If we’re going to bail out the American auto industry there have to be strings attached. Or, better still, wires – with plugs attached. The only way Detroit will be able to survive is to start building the kind of cars we absolutely need – i.e. plug-in hybrids. It will reinvigorate American manufacturing, help wean us from our addiction to liquid hydrocarbons, and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Not only is the car-buying public tired of buying crappy gas guzzlers with poor quality control, but we’re tired of boring, unimaginative cars that are no fun to drive. When I was a teenager cars were fun. Today they’ve become a burdensome necessity.
A similar approach might be just the thing to revive the homebuilding industry. McMansions are the residential equivalent of the SUV – too large, too inefficient, and not enough fun. Tomorrow’s homes will need to be the equivalent of plug-in hybrids – leaner, more efficient, better looking, better made, and, I hope, more fun.
In fact, the homebuilding industry can do something that not even hybrid cars can do. It is entirely possible, using currently available technology and materials, to build homes that consume zero-net energy. And not only zero net energy, but energy positive enough to recharge our plug-in hybrids. Such houses exist already. If we can build one, we can build many.
When the economy recovers and it’s time to start buying cars and houses again, don’t settle for the dinosaurs of the last century. Demand sleek, efficient, fun-to-drive plug-in hybrids, and green, energy efficient homes with outlets in the garage for plugging in your car.
