That'll be $25 Million, please
Slashdot gave me a reason to write about global warming.
Branson's offering up a $25 Million bounty to whoever can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 1 Billion tonnes per year. That would be easy though. According to this emissions report documenting 1997, there are over 5 Billion tonnes produced every year. By now it is probably 6. So, we need to reduce it by 1/6th.
The Solution: mandatory real time Fuel Economy Displays in all new cars. Ten years from now about 50% of the active auto population would have them. 50% of people would at least be conscience of their bad driving habits and, hopefully, be making the necessary corrections to increase their fuel economy.
Could 50% of people drive 30% better? Well, there is certainly a lot of room for improvement. Either way, things would be better. Every person I've every met who's used one gets addicted to it and continually tries to beat their old records.
You only need to take a short walk to see how stupid most city drivers are. Pedal to the floor on green... continue as fast as possible, changing lanes if needed... 100 yards from a red stomp on the brake... repeat. Show them how bad it really is and maybe things will catch on. Who knows, with the extra attention being payed to how their driving, it may even improve collision and accident rates.
Looks like one forward thinking senator's had this thought also. Maybe she will split the $25 Mill with me :)