2/12/08 - Design summit suggests we might not all go to hell... - autoweek.com

[Matthijs]

Link (http://www.autoweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080212/FREE/359717752/1024/LATESTNEWS)

Nice lineup in the cavernous hall of the Art Center's South Campus Wind Tunnel!

[KarenRei]

Quite a photogenic car, isn't it? The Aptera is good at stealing the limelight. :) Think of the fact that they decided to lead with a photo of a $27k car rather than the photo of an $80k luxury plug-in hybrid or a one-off racing supercar. Look at the two guys next to the Aptera oggling it ;)

(Danger! Rant ahead)

Of course, I disagree with the "dense urban" proponents that took up half of the article. What sort of sterile, vertically stacked world do they want us all to live in? Not everyone enjoys being crammed in with a million other people in a concrete jungle, even if it's prettified by shade tolerant trees here and there. And they continue with the old fallacy that time is meaningless and irrelevant (for example, advocating solutions such as walking, biking, busses, low speed vehicles, etc -- things that can impose huge delays and distinctly does not work for many people or in many situations), when in fact time is what keeps alive the very economy that produces green tech and keeps us all alive and healthy. Not to mention "time to do what you want" being the most important aspect of "quality of life". If they have alternatives to driving, it should not be at the expense of ever-valuable "time", or it's not a solution.

The real problem is population, and that problem comes down to education and affluence. Wealthy, educated countries have low (and sometimes even negative) growth rates. We need a sustainable path to help the third world reach that point. The problem is that we've set a really bad example by living in a way that could never be applied, with current technology, to all six billion people on the planet. The level of resources needed just isn't there. Our challenge, then, is to transition ourselves over to a *desirable*, sustainable model which the third world will then strive for, before it's too late. And the Aptera is a tiny piece of that big puzzle.

I will, however, say that I love the idea of pay-as-you-drive insurance. Make it clearer to people what the real cost of their activities is. I think it'd be hard to implement and stop insurance cheats without going all Big Brother on people and putting tracking devices everywhere, but it might be possible.

Also, if they don't want people driving, why not promote telecommuting? It's a *majorly* underrated way to keep people off the roads, and it makes them happier to boot. Yet most people don't associate the word telecommuting with being environmentally friendly. Sure, it takes changes (management by objectives rather than management by observation, etc), but changes are a necessity for any transition to sustainability, and that's a lot less dramatic than, say, eliminating the use of gasoline for our transportation needs. ;) One study in 2008 determined that 33 million Americans could effectively telework if their employers allowed it, which would annually reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 67 million metric tons, eliminate 154 million miles of driving, and save $25 trillion in fuel costs, in addition to giving the workers the equivalent of five extra weeks of free time.
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(Rant over :) )

[Aptera#965]

Yep saw that this morning. I bet that article will translate to a few more deposits at Aptera.

[futura]

So... many of us want to see one (and possible make a few measurements) and the Typ1 proto keeps showing up at various SoCal venues. If I learn of any planned "showings" I'll post a note and attend if I can. Maybe others can do the same.
Cheers.

[3-4-me]

So... many of us want to see one (and possible make a few measurements) and the Typ1 proto keeps showing up at various SoCal venues. If I learn of any planned "showings" I'll post a note and attend if I can. Maybe others can do the same.
Cheers.
Great idea.
It would be nice if Aptera would shoot out an email to the people that have put their money where their mouth is.
I'm less than 30 miles from Pasadena, and would have been there in a second.

[MarrInLA]

"The real problem is population" - spot on, Karen!

[Chupacabra]

Agree with population being a major issue, and also with Aptera letting reservation owners know when its to be showcased at events!

[fritzponds]

I think they look at this forum and know that we would swarm the event to see the Aptera and might not let them leave with it. Its probably a better idea if we don't know where its going to show up.

[Dilekz]

Hmmm they should organise a day for people who already "ordered" one.
Like they could see the car and touch it.. etc :) haha

Who of you.. who have an order number have already seen the aptera in real life ?

[Jonathan Sek]

What a well written review of the "Energy Problem" by Karen. It seems as though nobody wants to talk about overpopulation with regards to resource limits and pollution problems. There was a great deal of talk back in the 70's about overpopulation and trying to stop population growth, but I guess that conversation is not PC anymore.
Jon
#1866, type-e

[Matthijs]

What a well written review of the "Energy Problem" by Karen. It seems as though nobody wants to talk about overpopulation with regards to resource limits and pollution problems. There was a great deal of talk back in the 70's about overpopulation and trying to stop population growth, but I guess that conversation is not PC anymore.
Jon
#1866, type-e

Well it seems biofuels brought back some of that conversation. I think it's all about change. Change the way we think about using energy. In all fields of living. Why do I need to eat all kinds of food all year round, why not eat food that can be produced locally? Why does almost everything need to be made (cheap) far away in china? It's all about money and not the environment.

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/04/14/the-worst-moment-in-history-to-demand-biofuels/

[Aptera #1159]

Great idea.
It would be nice if Aptera would shoot out an email to the people that have put their money where their mouth is.
I'm less than 30 miles from Pasadena, and would have been there in a second.

I live 3 minutes from idealab, and I emailed and asked when I could see it on the street. They said they could not tell me.

They are similar to Apple, I love it. Keep it up aptera, reality distortion in full affect!:D :p

Get this, the car was 3 minutes away (http://flickr.com/photos/hoish/2200968888/) from me on my birthday (Jan 17)! Too bad. (I have parked in the structure behind the car!)

You guys might want to friend the person who uploaded the photo.

[KarenRei]

I think a lot of people associate dealing with overpopulation with draconian measures (say, what China has done). In reality, it's mostly problems of poverty, education, tradition, unavailable family planning, and so on. Poverty is the really big one, because if you fix that one, all of the other things are historically shown to follow. Of course, even in the first world, there's a lot that can be done. Using hard science to set policies for reducing teenage pregnancy ("whatever works and passes peer review"), parents actually talking with their kids about sex rather than feeling too embarrassed, closing the gender gap (continued encouraging of women to get a college education -- which means they're more likely to join the workforce and have smaller families), and so on.

Population control doesn't require draconian measures. In fact, it usually comes along with a bunch of other things that would be admirable goals on their own accord. We simply have to stop being so complacent with the world as it is and actually put money into fighting these problems. And we need to set a better example so that when the third world emerges from poverty, they don't emerge into the sort of wasteful lifestyles we've been living. It needs to be a *desirable* lifestyle, but one that runs far more efficiently.