No, This is Not My Car

Here I am blogging about energy efficiency and yet I don't drive a hybrid car. In fact, I don't even drive a high MPG car. Why not? Short answer: My current car has not outlived its useful service life. Yet. Stay with me for a second: a car is built, and over its lifetime is driven (most likely by more than one owner) until it is no longer serviceable. Then, it's retired and hopefully recycled.

So, what is the energy footprint of a car? Well, it's how much energy it takes to make it, how much energy it consumes to use it, and (in the end) how much energy it takes to recycle it. How long I own the car doesn't really play into it at all. Although how much I drive it does. So, as my current car inevitably fades into its autumn years, what's the next car I'll buy? I don't know yet. But here are the simple criteria:

• It has to meet my needs: to match the level of performance I am accustomed to
• It should be as efficient as is reasonable

This deceptively simple principle is a gauge by which we can measure anything, really. For example, right now data centers are struggling to keep a balance between delivering higher performance services and the off-the-chart energy/cooling consumption that goes along with them—and while they may not be hitting the apex of their hardware lifecycle just yet, we can begin making the design changes now that will move us into the next generation of efficiency while still meeting the growing needs of the users—this can be done.

So, will the market make a car available to me that is more efficient than the one I'm driving now? I hope so. Should the market provide an incentive as it did in my light bulb example? Hmm, to date there have been plenty of incentives offered towards the adoption of energy efficient vehicles. Do they need to continue? I don't know, I'm not an economist. But, when the time comes in my current car's lifecycle to transition to a more energy-efficient device, I will—and I intend to drive the new one for a long time. It’s as simple as 1, 2—right?

Michael Sporer, Regional Sales Manager, Micron Technology, Inc.