For those who don’t speak Latin, Tech Gratia Technis is a play on words of MGM Studios’ slogan, Ars Gratia Artis, “Art for art’s sake”. Yes, I made the term up, and it refers to technology that is applied for no reason other than to apply technology.

A college professor of mine used to poke fun at ignorance by saying (sarcastically, of course), “my mind is made up; don’t confuse me with facts.”

I have given a bit of thought to this one and decided that it is time to gripe.

First off, my hat’s off to the truck drivers in the US. They put up with a lot of nonsense ranging from uneven law enforcement to drivers of little cars who cut them off, to soaring fuel prices (diesel fuel is now well over $5.00/gallon) and so on.

James Howard Kunstler has warned us, “No combination of alternative fuels or systems for using them will allow us to run America the way we currently run it, or even a substantial fraction of it.” Regardless of whether or not you believe he is correct, I think we can all agree that there are three very solid reasons why we should be concerned about energy efficiency: