Excellent posts all! ...'just breaking the ice', I'd be heard saying... Personally, I'm roughly aligned with B Fuller, and his assertion that we're squandering our "Global energy bank account" as we consume our finite planetary reserves... as fast as we possibly can...

Admittedly, the SUV term is a gross generalisation, yet so too is the notion that a multi-use vehicle, with lots of room, can't get good mileage...

I don't think I need to remind anyone here how heavily oil is subsidised in the US... keeping consumer costs artificially low... and, I might add, keeping our lifestyles oil dependent. Market forces are not at work here.

Thoughts... tuppence for yours, ttr