The Raleigh/Durham area where I go to school could probably be classified as one of those small cities that people are going to... but the suburban sprawl is immense, and because it wasn't a big city, the public transportation barely exists. They just starting to put in a light rail between Raleigh and Durham (a half hour drive in no traffic) but they're meeting a lot of local opposition.....
too bad we can't get "generic" brand cars like we do with drugs.... but i'm sure that'll fuel another debate....
The biggest problem is that the local population probably probably doesn't represent enough number of people to get the attention of policymakers. Also, for small cities, they'll probably need subsidies from federal government for big projects such as improving the transit system.....
When I drive my car regularly(I don't go all that far and use my bicycle for inner-city travel!) I only fill up my tank twice per month. It costs a little over $50 to fill up the tank of my Volkswagen Golf. I hear from reliable sources that the gas tax in Japan is 90% of the cost of the gas itself! :?
Yep, the cost of living is so high in japan.... i have an aunt who lives there, she said the price of our house is probably enough to buy her bathroom :shock: !!!
Actually, according to conventional economic theory, you have it wrong. Increasing demand drives prices UP. It's increasing supply that drives prices down.
Actually, stae-of-the-art technology is VERY costly. Do you ever remember when video decks came out and how much they are now? How about those plasma TVs? Friend of mine who is developing them in Japan says the prices are expected to drop more than half of what they are now within five years so it is foolish to buy at the present.
True, or increasing demand while supply stays constant. But I'm rationalizing in this case. We probably don't see a drop in price permanently until the demand increases substantially. If demand stays constant and supply increases (a case of overstocking), we will see a drop in price (usually a sale) but the effect is temporary.
I may be overly optimistic about science and technology, but I think that if we made alternative energy sources a serious priority we could get away from dependence on oil. (Whoops! Spent the money on. . . other things.)
I think so, too. Science and technology can do some amazing things, with the right resources. I just wonder what it would take to get alternative energy sources made a higher priority. :?
True, but making that huge investment towards discovering the technology necessary to make use of alternate energy could be quite difficult. Ballard power (i think it's ballard) has spent nearly a decade trying to make use of solar power and still has not made significant discoveries (i'll have to look up this part, it's being a long time since i followed the news)...
yes, but sometimes the technology breakthrough takes FOREVER! I'm still waiting for my solar/wind powered car - still no sign of it!
