Vehicle carbon emissions, they say. Not "carbon emissions" but specifically we must reduce vehicle carbon emissions.
Translation: "UR SUV IS CAUSING GLOBAL WARMING"
*rolleyes*
Anyway, the primary reason people aren't making the switch to electric vehicles is entirely because their range sucks--40 miles is typical--and they cost a premium, both to buy and operate.
Chevy's Volt, for example, lists at $42,500, and is about $35,000 with the government tax credit. For your 35 large you get...an econobox.
Thirty-five grand will buy you a hell of a nice gasoline-powered car, one both bigger and more comfortable (and more fun to drive) than a Chevy Volt.
Prices of other low/no emissions vehicles are similar. The Nissan Leaf is 100% electric, costs $30,000, and has an 84-mile range before it must spend eight to twelve hours recharging. It's also tiny.
It just doesn't pay to buy a low/no emissions vehicle. A similar-sized gasoline car can go up to three hundred miles on a tank of fuel (which takes perhaps ten minutes to refill, tops) and costs about half as much even with the government tax credit figured in. If you do anything other than lease the car, you're faced with replacing the battery pack sometime after about fifty thousand miles, and the batteries cost eight to ten thousand dollars to replace.
And if you run out of juice while on the road, how do you get more? Where do you pull in to recharge, and how long must you wait?
...and where does the electricity come from? Hint: in the US, thanks to econazis, most electrical power is produced by burning fossil fuels, particularly coal.
That's why they specify vehicular carbon emissions.
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Anyway, today was a simply gorgeous day. I ran a couple of errands, then cut the grass. I got a blister on my thumb and broke the rake trying to get the immediate back yard into some semblance of neat, but at least the grass isn't going to die because of all the clippings left atop it.
Holy crap was that grass long. It's been how long since I cut it? --since I was able to cut it? I don't even know. The east 40 and the front yard were a bit better, but only by degree; anyway, it's cut, and I don't have to worry about it for a little while.
There are three tiny green sprouts in the planter, approximately where I put the green pepper pod thing. Maybe we'll be having fresh green peppers this year!
Swung by Og's cave for a bit, then hit a fireworks store. See, I typically buy flowers for Mrs. Fungus about every third or fourth week, depending on finances and opportunity. There's no set schedule (that would ruin it) and I try to buy something a little different each time.
This time, though, the "flowers" were hanabi. (Japanese for fireworks. It's written with characters meaning "flower" and "light", you see.) She likes the fountains that look like frogs, but there was no money in the budget this year for our traditional trip to the fireworks store. She and I cannot have a 4th without frog fountains, though--it's a tradition--and she'd just gotten rid of the last bunch of flowers. The choice seemed obvious to me, so I got her a couple.
Maybe I'm just a big softie. But, WTH, it's not like I broke the bank.
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Man, I need a shower.