Gasoline inefficiency statistic of the day

A computer screen shot of part of National Geographic's "World Without Oil' promotional web page.

We all know oil is a finite resource but few of us seem to pay much attention to this fundamental fact.

Our basic tendency toward short-term and short-sighted thinking is largely to blame. As individuals, and as a society -- and here I'm talking about global society, although I believe short-sightedness is especially extreme in the United States -- we rarely think beyond the next year and certainly almost never beyond a five-year horizon.

Syncrude oil sands operations from the air. (Photo David Dodge, The Pembina Institute. www.oilsandwatch.org)

There are so many reasons to leave oil behind, buy an EV or PHEV, and solar-charge it.

We hardly need any more for the list, but here's a another one, just for good measure:

The so-called oil sands of the great Canadian prairies.

Bloom Energy is working hard to associate its Bloom Box with green-ness. But how green it is depends on what form of fuel it draws on.

CBS' 60 Minutes recently aired a piece on an innovative new energy device -- set to be officially unveiled tomorrow (Wednesday, Feb. 24) -- that its makers claim could revolutionize energy production and, they say, will make it both more democratic and greener.

The Bloom Energy Bloom Box.

Called the Bloom Box, it's a compact, concentrated fuel-cell device that supposedly is so efficient that just two tiny boxes would be able to serve as a power platform for an average single-family American home.

In fact, the Bloom Box looks rather like a magic box. Unfortunately, 60 Minutes frames its "exclusive" -- and largely uncritical -- story on the Bloom Box to make the device seem like (green) magic, too.