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American automakers stuck with unsold gas-guzzlers

In 2006, droves (pun intended?) of Americans bought new fuel-efficient vehicles, while sales of large trucks and SUVs declined, leaving U.S. carmakers with hundreds of thousands of trucks and SUVs rusting on their lots. Chrysler alone had not sold 500,000 of its 2006 vehicles as of September! What an insanely colossal waste of resources that represents.

Jesse Toprak, Executive Director of Industry Analysis for the respected auto review site Edmunds.com, had this to say recently about the situation:

Gas prices will be a leading factor in how consumers choose what vehicles they purchase in the coming year. Automakers who are prepared for that trend will enjoy great success in 2007.

With the leading producer of hybrid vehicles, Toyota, about to overtake GM as the world's top carmaker, Detroit should take notice and stop making so many awful/unwanted vehicles.

From Grist

Far above the golden clouds, the darkness vibrates The earth is blue And everything about it is a love song — Paul Simon

Every one destined to be 100% correct

Last week I reviewed the top ten green stories of 2006. But looking back is easy. What’s going to happen in 2007? I have no clue. But being wrong carries […]

Time for greens to get over their fear of big government

In a recent post, Ron Steenblik wrote:

Indeed, I am generally a skeptic of heavy-handed market manipulation.

A perfectly reasonable position for environmentalists in general to take, especially after the history of Big Oil, Big Coal, Big Corn, etc. using their power with the state.

Not to dump on Ron -- who only provided the most recent example of this general skepticism -- but greens in general need to get over their suspicion of the state; in particular, they need to move beyond the small-government, market-focused ideas deeded to us by some of our brightest lights (the Amory Lovinses of the world.)

Lots

Another year has come and gone and environmentalists of all stripes have good reason to be hopeful that 2007 is going to be a lot better for the environment than 2006. As we prepare for important work in the areas of marine policy, climate change, and the upcoming Farm Bill, it's a good idea to take part in a great New Year's tradition: looking back and seeing what we learned, especially things that challenged our preconceived notions.

So here's a partial list of things that I learned in 2006 (please feel free to add yours below):

Good stuff

Here’s the line-up from Friday night’s episode of the Charlie Rose Show: Segment 1: The pursuit of alternative energy and breakthroughs in green technology with John Doerr of Kleiner, Perkins, […]

New report indicates

Here's an amusingly giddy account of a recent report released by CIA types: "National Security Consequences of U.S. Oil Dependency."

Oil Drum covered it back when it came out, but if you haven't had a look, do check it out. It's a significant sign of intellectual life in the halls of power.

60 groups fight for modest energy efficiency budget

Wow, this is sad:

In a letter sent today to the Members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives Committees on Appropriations, 60 business, environmental, and faith-based organizations urged Congress to reject the White House Fiscal Year 2007 (FY07) budget request for the U.S. Department of Energy's renewable energy and energy efficiency programs. Instead, they called for full funding of the cross-section of sustainable energy programs up to the levels authorized by the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct).

Talk about fighting for scraps.

Read the full letter (PDF). They're haggling over millions of dollars. A single Pentagon weapons program could cover all these expenses 100 times over. Priorities ...

WTF?

I am shocked -- shocked! -- to learn that not a single Gristmill post appeared in the top ten posts of 2006. What about my classic post on cogeneration? The kids went crazy over that one!

In the NYT and Sierra

Congrats to The New York Times for its excellent "Energy Challenge" series, which Revkin tells me will be an ongoing concern for the paper into the new year. It's packed with info and marks the decisive mainstreaming of this debate.

That said, I'm not sure the reader forum is working for me. Surely there's a better way of presenting this stuff than a single vertical column of comments -- as of right now, 412 comments. It's a bit overwhelming.

Anyway, while I'm passing out kudos, check out the latest issue of Sierra Magazine as well. It's also about "Energizing America." It hypes energy efficiency and bashes ethanol and nuclear power, and that's aces in my book.