There's the glass ceiling. How about the energy ceiling?

If and when the economy revs up again, oil demand and prices could spike up again like summer of 2008.

An energy "peak oil" ceiling to prosperity. Instead of the glass ceiling, how about the gas ceiling as in gasoline.

It's like the glass ceiling that feminists talked about as an impediment to upward mobility.

Really, we'll need to redefine prosperity.

Less materialism, smaller homes, shorter commutes, more free time.

In my opinion, that could go a long way toward postponing our eventual crash back into the energy ceiling.

I prefer my bicycling lifestyle over the so called American Dream as so many people define it. Can't bicycling and public transit be part of the American Dream also?

On the other hand, most people, here in USA, aren't there, so to speak.

Maybe people are changing, but it's slow.

Here's another option.

I keep hearing, over KGO Radio in San Francisco, the suggestions of talk show host Bill Wattenburg.

Power automobiles with natural gas.

I'm not an expert on the science, but I guess it can be done fairly easily. Problem is, much of our natural gas is currently going into producing electricity.

It's being wasted producing electricity. According to Bill, electricity should be produced with nuclear power.

Use nuclear to generate electricity and free up the natural gas for transportation.

Lots of coal is used as well in generating power. It's dirty and puts carbon in the air. Nuclear is cleaner than that at least.

There's even radio active uranium dust (I guess) that comes with the coal and ironically is released into the atmosphere from coal plants. More than from nuclear plants.

This idea of natural gas for transportation and nuclear for electricity might get the economy rolling again for even the next few decades.

What about wind power? Solar power?

I keep hearing Bill say it would help but wouldn't be nearly enough energy to do the job. Or at least it would cost a lot more than the nuclear options.

I'm sure this can be debated among scientists and economists. I wouldn't know, myself, how the figures pencil out.

It's an idea.

I think it will take a lot of ideas to bring back some feeling of balance in our economy.

I'm not anti nuclear, but I also think a lot more people should ride bikes, use public transit and plan cities around living closer to destinations. If nothing else, just think of the time we could save.

Time to walk

Started out as a bike ride till I saw a friend of mine walking around Lake Padden. I joined him for part of his walk. He takes long walks clear across town. I walked my bike and had a good talk.

A bit of ice on water surface and snow on mountains reflected in water. Enlarge.

Buying experiences, not things, may increase happiness

That was an interesting segment of February 13Th NPR Science Friday show.

Here are some of my thoughts related to the concept of experience versus material consumption.

It takes time to have experiences, but time is often lacking.

Experiences can take money, but many experiences don't take money. What they do take is time.

It takes time to have an experience whether it's a walk in the neighborhood for free or an expensive retreat to some fancy resort.

Time is something that's in short supply during prosperous times when Americans seem too busy with long work hours and commutes.

Now that the economy is slowing down, there's more time, but people wonder where their next rent or mortgage check is coming from.

Some people are glad to be unemployed if they are getting unemployment.

Unemployment gives folks time for experiences.

Being without a job means time for taking classes, travel, catching up with family and friends. Walking, bicycling, exercise or just sleeping in.

People shouldn't have to be unemployed to have the time for experiencing life.

We need balance.

Maybe a shorter work week is in order. How about the three day weekend?

Hurray.

Can't be legislated, but more people could opt for a shorter workweek.

Problem is, rents and mortgages are too high.

Folks have to work too much just to maintain these ridiculous property values.

What value are people getting from living in homes that are worth 1/2 million which were only worth $50,000 some 30 years ago?

Deflation might be a good thing if it makes living more affordable again.

With all this prosperity, maybe we could go to a 32 hour work week. Increase the amount of time for quality of life. Just let the property values fall.

I know it's easier said than done.

Why should we become slaves to all this foreign capital that has flooded into USA over the past few decades? This flood of capital has pushed everything up and made living in USA almost unaffordable?

Just default on it all and relax.

Even the material things we buy, these days, take time to use. Electronics keeps getting more sophisticated for little cost.

The digital camera, I just bought, costs a fraction of what one month's rent for a studio apartment is. At the same time, this cheap digital camera has so many bells and whistles that one must go on vacation just to have the time to learn it's many features.

To keep up the economy, we have to start buying, but we don't really have time to effectively consume what we buy.

Then all this consuming adds to global warming. We need more "time off" the economic tread mill.

I feel lucky that my rent is still affordable and my modest job is still healthy.

It's time to go out and take a walk.

Green collar jobs

One of the guests of Diane Rehm's round table discussion about green collar jobs on NPR was Representative Jay Inslee from Seattle area.

He had some optimistic things to say about clean energy investments that are part of the stimulus bill.

I remember meeting Inslee when he did a presentation about clean energy several years ago here in Bellingham.

Formerly leaning toward Libertarian now leaning more Democrat, Gene Burns is interesting to hear

At times, I tune into the Gene Burns show on KGO Radio in San Francisco. 7 to 10 PM Pacific Time on Weeknights.

Interesting that he's able to refute some of the libertarian arguments, he used to lean that way, but now sounds more like a Democrat. Voted for Obama.

A few nights ago, he talked about his changes in thinking.

I remember years ago, when his discussions were more libertarian sounding. Talked a lot about reducing government spending and market regulation.

Now he's able to point out some of the limitations in that thinking. It's interesting to hear this from someone who knows more than one perspective from the inside, so to speak.

The economy needs government as a consumer

Just the fact that so much effort and money is being put into the stimulus package acknowledges government's role as a consumer.

Government has credit, usually pays its bills, orders in bulk. Government contracts are often the low hanging fruit for businesses.

Private enterprise can do the job such as sub contractors, but government does the buying.

Usually, the things government buys are things we need that private markets haven't figured out how to pay for. Haven't figured out very well at least.

Roads for instance.

Really, I should say "transportation arteries." This includes trails, rail and all.

We need ways to get from here to there. We have lots of bottlenecks that need addressing.

Imagine private enterprise without roads.

More realistically, imagine private enterprise with poor roads. That's where we've been headed as economic growth has often outpaced infrastructure.

Congestion.

Yes, it's about getting the trucks through and more.

Of course, with our transportation system clogged, private enterprise could innovate around the bottleneck.

Telecommute to work rather than drive.

It helps, but I don't see a mass Exodus from clogged roads to telecommuting. Also the Internet, itself, started as government experimentation and investment.

Government does play an important role as a consumer.

Problem is, it carries lots of guilt. Where's the money coming from?

Government keeps talking about the need to cut back and balance the budget.

Well now it looks like government's role as a consumer is cherished. Cherished enough to hope the stimulus package works.

One fear is that the stimulus package will not be able to be temporary.

Our economy has become so dependent on government that it can't be withdrawn.

For instance, lots of the stimulus package is bailing out state governments so their "engines of employment" can keep running in spite of huge state deficits.

This is something really understood in college towns like Bellingham and Pullman, WA. Home of state universities.

Often it seems like local businesses are just here to serve the universities.

Looks like the old Republican ideas that government shouldn't play much of a role have died.

Maybe they can be revived if some careful thinking is done about having the marketplace pay for the things we really need.

Do we need more strip malls? Especially if the roads are clogged?

New bike racks at WWU

Picture taken standing under the cover of a big new bike rack at Western Washington University.

Yes, I'm still boasting about bicycle things. Bicycling is a way to address so many of our economic problems from high health care costs to trade imbalances due to oil imports.