I just read an article about the massive increase in electricity demand, so much so almost no state can keep up and some industries are building their own power plants.
Data storage centers take massive amounts of power 24 hours a day. This is a result of cloud computing. We have quite a few of those centers in eastern Oregon, taking our water too as they require tremendous cooling capacity. There is push back now in some areas about more coming in.
NY Times article on our increasing electricity needs.
HIgh tech and turning green require a lot of power, turns out. And money.
A friend in Lebanon bought a used (four year old I think) Chevy volt. It's a nice quiet car and has about 170 mile range. She isn't worried about the range because she has a gas car and a gas pickup for longer trips. Her electric car takes about two days to charge at her house.
My neighbor has a car with all the electronic bells and whistles, including side view radar sensors to warn her if something is coming up beside her. Well she backed up and scraped the end of her roommates big rig barely scratching one rear side and ended up with over $1000 in repairs just to replace the one sensor. There are now a lot of sensors on new cars. Little tiny parking lot type accidents that damage even one of those result in very costly repairs.
My car came previously dinged up. Now the paint is chipping off, from age. I got it used off craigslist in N. E. Portland for $3600 with over 120k miles on it then. I had to borrow money from a friend to buy it, but its been a great car. The guy had had trouble selling it because it was a stick shift and also due to the dings. Stick shifts in Portland congestion traffic will burn out a clutch fast and they're not fun in stop and go traffic.
No engine troubles, but quite a few external troubles, from the two O2 sensors, Mass Air Flow sensor, Throttle Position Sensor, to wheel bearings, brakes, belts, alternator, starter, the usual wear and tear items. No repair has been as expensive as my neighbors tiny little side view sensor replacement outside of maybe the clutch replacement. When I bought it, the clutch needed replaced, but I stalled two years on that before it burned out on a steep hill in Sweet Home.
What I'm saying is wouldn't it be nice if there was a basic simple car that folks like myself could still buy, without all the electronic crap we really don't need on it, without the bells and whistles or even electronically controlled windows. So it was affordable and simple, lightweight, easy on the fuel consumption.
Yesterday was one of the gloomiest days yet, I thought---cold and wet and no sun at all. Today may be about the same. We could break into the low 50's on Monday. It's difficult to keep a smile plastered on my face these gray icky wet damp cold days, in April no less. Chronic Oregon winter, that won't give into spring. Sometimes I wonder why I never moved to somewhere with at least a couple more months of warmth.
I took Pandora back up to Friends of Felines Friday. She'd developed an incision site problem and had to have surgery to repair it. In the meantime a friend sent the video I made of her to the director of FOF and asked if they could take her, to adopt her out and she agreed to make that happen. So I came home without her, after a few hours in Keizer waiting for her to get the incision site repair. It's a good deal for her to get a chance to get a real home instead of running around parking lots hoping to get food from kind souls. I just hope she gets a great home. You never know.
Electricity prices are rocketing up here. To the extent that people have to decide whether to heat/cool their homes or eat.
ReplyDeleteI am so glad that Pandora is getting a chance. Thanks to you.
It's bad here, with electric prices Double digit rate increases every year now. Criminal.
DeleteI hope Pandora finds a wonderful home. I bet if someone created a car company that made a nice basic car, they'd be out of business before they knew it. The others would drive them out. It's sad that car companies have decided to go for planned obsolescence, but it seems to be the way of things everywhere. Meanwhile, I'm still driving my '93 Honda Civic (stick shift).
ReplyDeleteI love that you have an old stick shift!
DeleteA lot of what is in modern cars now is safety related and I wouldn't want to see that removed. The actual cost of electronics is probably not great but as you point out, the repair costs are very high. Good luck to Pandora.
ReplyDeleteI think hers for that radar sensor to be replaced was in the shop two weeks. In the meantime, since most shops do not send you home in a lender car now, she had to rent one. That cost her a small fortune too. I learned a go around for that. Rent a uhaul pickup. They're still cheap by the day if you barely drive it, like just to the grocer or short erands.
DeleteIt seems there are a lot of things these days that are more complicated than they need to be. Just because it can be done, doesn't mean that it has to. I bet a very basic, but well made car would sell very well.
ReplyDeleteI don't think everyone wants, with the added expense, all the fancy stuff. We could rely on ourselves to be alert, instead of sensors, for instance. We don't need internet hookup in the car, for instance, or phone access, as its a terrible distraction even hands free. I still see people driving down the highway with videos playing on a tablet by the dash.
DeleteDistractions are a terrifying accident hazard. There are are notices everywhere here saying, Stay Alive; Don't Text While You Drive. Also, many stickers advise car drivers to watch out for motorcycles. I try to navigate safely as possible. Accidents still happen.
DeleteOn the bright side, it seems you opened the best Padora's box ever! lol Blessings, my dear.