you are missing the largest potential savings in terms of energy efficiency: Encouraging use of base-load, instead of peak-load.
There are two kinds of electric generation for power grids, base-load and peak-load. Base-load is how much power is required to be online 24x7 to meet average demand. Peak-load is the amount of power required for maximum demand times, typically from 4pm to 10pm local time. The peak-load is the extra electric load required when people come home, turn on the TV, do laundry, leave a dozen lights on, and generally consume electricity like the energy hogs they are.. At least in America.
The difference between the two is that base-load is done by honkin' big power plants, which give you a finite number of emissions sources to monitor and clean up. Peak-load, however, is done by inefficient and polluting gas-turbines. Those turbines, because they are so small (relatively speaking) and operate so few hours during the year, are exempt from emissions monitoring. They're also far more expensive to operate.
Therefore, one of the best ways to encourage energy efficiency is to change the behavior of consumption. By reducing peak-load, we use less of the least-efficient power plants. This is actually easily done...
1) Electric companies need to start charging customers based on the actual cost of the electricity at the time that the customer uses it. This involves basically replacing every electric meter in the US. Given the potential savings, I would have no problems supporting federal subsidies for this.
2) Federal mandates that washers/driers/dishwashers sold in the US must be equipped with delay-start timers. My guesstimate would be an additional cost of $0.25/machine to do this.
With those two items, you will see people realize how much electricity they use at peak-load. Once they come to the conclusion that it is in the own self-interest to reschedule laundry to start at 2 am, or make sure that extra light is turned off, or even change the thermostat by a couple of degrees.
Short form: If you show people that they tend to come home and leave the car running to power their homes, they'll cut down on the electricity.
-ng