The essence of the matter, imho, is that the US economy has weakened. The US economy has weakened for various reasons, and Bernie Sanders has been keen to highlight some of the biggest: rigging of the political system and economy to disproportionately benefit the super rich, which is harming the middle class, the lower class, and even much of the middle-upper or even upper class! It is a tiny # of people who are benefiting that you can’t even visually compare to the global population on a pie chart. To some extent, these policies do also benefit the rich and upper-middle class, but none of this matters even for them in the long run if the middle class collapses. Trump, like Sanders, obviously taps into dissatisfaction among the population, dissatisfaction that their lives are so challenging. Ironically, while Trump does so as well, Trump’s domestic policies and preferences seem like they would only worsen the situation (his tax proposals benefit the super rich, not the middle class).

Also, ironically, the GOP has enabled Trump’s rise on the back of the unhappiness of the middle class because their #1 target over the past 7 years (as stated by the Congressional leader of the GOP early on) was to make Obama unsuccessful. Rather than earnestly work for compromises in ideology and policy for the betterment of the country, the aim was: 1) don’t let Obama do well (aka, don’t let Obama help the country), and 2) stir up, via dishonest and angry commentary in the media and political circles, dissatisfaction with the country under Obama. As noted by others during most of this campaign season, Trump simply took that to another level and turned it on establishment Republicans as well. Trump simply followed the course the GOP leaders had been on for 7 years, and tossed some disco balls on top.

How Republicans can be shocked that Trump is the presidential nominee of their party actually surprises me. He (rich, old, white nationalist who is relatively selfish, self-centered, and not looking to help anyone unless he gets something better in return) and his rhetoric (racist, xenophobic, sexist, and flat out rude) is the epitome of the Republican party of the past few decades (not just the past several years). It simply isn’t being cloaked in a suit, tie, and smile like it has been since Reagan. This is what the party leadership has been working for. This is what the party leadership has been promoting. This is what the party has become.

Some in the Republican party may not immediately understand or like this *because* they identify with the party’s ideology of limited government but they don’t identify with these things. Let me be very clear: not all Republicans belong to the current Republican party. Many of them don’t belong. Furthermore, as much as I wish it were otherwise, the historical “limited government” ideal is heavily promoted by establishment Democrats like Obama and the Clintons. Progressives who want strong involvement in government in order to provide a much stronger social safety net, stronger regulation of the financial industry, much stronger regulation of fossil fuels, and stronger regulation of societally threatening industries have slowly grown in numbers and voice as moderate Democrats have dominated Washington, DC. Like Trump supporters, they are tired of a system that benefits the super rich and the already-comfortable. This is why Bernie Sanders was able to achieve nearly unprecedented success without the support of a network of super-rich political sponsors, and with such a tremendous number of small donations from common people. This is why Elizabeth Warren is the golden lady of the political internet, and why many were pushing for her to run for president or run for vice president alongside Bernie.

The fundamental point of all of this, imho, is that the political elite in the Republican and Democratic parties need to take serious strides in taking power and money away from the super rich and returning it to the masses.

That’s a hard pill to swallow for political elites who think the system works fine. That’s a hard, chemically loaded pill to swallow for the industries (banking, insurance, pharmaceuticals, fossil fuels) that are used to throwing money at politicians and benefiting financially as a result (to the demise of 80–99% of the population). That’s like saying, “okay, we need to fundamentally change the rules of the game so that we don’t win our 30th consecutive national championship” (as “viewership” drops and rioting becomes a threat).

But it’s (obviously) something that these political elites need to recognize after the success of Trump in the GOP primaries and the success of Sanders on the other side of the coin. Otherwise, the political typhoon continues… and who knows what else?

*Thanks to Rhonda Winter and others for the chart above.

The post The Political Tsunami We Are Sitting In appeared first on ZacharyShahan.com.

Tesla CPO Program

This is probably the most well known among our readers. But in case you missed the news, Tesla has a certified pre-owned (CPO) program. You can search nationwide (or presumably in Europe if your browser redirects you to one of Tesla’s European websites) or you can search several popular markets: Atlanta, Chicago, Denver, Florida, Hawaii, Los Angeles, New York, Ohio, Orange County/San Diego, Pennsylvania, San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, and Washington DC.

You can also search by the specific type of Tesla Model S you’d like (battery size and RWD vs AWD) and by color. On the search results page, you can see the year of the Model S, # of miles on the car, the VIN number, and the price. Some of the cars are inventory cars Tesla is now selling, which means that they are still eligible for the $7,500 US federal tax credit. In those cases, that is indicated on the search results page and the car is put in order based on the price after that tax credit.

Checking the site out last night, I found what look like 4 enticing options:

2013 Tesla Model S 60 in Florida (Blue)

This 2013 Model S is not decked out, but if you are looking for one of the lowest-priced Model Ss around, this has the crown right now on the CPO site. And it does include Tan Leather Interior, Obeche Wood Gloss Décor, and the Tech Package.

Oh, the price! Just $52,900.

And the car just has 6,344 miles on it.

This one genuinely has my interest.

2013 Tesla Model S 85 in San Francisco Bay Area (Brown)

I’m a huge fan of the brown Model Ss, which is no longer a color option. With quite a low price, this one definitely has my attention as well. Aside from the brown color and all the normal jazz, this car also has Tan Leather Interior, Obeche Wood Matte Décor, the Tech Package, and Active Air Suspension.

Its price is a reasonable $60,200.

The car does have 26,425 miles on it, so it’s clearly a lot more used than the blue Model S above.

2012 Tesla Model S P85 in Florida (Black)

For slightly less than that brown 85, you can actually get a P85. However, it is an earlier car and has a few more miles on it. Nonetheless, it does have 21″ Silver Wheels, Tan Performance Interior, Carbon Fiber Décor Carbon Fiber Spoiler, the Tech Package, Active Air Suspension, and the Sound Studio Package.

The price is a very respectable $59,000.

It has 27,248 miles on it.

2015 Tesla Model S 85 in Washington DC (Black)

If you’re looking for a newer Model S with Autopilot (that’s the biggie for me that is keeping me from jumping on an older Model S…), here’s a good option.

The car just has 1,482 miles on it and was apparently a Tesla demo/loaner car, as it is still eligible for the $7,500 US federal tax credit. The car includes Tan Nappa Leather Seats, Obeche Wood Matte Décor, Matching Yacht Floor, and the Tech Package with Autopilot.

Looks like a very attractive offering. The cash price before EV incentives is $79,870, which the US federal tax credit can bring down to $72,370.

Plenty of good options. But you can search for more matching what you’d want over on the Tesla CPO page.

There’s also an independent CPO tracker page set up where you can quickly sort by numerous specific features and info: CPO vs Inventory, location, trim, tech package, autopilot, RWD vs AWD, color, type of roof, wheel size, interior, year, miles, price, and even VIN.

Nissan LEAFs & BMW i3s & Tesla Model Ss

What about non-Teslas? I recently discovered CARFAX for those, and it looks like an excellent resource. You can search nationwide (just don’t put in a zip code when prompted) or around a specific location. One nice thing is that it shows the number of times the car has been services and the number of accidents/damage reports the car has seen. It also indicates mileage, all the specifics you can imagine, where the car was last owned, and whether it was a personal or business vehicle.

BMW i3s

One great find that I’m seriously considering is this grey 2014 BMW i3 in Orlando, Florida. It would be fairly easy for me to go check out this vehicle, and the price is about the same as a 3-year lease would cost me, and it’s about $9,000 less than a 3-year lease of a Model S. Enticing…

Oh, btw, the price is $26,999.

It comes with a number of nifty features I’d love: rain-sensing wipers, a navigation system, adaptive cruise control, and more. Hmm…

There are currently 21 other BMW i3s listed that match my search on CARFAX as well, but that seems to be an error in their system, because after showing those first 22, the site shows “Other cars with free CARFAX Reports” and I’m seeing several more pages of i3s. Anyhow, other hot offers seem to be a silver one in Florida for $29,995, a grey REx in Indiana for $31,990, a silver one in Texas for $25,800 (the lowest I’m seeing), and on and on.

Nissan LEAFs

Checking out Nissan LEAFs, I’ve got 214 results at the moment, with the lowest priced ones coming in at $7,495 (a 2011 SL model with ~66,000 miles on it in Tennessee — wouldn’t recommend, given Nissan’s early battery issues), $7,999 (another 2011 SL model, but with ~38,000 miles on it and in California), and $8,299 (yet another 2011 SL model, with ~43,000 miles on it and in California).

I think you’re getting the idea.

Those certainly aren’t the oldest electric cars in the world, but they’re too early in this generation of electric cars (and, particularly, LEAFs) for my taste. Limited initial range + battery degradation doesn’t make for a happy camper… literally.

The lowest prices 2013 LEAF I’m finding on there at the moment is $8,999 with 18,532 miles in Florida, the lowest for a 2014 LEAF is $11,450 with 20,676 miles in North Carolina, and the lowest for a 2015 LEAF is $13,000 with 24,000 in Georgia (with 6 service records…).

Tesla Model Ss

While many prefer to go through Tesla’s own CPO program, some also prefer to buy on the conventional used car market. CARFAX seems to have 170 Model Ss on its site, with the lowest priced one going for $52,998. It’s a white Model S 60 (…or 40 — it’s unclear) with 33,540 miles and reportedly no service records (that seems unlikely, so worth checking before buying). It’s white and includes the panoramic sunroof. Overall, it looks like a solid buy if it comes with the initial warranty (and preferably an option to extend the warranty).

If you’ve been waiting for good used car sales to go electric, I think you can now enjoy the convenience of electric driving — and its many other benefits — with at least one of the options out there right now.

Of course, I’d say it’s important to check out in person any used cars you might buy before you agree to anything. The stats and statements on the website are only part of the story.

And if there are service records or accident records, it’s important to dig in and try to find out what those were.

Hopefully this overview is helpful, and I’m hoping to learn from readers a few more shopping tips for used electric cars. This is something I just recently started exploring.

The post Used Nissan LEAFs, BMW i3, & Tesla Model Ss — Some Great Deals appeared first on ZacharyShahan.com.

As JB went on to explain, Tesla plans to put more lithium-ion battery capacity into the cars it produces in 2020 than was produced by all companies for all purposes in 2013. After talking about Tesla’s planned Model 3, an affordable yet long-range electric car, JB jumps into that topic. You can watch that part starting about 27:17 into the presentation. You can jump directly there via that link, or you can watch the entire presentation as it is embedded below.

The good news is, with a massive explosion in the production of lithium-ion batteries, it is expected costs will drop a lot. One recent report projected that battery costs would fall 40–60% by 2020. Some reports have even much more aggressive projections that that.

A few key battery companies are driving the cost drops and increased production. One is Tesla Motors of course, and its key battery partner, Panasonic — the 2015 Zayed Future Energy Prize winner in the “Large Corporation” category. Others include LG Chem, Samsung, and AESC, just to name a few key companies.

The electric vehicle revolution is coming, but the core technologies and companies behind it are really the batteries and leading battery companies. Automakers can only do with cars what batteries enable. Luckily, batteries are better than ever, improving faster than ever, and growing in number faster than ever.

The post The Explosion of Lithium-Ion Batteries appeared first on ZacharyShahan.com.

But then things changed… gasoline cars got better (for example, through the use of an electric starter) and battery technology remained limiting — preventing electric cars from developing very good driving range, charging quickly, etc. As we all know, gasoline cars took over. It wasn’t really until the late 1900s/early 2000s that the development of lithium-ion battery technology enabled the current EV revolution. Tesla Motors CTO JB Straubel recently discussed this (and plenty of other matters) during a presentation at the University of Nevada. It’s a pretty fascinating presentation, and I learned a few things, so I encourage you to watch it:

In 2014, the electric car market reached 740,000 units sold. This year (2015), it has passed 1 million. The market is maturing quickly, but it is still a tiny portion of the overall car market. That is expected to change as more and more people become aware that electric cars are more convenient and more fun than gasoline cars, while also having several other benefits. I’m convinced they are the future… and for some of us, the present! JB clearly is as well. We’ll see.

The post How Cell Phones Enabled The EV Revolution appeared first on ZacharyShahan.com.

Nonetheless, technological transitions or revolutions don’t happen overnight. In fact, it can take a long time for the masses to even hear about a new technology, let alone use it and buy it. And let’s be honest: we aren’t all Albert Einsteins. Far from it. Basic reasoning may not be a forte of the human species. The obvious will come to light, but it will take some time.

That gets into a matter that I recently realized is one reason I find the EV revolution so interesting. It’s not a simple technological fix. Sure, this has all been made possible from 100+ years of electric car history, and if battery prices drop low enough, electric cars will be so much cheaper and better than gasmobiles that the only people left out of the transition will be those folks “rolling coal.” At the moment, though, the cost is comparable enough that we have to consider the advantages and disadvantages of electric cars vs gasmobiles in order to make a purchasing decision. This is where things get interesting, imho.

First, let me make the case that I think is quite obvious once you drive a fully electric car:

1) Electric cars accelerate much more quickly.

2) Electric cars accelerate and drive much more smoothly and quietly.

3) Electric cars are much more convenient (since ~95% of the time, you simply plug in at home, which just takes a few seconds; and since there’s much less maintenance, including no need for oil, no muffler, no transmission, very few moving parts, less wear and tear on brakes, etc).

Aside from these very direct benefits, other strong benefits include:

4) Zero local emissions, which is better for your health.

5) Zero greenhouse gas emissions if you charge on electricity from clean, renewable sources. And much-reduced emissions even if you charge from the grid.

6) Energy independence or self-reliance, on the national/regional level at least, but potentially on the individual level.

7) You greatly reduced your contribution to the volatile oil-based economy and oil wars.

The downsides?

1) When you do (infrequently) need to charge away from home, charging stations are still less ubiquitous than gas stations, and charging takes longer.

2) A higher upfront cost for a comparably equipped (in the interior) gasoline car (which may or may not be offset over the life of your ownership, depending on various personal variables).

While I think the choice is obvious, many people initially presented with the option to switch to an electric car don’t do so. So the question is, why not? Two obvious reasons are simply lack of awareness and lack of experience. But I think the issue goes far beyond those, unfortunately.

The thing is, much of how we operate in the world is due to habits we’ve developed, and these outer habits are often influenced by even deeper inner habits of thought, and assumptions that may or may not be true. Our personal history often locks us into a viewpoint that is too narrow.

I think this sort of thing is definitely preventing a lot of people from understanding the full story of EVs vs gas-guzzlers. For one, people’s initial reaction regarding charging is about where public chargers are and how long it takes to charge, completely not “getting” that 95% of charging is likely to be a work or at home. From Brian Kent:

It’s going to take some time for people to understand that even if it takes longer to charge an electric car, it’s much more convenient on the whole. As some EV owners like to put it, you wake up to a “full tank” every day, or it’s like “having a gas pump in your garage” (or at your on-street parking spot). You can forget all about the hassle of going to a gas station!

Another barrier is a simple apprehensiveness about new technology. A lot of people are scared of change, and that translates into a fear of new things. As I noted above, electric cars aren’t actually new, but they clearly aren’t the incumbent technology, and most people have no real experience with them. This barrier sits in the way of most technological revolutions, but the good thing is that human willingness to try new things sits on a kind of spectrum. Some are super eager to dive into new tech, then others are simply eager to, then others get intrigued and will do so once a few others have tested the waters, then others come on board when they have a few friends or family members jump in, and so on. So, with time, I think it is a given that this barrier will come down.

What can we do to advance the EV revolution at a quicker pace? Basically, we can get our cities to do what these cities are doing, and we can share our own enthusiasm and experience regarding the electric future we are creating.

Images: LIFE magazine ad photographed by Bob Post; Nissan LEAF & Renault ZOE photos by Zachary Shahan | EV Obsession | CleanTechnica; LEAF charging meme by Brian Kent; and Tesla Model S (+ me) photo by Marika Shahan.

The post Why The Electric Vehicle Transition Is So Interesting To Me appeared first on ZacharyShahan.com.

As we inch into the electric vehicle revolution, some cities and countries are clearly doing more than others. While it makes sense for basically all cities to incentive zero-emission transport that will keep their air cleaner, their citizens healthier, and their climate more livable, only a handful have strong foresight around this matter right now. In this article, I want to highlight some of the strong leaders.

1) Oslo, Norway, has to be considered #1. Part of its success is due to policies of the broader government and general consumer awareness. Well above any other country in the world, about 25% of new car sales in Norway are now electric car sales. But Oslo is certainly a big part of that success. It offers electric car drivers access to bus lanes, access to HOV lanes, free parking, free ferries, free toll bridge access, and free electric vehicle charging options. That’s a lot, and it is paying off.

2) Amsterdam, the Netherlands, is another European city offering a good home for an electric car owner. Again, national financial incentives are a big help, but the city is also doing its part. If you have an electric car and park on the street but don’t have a charger in your neighborhood, or don’t have enough of them, you can request one from the city and it will install it on your street in a relatively short period of time. With charging stations all around the city, you can use a single card that you simply hold in front of the machine to initiate a charging session. Amsterdam also offers extra financial incentives for electric taxis and vans (€5,000). The city was also the first in Europe to bring in the electric Car2Go carsharing program. And then Amsterdam also benefits from Fastned, which has its headquarters there.

3) San Francisco, USA, also has to be in this list. Again, broader regional support is a big part of San Francisco’s success, with residents benefiting from the $7,500 US federal tax credit for EVs and the $2,500 ZEV rebate from California. But San Francisco piles it on with its own incentives, such as HOV lane access, a large number of charging stations, some free EV charging, a home EV charger subsidy, public education campaigns, an EV readiness requirement in its building code, a workplace charging program, a city electric carsharing program, and other things. It tops large US cities in EV adoption and support in a number of ways.

4) Palo Alto, USA, is another California city leading the way into an electric future. The above cities are all large cities, but smaller cities are important to the EV revolution as well, and Palo Alto is a leader in this realm. From an EV readiness plan, to public education events, to EV charging infrastructure, to nearly 100% procurement of electric vehicles for city needs, it is a small city doing big things. Check out this presentation by Gil Friend, Chief Sustainability Officer for the City of Palo Alto, for more:

Thanks to these great cities for leading the way into the electric vehicle future. Let’s hope others follow their lead sooner rather than later.

Amsterdam pictures by Marika Shahan & Zachary Shahan | EV Obsession | CleanTechnica (CC BY-SA 4.0)

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First of all, let’s note that there are several things driving down solar costs. For one, as industries mature and grow, the greater demand leads to economies of scale in manufacturing, which brings down costs. Manufacturers as well as installers are also continuously improving and bringing their costs and prices down. It’s also worth noting that a number of strong solar incentives from governments have been cut or reduced in places around the world, which (theoretically) forces solar companies to bring their costs down in order to stay competitive. On the flip side, governmental policies that reduce red tape help a great deal to bring down costs, and there has been a strong push to cut such unnecessary burdens. Lastly, banks have become much more familiar and comfortable with solar, which has brought about more financing options and, most importantly, lower-cost financing.

But the question remains, how fast are solar prices dropping today? It’s hard to know, but it’s fun to look at some of the record-low solar prices that have been popping up in the past year or two. Check these out:

• New Mexico, USA (Feb 2013): 5.8 cents/kWh (presumably, 8.5 cents/kWh without subsidies)
• Texas, USA (May 2014): under 5 cents/kWh (presumably, under 7.1 cents/kWh without subsidies)
• Dubai, UAE (April 2015): 5.84 cents/kWh
• Texas, USA (July 2015): under 4 cents/kWh (presumably, under 5.7 cents/kWh without subsidies)
• Saudi Arabia (Aug 2015): under 5 cents/kWh

Naturally, those are for “utility-scale” solar power plants. Many people couldn’t care less about utility-scale solar but are curious about residential solar prices. We can’t track record-low residential prices like we can for large solar power plants, but market research from SEIA & GTM Research, from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and from Pick My Solar has shown that the downward price trend has been almost continuous. Here are a couple of recent charts from these solar price trackers:

US solar PV prices 1998–2014 graph via LBNL/SunShot

US installed solar PV prices via SEIA/GTM Research

US installed solar PV prices via SEIA/GTM Research

So, again, the story is probably this: If you got a price quote a year or two ago, it was probably quite a bit higher than a solar price quote you’d get today.

The post How Fast Are Solar Prices Dropping? appeared first on ZacharyShahan.com.

When I was in high school, a few people had beepers, and basically no one had a cell phone. If you were away from home and wanted to make a call, you had to search out a payphone. Just a few years later, a lot of people were buying cell phones. Not much of a phone person and not much of a tech person, I figured I’d not get a cell phone at all… as in, ever. “What’s the point?” … A few years later, I got a cell phone. Nowadays, we have smartphones and few people have a landline at home. “What’s the point?”

Similar transitions have occurred when it comes to computers, laptops, tablets, washing machines, dishwashers, and other technologies. I’m convinced the next such transitions will be to solar power and electric cars. And I’ll explain below.

1905 Woods Electric

First of all, though, it’s worth noting that electric cars have a long history. They accounted for a huge portion of the car market at the beginning of the 1900s. They were especially popular with women since they were much cleaner, easier to start, and required less maintenance. Then, the electric starter was invented, making it easier and quicker to start gasmobiles, and the affordable Ford Model T was rolled out. With very short ranges, due to battery capabilities of the time, and very limited public charging, those early electric cars slowly went out of style.

One of the things that has changed the story today is that battery technology has improved dramatically. Today’s lithium-ion batteries make some electric cars cost-competitive with “comparable” gasmobiles my on a life of ownership basis. The thing is, though, you can’t really compare electric cars with gasmobiles. Electric cars have some huge benefits that gasmobiles can’t acquire.

Chevy Volt in Amsterdam

First of all, electric cars are extremely convenient. We just assume today that going to the gas station is a part of life, like we used to assume that you basically had to be at home or work to receive a call. But with an electric car, you can simply plug in when you get home and then unplug when you leave again. It’s about as simple and quick as unlocking and locking the front door, or checking them mail. Based on today’s driving patterns and available electric cars, such charging should cover over 90% of driving for most of us, and even over 99% for a large number of us. Generally speaking, the convenience from that greatly surpasses the inconvenience of finding a public charging station very occasionally when you need one.

Instant torque graph shows why even a Nissan LEAF crushes a typical gasmobile off the line.

The second great consumer benefit of electric cars is their drive quality. They come with “instant torque,” which means all your power right when you step on the electricity pedal. That acceleration is a ton of fun, and also super useful when turning onto a busy road, entering a roundabout, or getting into the other lane right after a red light. That’s not the end of the better drive quality, though. Electric motors make a very tiny amount of noise, so they are much quieter and smoother to drive than gasmobiles. It’s something you notice and appreciate right away, but once you get used to it, it makes going back to a noisy gasmobile weird and hugely unpleasant.

I think those two benefits alone will make the masses switch to electricity. Once you experience those benefits, driving a gasoline-powered car feels as ancient as calling someone on a landline. But there are other huge benefits as well.

BMW i3 with ubitricity branding in Berlin.

The biggest societal crisis the world has ever faced is probably global warming and the resulting climate change. About a third of global warming pollution comes from transportation, largely private automobiles. Electric cars are about 3 times more efficient and the electricity can of course come from clean, renewable energy. Electric cars are a critical solution to global warming, and anyone who cares about solving this problem (as we all should) who is still driving a gasmobile should be planning a switch to electric mobility.

Renault Zoe in the UK… eagerly awaiting my test drive.

Aside from global warming, gasmobiles are of course a huge source of air pollution. Switching to electric cars means the air around us will be cleaner and we will suffer less from pollution-related health problems (which often even lead to early death).

Furthermore, almost all of us live in countries where we import a tremendous amount of oil from foreign countries in order to enable our driving habits, often from countries that aren’t particularly friendly to us. Trillions of dollars worth of oil are imported into developed countries. Wars have been fought and countless lives lost simply to protect oil supplies. Electric cars offer the potential of energy independence and self-reliance, on the national level and even on the personal level.

For these reasons, there are already almost one million electric cars on the road, but I think that we will see almost all new cars driving on electricity before long. For once, I think I’ll be on the front end of a technology transition!

Beautiful brown Tesla Model S in Amsterdam… and me in front.

Top image via the Steampunk Facebook page

Related: Solar + Electric Transport = Huge Social Implications

The post Why The Future Of Cars Is Electric appeared first on ZacharyShahan.com.

Energy is a basic need. Transportation is a basic need. Satisfying these needs, however, has resulted in massive wealth inequality. The supermajority send their money to essentially just a handful of super-rich people at the top of oil, coal, natural gas, and utility companies. The centralized nature of the energy industry today results in centralized accumulation of wealth. Non-renewable and non-local fuels require a huge potion of our household budgets. It is a constant, one-way stream of cash leaving our hands, and even the world’s poorest send their minuscule earnings to monopolists in order to burn kerosene for light.

Solar power, cheaper than fossil fuels in the developing world and much of the developed world, can free billions from the continuous monthly or even more frequent cycle of wealth transfer. This clean form of energy offers not only power for our appliances, lights, and computers, but also social and political power. While the super-rich will lose influence, the poor and middle class will gain freedom and persuasiveness.

Electric vehicles bring this transition to another level. Again, we are currently sending trillions of dollars to the super-rich in exchange for fuel that we quickly burn. It is like throwing money down the drain. At the same time, that fuel we burn harms our health and shortens our lives. Electric cars, meanwhile, have zero emissions and can be charged with electricity from low-cost renewable resources such as solar and wind power. They again increase our energy independence and self reliance. The social and political ramifications are broad and considerable.

It may take decades for this transition to play out. We may only slowly see how it changes our lives and our world, but one day, we will be able to look back and put the puzzle together quite clearly.

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Really, which is an extreme diet — vegetarianism or the “normal” diet that kills the average person 20% faster.

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