For sometime, my friend had some trouble with her car. It has been on for a while. Her place is a bit far away, but we get together from time to time. We both care about our environment. We are glad to hear President Obama talked about the climate issues the other day.
When it comes to saving our planet, putting a cap on carbon dioxide emission is imperative. The climate change brings droughts, the forest fire, adding to natural or rather unnatural disasters. The air pollutions are killing people around the globe, in place like China. Cutting fossil fuels mean much to our national security as well. How could we secure fuels without sending troops to the Middle East? More than 4000 US soldiers have killed in Iraq. More than 2000 US soldiers have killed in Afghanistan.
"The above all approach", Obama said in his re-election campaign to tackle those environmental challenges. The Administration would increase funding to secure more renewable energy resources. It promised to invest in green energy projects such as solar powers, wind turbines, geothermal power plants, biofuels, etc. Then what about the cars, that consumes much of our oils?
R. in her casual way, simply pointed out her car to me when she is about to leave my place. "Is that your new car?" I asked. Her answer got me out of the doorway to the parking lot. "Yeah", she said. "It's my new electric car." she told me. For a moment, my mind was in panic, trying to catch up with the reality and with what I was looking at. An electric car? Already? Sure it's time. Wait. How does that work?
She explained to me how it works. It's a hybrid and runs both on electricity and gas. It's because of the mileage. She wanted to make sure she can drive around the nation (that she did, by the way, as far as to Salt Lake City). It can be charged by either in 8 hours by 120V, or 4 hours by 240V. It shows the mileage on the screen. It sure is quiet. The car starts with a push of a button.
The future is here, I thought, and said so to her. More cars must be sold to make it more affordable, she said. Future or present or whatever, it's here and here already and she's got it.