Debt Free

First of all – There is a movement afoot in the Senate to bring back th double nickel. Write your Senator and Congressman and tell them not only no, but hell no. We all know that many members of our enlightened body in Washington feel they can govern best by limiting our personal choice, but they need to keep their hands away from our accelerators.

Limiting our speed to 55mph was a dismal failure the last time we tried it and it will be just as bad if they implement it again. Why not reintroduce prohibition? Is our time worth nothing? Let everyone decide for themselves if they want to incur additional fuel costs by driving 70mph on a trip. Why take an extra hour of your time (that you'll never get back) by forcing you to drive like a sloth with a broken leg? I personally, would rather spend the extra $6 or so to save an hour. Most of you probably make more than that on an hourly basis. A 55mph speed limit would be bad on many levels. All our goods will take longer to get to market, you'll spend more time behind the wheel. Write to your senator and congress member and tell them Just Say No to more 55.

Now on to other business....

They're a total environmental mess. That's one way China can compete globally. They have little in the way of environmental controls that American and European businesses have to deal with. China is home to six of the world's ten most polluted cities. Looks pretty in pictures, stinks in person. It's a whole lot easier to keep production costs low when you can ignore what your competition must spend precious resources on; keeping your environment clean. That may be changing, as China has indicated they plan to spend almost $200 billion in the next 15 years to increase their renewable energy supplies to 15% of their total. Earlier this month, the World Bank signed and agreement to loan $200 to Chinese firms for energy efficiency and conservation measures.

In the next five years, GE alone plans to sell over $20 billion of energy related products and services to the Asian giant. GE's Chinese subsidiary has a technology agreement with China and forecast up to $500 million will be spent by the Chinese on wind turbines alone in that time period. This is huge opportunity for GE, the king of wind turbine producers, and other wind turbine manufacturers. GE also has a deal to sell new, fuel efficient locomotives to China. China could soon be the world's largest market for clean and renewable energy technologies. That, coupled with increased demand from the U.S. in the face of rising fuel costs, spells opportunity for you. Take a look at the renewable portion of the energy sector when looking at new investments. The demand for such technologies is likely to be strong for the foreseeable future.

Personally, you can save your hard earned pennies by conserving energy at home and in your car. There are 3 quick and inexpensive things you can do to easily conserve energy.

• Switch to compact florescent light bulbs. You'll save a ton of electricity for lighting. As a bonus, they last about 8 – 10 times as long. Make sure you put CF bulbs in hard to reach places such as cathedral ceilings, where you hate to change bulbs. One of the downsides to these bulbs has been that they can't be dimmed. That's now changing. Look for newer units with dimable ballasts.

• Get a programmable thermostat. These used to be pretty expensive, but they're not any more. No more excuses. If you don't have one, spend the $80 and go get one. If you've got a newer home, chances are you've already got one. Get off your butt and program it. It may take you all of 10 minutes. Keep your heat low (66 deg) and A/C high(78 deg). Heat and A/C are some of the largest energy users in your home, start knocking them back.

• Drive to conserve gas. This is a no brainer and it'll cost you nothing. It's way better than most things you'll get for free. Keep your speed down. Accelerate slowly, don't punch it away from lights and stop signs. Your A/C compressor already turns off at idle in most newer cars, so don't worry about that. Make sure your tires are properly inflated and your engine is well maintained and tuned up. Practice conservation of momentum wherever possible. Lift off on the gas early before a stop, don't go right up to the stop & then use the brakes to slow down.