Energy Policy

Have you noticed the press the last few days showing the McCain people misrepresenting Obama's thoughts on energy conservation? Senator McCain and his people are saying Obama's policy is for people to properly inflate their tires. They're even handing out tire gauges to try to drive home the point of how stupid it is.

First off, it isn't Obama's "Energy Policy." Someone in the audience in one of his appearances asked what private individuals could do themselves, right now. Properly inflating your tires makes like a 6-7% difference to fuel economy - a fairly good savings for doing almost nothing (note to self: check tire pressure on the truck). The Obama people have spent the last day or so rightly chastising the opposition for belittling what is actually a fairly decent suggestion.

I have a better one.

The other night I fired up the DVR and watched myself an episode of MythBusters. On this particular episode, Jaime and Adam were proving that you could indeed tenderize a steak with high explosives (as a side note, the libertarian in me got all riled up when Adam cited a USDA approved scale and apparatus for testing the tenderness of beef. WTF does the US government care about beef tenderness, and why are they spending my tax dollars quantifying it). Concurrently, the farm team was testing yet another fuel efficiency myth.

Their task was to confirm or bust that driving under stress wastes gas. It turns out that it does, and not some measly 6-7% like from tire inflation but anecdotally could be as much as a 1/3 difference. In other words, driving while relaxed can potentially save you 30%+ on gas.

So the next time Obama is speaking and someone in the house asks what we, as individuals, can do right now to help with the energy situation Obama ought to come back with something like this:

Well, last time I suggested that people make sure their tires are properly inflated, but we all know how that went over with my esteemed opponent. So here's another: I understand The MythBusters has firmly established that driving under stress wastes upwards of 30% of gas. So how about this as a personal energy strategy for driving: Relax

I would LOVE to hear what the McCain camp would do with that. Plus, if it were the last question asked (and I mean we know these things are never staged) Obama could then exit to Frankie Goes to Hollywood - coolest campaign song EVER! Plus Discovery Channel might get a sound bite of McCain saying "Who are the Mythbusters" for the opening of the show.

Could be fun.