Hybrid cars be damned. Rather than focusing on making better vehicles, Glenn Lowcock argues in Green Futures that we should lower the speed limit to 35 mph. Everywhere. Going to the grocery store would become astronomically more expensive, since many goods would have to be trucked there at the same speed as the Pony Express. And it would take you longer to get there, too. But Lowcock argues that the hassle would be a good thing:
It would mean fewer people commuting by car (so less congestion for those close enough to do so), and more working from home. We’d get to spend more time where we actually live–rather than trying to get somewhere else. We’d turn again to the local schools, shops and community hospitals that we used to rely on.