Oh well, seein' as how Japan's population is actually declining, it'd make sense that they'd use less GHGs.

and i'll be charging it off of solar power.

e.g.
Japan could cut its gasoline use by 5-10% overnight without pulling a single car off the road if people would just stop idling their engines unnecessarily. It is a staggeringly huge problem which most Japanese don't even recognize. If you ask someone about it they will just say, "Really? Not many people do that." I did dozens of informal surveys in mall parking lots and overnight highway rest stops and consistently found 15-25% of cars were idling, sometimes for 8 hrs straight. I encountered tremendous resistence to reducing idling though I never got a clear answer why.

e.g.
Heating and cooling  costs could be dramatically slashed through proper insulation programs. Most buildings have little or no insulation which results in most people keeping heating/cooling systems running full blast most of the time.

e.g.
Japanese businesses cooperate in ways generally not seen in the west. If they say they will adopt voluntary reductions they are more likely to follow through with real action.

It's a word that is the opposite of the Peak Oilers, the IPCC Crypto-Maltusians and the Anthrogenic Global Warmers.

A Cornucopian!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cornucopian

A cornucopian is someone who believes that continued progress and provision of material items for mankind can be met by advances in technology. Fundamentally there is enough matter and energy on the Earth to provide plenty for the estimated peak population of about 9 billion in 2050. However, this must also mean that there is enough for the current world population but starvation and fuel poverty have not been eradicated, suggesting that the problem is not a lack of resources but the distribution of said resources by the current economic and political system. Looking further into the future the abundance of matter and energy in space would appear to give humanity almost unlimited room for growth.

 

Stay positive, love your life.

BTW: Justification on the basis of ideology probably doesn't count.

George Mobus


George Mobus, Associate Professor, Institute of Technology, University of Washington Tacoma, and Professional Student for Life

Based on the previous two centuries of unprecedented human prosperity brought to mankind by Global Warming.

For hybrids, this isn't a problem, but with other engine types it can lead to massive pollution.  In fact, I remember a study a few years back that said lung cancer rates in urban areas were actually higher in people who lived near major intersections than near major freeways and highways.  Idling pollution can be very bad for your health.

Most Japanese people seemed to shrug off the question. I have the feeling that they are taught to leave the engine idling somehow because it was so prevalent but no one would confirm that for me. Typical examples that I witnessed daily included people parking at home and then chatting on the phone 5-10 minutes before going inside; cars idling while the owner was grocery shopping (often with a baby left alone inside); returning shoppers starting their engine and then loading the groceries and feeding the baby before pulling out of the parking lot; families eating fast food in the parking lot with the engine running; truck drivers having a midday nap with the engine running; etc, etc, etc.

There are a lot of other really bad driving practices in Japan as well such as people not turning on their headlights until after they pull into the street and not looking both ways when pulling out of a driveway/sidestreet.

On the positive side, there are a hell of a lot more people who walk, bike, bus, and train to work. Road safety is also greatly improved by having rumble strips in the center line of most roads.

You can see some examples of Japanese road conditions in this set of the pictures from my cycling trip in Japan last fall

Flori