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Engineering more efficient systems
There is this sort of belief floating around that the increasing costs of energy are going to drive increases in efficiency, and so this is a good thing.
This is a belief that is held by economists, tree huggers, joe public, and in fact just about everyone who isn't an actual engineer.
All it takes is US$200 bbl oil and Ford will stop making Suburban SUV's and start making Volkswagen Rabbits... The ONLY reason Ford don't make a VW Rabbit now is no one would buy one... allegedly... no engineer believes this for a second.
It really doesn't matter what the object is, the electronic point of sale checkout system at your local supermarket, your home PC, the humble light bulb, the private vehicle, efficiency isn't something that you can just stop the production line for a few hours, change a few parameters, and start the production line up again.
Engineering is a physical science, bound by the physical laws and properties of the materials it has to work with, and so engineering is quite limited.
In the example above, stopping the production line for a few hours while some "extra efficiency" mod was built in, almost like this mod was just like a different shade of paint, isn't even fiction, it is purest fantasy.
In the real world you stop the production line, raze the factory to the ground, sack all the workforce and dispose of the entire materiel supply chain, then start from the ground up on a new, more efficient model of lightbulb, computer, or automobile.
To some extent proving this to the layman is like asking a surgeon to prove that a brand new technique will save many lives, you can more or less prove things to the layman after the eveny, by showing him a thick pile of data, for example surgeons washing their hands and instruments between operations.
Hands up everyone who really knows what a lipid is, and hands up again if you think that link actually enabled the average layman to fully grasp what a lipid is.
Unfortunately we live in an age where the average man on the street actually believes that simply googling the recipe for Canard a l'orange is sufficient, after all you have all the data, if you cannot produce something the equal of a top chef it must be down to your crappy kitchen equipment and utensils, or ingredients, after all, you've got all the data, right?
Or maybe there is a shortcut, you can learn just how to cook the one dish, without having to acquire all the essential background knowledge... (I was friends with a top chef once, that guy could fry a bloody egg and leave you stunned at the gap between what you produced and what he produced, in your kicthen, with your equipment and utensils and ingredients)
It is almost like a children's TV programme, where they make stuff out of double sided sticky tape and old metal coat hangers and poster paint... cuts to male presenter before closing credits "..and next week children, we will show you how to build a box girder bridge, and Cally will show you how to solve world hunger (grow enough food to feed everyone, simple, innit) and bring world peace.... bye bye."
Well the bad news is the real world just isn't like that.
Ford cannot build a VW Rabbit equivalent any way short of bulldozing their existing factories, shutting down the entire materiel supply lines that feed them, laying off the workforce, and then building a factory exactly like the one VW uses to build the Rabbit in, together with appropriate supply chain and appropriately trained workers.
Bring the bulldozers in today and go really balls out, screw health and safety and planning and the environment, and maybe the first Ford Rabbit will roll off the production line some time in 2011 or 2012, assuming of course a 70 mph diesel runabout will actually be a saleable item with whatever fuel prices are in 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, or were you planning on only making the Ford Rabbit for 6 months?
Make the Ford Rabbit more efficient?
Yeah, bulldoze the Rabbit factory, shut down the supply lines, lay the staff off, start again.
That's cars, if you think home computers or supermarket checkouts or the humble light bulb are any different, think again.
Then, if you are an engineer, there is another side to efficiency, not just efficiency in operation, the other side of efficiency is efficiency in production.
No good making super efficient electric cars if they all have to be thrown away every year.
It is quite possible to get to the point that even if efficiency were a theoretically and practically impossible 99%, production efficiency could be so low (shipping the stuff everywhere) that overall the system was less efficient than a 1950's big block V8, which at least can be made to last 50 years and which is robust enough to be run on different fuels such as wood gas or suchlike.
So while Joe Public may harbour some notions about back room boffins with pens and slide rules in their pockets coming up with some answers that will allow us to continue more or less as we are, despite the rising energy costs, simply by replacing our current, energy inefficient gear with more energy efficient gear, then buying some ocean front property in arizona is likely to be the better bet.
Of course, this does present an opportunity for the outsourced manufacturing of the West, these new factories for new energy efficient replacements of ALL of our everyday objects have to be built somewhere, why not just skip the bullozers and build them here, where the supply side chain is shorter anyway?
Why not?
Because it takes vision, and because it takes a complete disregard for the entire concept of annual shareholder dividends and next quarters profit margin and the board of directors new health spa.
It takes looking at literally every single energy consuming device that we either encounter directly or rely upon at a distance, and replacing the whole lot within say five years with stuff that is at least a factor of five more energy efficient.
For Ford this is "you may not sell any vehicle that does less than 120 mpg urban cycle after 1st January 2010"
For Dell this is "you may not sell any computer (of any kind, to include screen etc) that draws more than 10 watts peak after 1st January 2010"
For EPOS Inc this is "you may not sell any checkout system (complete) that draws more than 15 watts peak after 1st January 2010"
For Edison this is "you may not sell any lightbulb that draws more than 2.5 watts after 1st January 2010"
For Householders this is "you may not dispose of (unless you pay commercial rates) more than 1 kilogramme of household waste per occupant per week after 1st January 2010"
You can still sell paper newspapers and magazines, but you have to sell them as energy sources that just happen to have text printed on them, so their primary function is they must lend themselves to efficient conversion to energy.
The Model T Ford had highly efficient, very narrow tyres, I can go out into the street and spend a very long time looking for another vehicle that has the same size and profile tyres as my car, it is sheer madness, and none of them are efficient narrow profile tyres, they are all performance wide profile tyres with low efficieny which basically drops through the floor as soon as the correct inflation pressure drops off.
The disk brake relies on small area and high pressure, and it outperforms the drum brake at higher wheel RPM, but the drum brake requires a lot less power to operate, a simple cable will do, and at low wheel RPM is more than good enough, and since it is a low pressure high area device it lasts a long time.
In my old Pug 405 diesel I change gear at 1,500 RPM, and on a long journey cruise at 2,500 RPM, in town I usually burble along at 1,200 RPM, yet, amazingly, I keep up with all the traffic, quite easily, I don't waste fuel and I don't prematurely wear out the running gear or engine. Fast is not fast, smooth is fast.
At one time I could drive around town and almost never have to hit the brakes or come to a complete stop, slipping past the ricers stopped at the lights having coasted down to 20 mph just as the lights turn green again. Not so easy now because they have completely screwed up the traffic system, completely and utterly, but even so I still get in excess of 50 miles per (imperial) gallon in City driving, in a 20+ years old full sized saloon car.
My brother has a new diesel TDV6, computer in the dash, it says "26 mpg", he points at it, not bad huh?
I tell him, You do realise that that is no more than an estimated figure based upon throttle position sensor and speed, don't you? You do realise it is not in any way actually metering fuel and ground speed and giving an actual reading?
He just looks at me, this obviously has not occured to him.
It's not even like it has to be within 10% accurate by Law, like, say, the speedometer, which means in reality it is always going to read high for a feelgood factor, so it is no more use than measuring inlet manifold vacuum... I continue.
I mention this because it is a classic example, efficiency literally does not feature anywhere in the engineering design or manufacture process of this vehicle, except in the advertising material, where efficiency, eco-friendliness and image are all addressed quite thoroughly in words and images.
Do NOT expect big business and multinationals to engineer significantly more efficient systems in time for you to be able to continue your present lifestyle in a world of increasingly expensive energy.
Due to the sheer scale of their operations they are like supertankers under way at sea, they simply cannot change course quickly enough.
If you want more efficiency in time for you to continue your lifestyle then YOU have to take charge and DIY.
Driving with a very light right foot will make a huge difference, as will daily tyre pressure and braking system inspections, as will removing all excess weight from the vehicle.
At home, buy quality CFL lamps and throw away the incandescents. Quartz IR electric heaters, not resistive types.
Computers, shut down when not in use, also all your other passive and standby loads (some of you will remember the shocking results of running everything in my house through a kill-a-watt meter).
Trust me on this, NOBODY from Ford or Dell or Shell or WalMart is going to come around and do anything to help you increase your energy efficiency. Nor is the bloody Government.
Food is another one, we eat once per day, no snacking, no nibbles, no nothing apart from that one meal a day. Much as I'd like to claim that being fitter than a butchers dog at my age is down to fabulous genetic heritage and a strict regimen of excercise, I can't. It is down to giving my intestines enough quality food to fully digest in one day, and no more.
Credit / Debt of all kinds is another one, avoid it at all costs, no matter what you think it is giving you, throw that baby out with the bath water and start living strictly within your means.
We live really well (in the UK with UK prices and that includes >10 bucks a gallon gas) on less than 200 bucks a week, I can't think of a damn thing that I go without, tomorrow I'm throwing my mum, missus and the boy in the car and we'll have a day out in Plymouth, eat fresh caught Fish, I'll no doubt buy some alu / brass / acrylic for stock, and an 80 mile round trip worth of diesel.
I used to say "I'm not cynical mate, just experienced." and I also used to say "I'm not mean, just careful"
But the fact is what I am is efficient. I use my money efficiently. I use my energy efficiently. I use my time efficiently. And no, it doesn't make me a boring old twat who never does anything. On the contrary, it is half past three on a Monday afternoon and get to please myself what I do.