Japan Beats Us - Again
First Cars, Now THIS!
"The only existing superpower" certainly applies to a lot about America - particularly in the size (and expense) of our military. Alas, in more and more of the other important "super" subjects, specifically leadership in national ethics, human rights, the environment, public health and other "soft" issues, the U.S.A. has ceded leadership to other countries. Of all things, this:
"Japan is by many measures the world’s most energy-frugal developed nation. After the energy crises of the 1970s, the country forced itself to conserve with government-mandated energy-efficiency targets and steep taxes on petroleum. Energy experts also credit a national consensus on the need to consume less."
And they are going to make a fortune because of it.
Japan Sees a Chance to Promote Its Energy-Frugal Ways
A view through a window looking onto a commercial complex
in Chiba, Japan, that uses transparent solar panels on window
glass to generate power.
That's another fortune America should be making. Just like hybrid cars, advanced diesel engines, etc., etc.
How did Japan manage the super efficiency they are now exporting? Simple; they took the long view while America took its typical, quarter-to-quarter, short view. "It (Japan) is also the only industrial country that sustained government investment in energy research even when energy became cheap again (after the '70s oil shock).
Read the piece in the NYTimes where I got the picture and the quotes. And ask yourself - or some Republican you know - how we Americans can overcome short sightedness and get back on the road to not getting skunked in the very games we invented. Maybe some of that "national consensus" stuff would help.
"The only existing superpower" certainly applies to a lot about America - particularly in the size (and expense) of our military. Alas, in more and more of the other important "super" subjects, specifically leadership in national ethics, human rights, the environment, public health and other "soft" issues, the U.S.A. has ceded leadership to other countries. Of all things, this:
"Japan is by many measures the world’s most energy-frugal developed nation. After the energy crises of the 1970s, the country forced itself to conserve with government-mandated energy-efficiency targets and steep taxes on petroleum. Energy experts also credit a national consensus on the need to consume less."
And they are going to make a fortune because of it.
Japan Sees a Chance to Promote Its Energy-Frugal Ways
A view through a window looking onto a commercial complexin Chiba, Japan, that uses transparent solar panels on window
glass to generate power.
That's another fortune America should be making. Just like hybrid cars, advanced diesel engines, etc., etc.
How did Japan manage the super efficiency they are now exporting? Simple; they took the long view while America took its typical, quarter-to-quarter, short view. "It (Japan) is also the only industrial country that sustained government investment in energy research even when energy became cheap again (after the '70s oil shock).
Read the piece in the NYTimes where I got the picture and the quotes. And ask yourself - or some Republican you know - how we Americans can overcome short sightedness and get back on the road to not getting skunked in the very games we invented. Maybe some of that "national consensus" stuff would help.
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