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| Marita Noon |
While the Smart Car may get good gas mileage and fit into tight parking places, how “smart” is it really? The April 2012 issue of Consumer Reports is now out and features the best and worst cars of 2012. The Smart Car didn’t make the list, nor did it receive a “recommended” rating in the “Hatchback: fuel-efficient class”—where its overall road test rating is 28 of a possible 100. The April issue’s “Safety” section states: “Even a small car with a good crash-test rating will bear the brunt of a crash with a larger sedan, SUV or pick up.” The issue also states that “motor-vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for people 5-34 years old and that they amount to more than $99 billion a year in medical and lost-work costs because of injuries.” Crash tests show the Smart Car is “jarringly stupid.” Video from the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety shows that in a crash with a mid-size Mercedes C-Class sedan, “the Smart ForTwo is not only pulverized, with the passenger compartment getting squashed, but it goes airborne like a beach ball.” Just how “smart” is that? Is gas mileage more important that safety? I’d call it “stupid.”
Like burgundy is 2012’s “new black” for fall—serving as a “new neutral hue” that “will soon become the new backbone of your fall wardrobe”—and sixty is the new forty because “people are living longer today, they're healthier, and they're enjoying life more,” “smart” is the new “stupid.” Read rest of column here: News New Mexico
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From Electric Light & Power http://www.elp.com/index/display/article-display/5755345949/articles/electric-light-power/volume-89/issue-1/sections/the-smart-meter-opportunity-threat.html
3rd paragraph, 2nd sentence: "They [smart meters] ... decrease total demand and CO2 emissions from generation and shift demand from peak periods."
In other words, smart meters give the utility the ability to cut off power to the user at any time without having an employee physically go to each individual meter. It's called "demand management", and it is a key aspect of the Sierra Club et al's drive toward a 100% wind & solar powered electrical grid. Since wind & solar physically cannot even approach providing reliable power 100% of the time unless it is tremendously over-redundant (and even then it's not guaranteed, because wind & solar are not "on demand" power sources), for the stability of a 100% wind & solar grid, the utilities and grid operator have to have the ability to cut users off at any time.
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