Sunday, December 31, 2017

Electric Cars: The Future Is Already Here

One of the most successful aspects of the Obama Administration was its ability to jump-start the alternative energy movement--in fact, transforming it from a movement into an actual business.  A short time ago, cars that ran only or largely on fossil-fuel energy were the norm, and anything else was science fiction.

Well, science fiction is now science fact.  Not only are hybrid vehicles like the Prius a standard part of the automotive landscape (I now own my second one), but all-electric cars are slowly beginning to nudge them and their gas-powered ancestors out of the mainstream of motoring.  According to a recent article in the Guardian, electric cars already cheaper to own and operate than cars that run on gas.  And, while this is due in part to the existence of subsidies, the current expectation is that, in just a few years, they will still retain their cost advantage over fossil-fuel-powered vehicles even without the subsidies.  Science fiction is now science fact.

This has the potential not only to protect the environment, but also to revolutionize the economy.  As uses for alternative energy expand beyond transportation, jobs can be created in areas where traditional forms of heavy industry have vanished.  Initially, those jobs will require subsides, but eventually, they will help to create new local economies that will thrive in part on lower economic costs from cheaper, more abundant energy.  It could very well be the case that these new economies focus on other forms of sustainable development, such as using crops and other forms of plant life to create new raw materials for heavy and light industries.

What is not a part of the future, in any case, is fossil fuel, and the underground fossils that are used to make them.  Throw aside the questions of air pollution and climate change, as our foolish (fuelish?) excuse for a President has done, out of ignorance and his racially-motivated hatred of his predecessor.  And then, consider this:  does it make sense to build an economy on resources that have a finite supply to begin with?  Perhaps more to the point, does it make sense to build an economy on those resources when there is every reason to think that we are perhaps no more than a generation from running out of them?

If your answer is yes, I can only assume that you must be a stockholder in a fossil-fuel company.  And, hopefully, there aren't enough of you to stand in the way of the only future we have.  Better that you should get out of the way--or, better yet, get on the right track, by investing in industries and research that promotes sustainable economic development.

If nothing else, buy a Prius.  They're great cars.  And they offer a taste of the future.

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