The fastest way to end our dependence on foreign oil:
A free fuel efficient car for everyone... What would happen if the government gave out vouchers to everybody who owns a gas guzzling car, that would allow them to trade it in for a new, fuel efficient, 40-50 miles per gallon car, absolutely free! Imagine what the impact of every car in the US getting that kind of mileage? No more dependency on foreign oil!
Where would we get the financing for such a venture? - First of all, steel is the most widely recycled material in the United States. In recent years, about three quarters of the steel produced annually has been recycled. It is cheaper to recycle steel than to mine iron ore and manipulate it through the production process to form 'new' steel. Steel does not lose any of its inherent physical properties during the recycling process, and has drastically reduced energy and material requirements compared with refinement from iron ore. The energy saved by recycling reduces the annual energy consumption of the industry by about 75%, which is enough to power eighteen million homes for one year.
Currently, global demand for steel continues to grow, and though there are large amounts of existing steel, much of it is actively in use. There are approximately 300 million vehicles on the road today. Most of them older gas guzzlers. Automobiles are made of 66% steel. If all old trade-ins were sold to the steel industry as scrap, the government could recoup some of the expenditures.
The rest could be made up in a program that would allow the government to purchase the recycled steel back from US companies at prices far more competitive than foreign companies. We will need a lot of steel to rebuild our infrastructure. Better to buy US steel and employ American steel workers while cutting off dependency on foreign oil quickly.
No comments:
Post a Comment