The real waste of resources was the Democrats refusal to allow topping up the strategic oil reserves when the spot price collapsed in 2020. As a country we would have been mote secure for the future and the localized impact could have stabilized prices.
Which is why, the only feasible solution to controlling oil prices is to change it demand side. Oil does have legitimate uses for eg military, petrochemicals etc. but most of it is just burned away.
As opposed to what, being stuck all day in a larger metal box with dozens of others?
The quality of life solution is to kill the commute, not to kill cars in favor of transit.
Mixed-use zoning, housing policy that makes moving easy instead of extraordinarily expensive or impossible, and remote work -- these should be the focus. Transit is great for the environment, not so great for "being outside and enjoying the real world with other humans".
That’s the theory, but I think the reality is “induced demand” — the same reason expanding freeways from 5 to 10 lanes doesn’t reduce congestion.
Metro areas with transit don’t have shorter commutes time-wise: the average commute in large metros in the US is about 25-35 minutes across a huge range of densities and transit concentrations.
Why? The typical argument is that people often want more living space, or cities zone such that housing below a certain threshold size is illegal (and thus the smallest unit you can rent/buy has an inflated price), and residents move far enough that they can afford to live — often, their commutes are 15-30 minutes. Then, they change jobs, but often can’t move closer — because they can’t take their rent control with them, or their property taxes will spike, and the deal with a longer commute. Or, they have kids and need an extra bedroom, and move to the suburbs for the same reasons.
> cities designed for not having cars are inherently less prone to congestion
Yes, this was my point about mixed zoning!
having a car to avoid that alone is worth it. I suspect the recently sprouted anti-car evangelists are genuinely unaware of the big city public transit experience. nobody in their sane mind would preach it otherwise
Yeah like the governments of the world need to do even more spending right now, lol. Where do you think that money comes from?
Or skip battery, and use electricity from generator. It is called diesel-electric and is reliable way to produce EV vehicles. Well tested on cars, trains, tanks, boats even submarines...