A group of security experts recently mentioned to me that the Oil-producing countries are all well-aware that their resources are limited. They explained this in terms of Iran’s urge to develop nuclear power.

Whether or not you accept that argument, it makes a fitting backdrop to VW’s decision to announce a super-efficient fuel-economy concept car at the Qatar Auto Show.

Take half a regular TDI engine, reduce the body weight about half, and sprinkle in some high tech bits and you get the XL1:

Now, Piech’s Volkswagen has combined state-of-the-art technology, from common rail diesel-supplemented plug-in hybrid power to carbon-fiber-reinforced polymer lightweight body material, to create the XL1. The concept consumes 0.9 liters of diesel fuel per 100 kilometers, the automaker says, which translates to an EPA fuel mileage figure of 261.3 mpg. That mileage equals 24 grams of CO2 per kilometer, VW says. Our CO2 converter converts 261.3 mpg to 0.30 pounds per mile. VW chose to unveil this car as part of an auto show in Qatar, the one part of the world where fuel efficiency isn’t much of an issue.

The successful launch of a Delta IV Heavy configuration from America’s West Coast means the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) payload L-49 is on its way into orbit.

Delta 352’s payload is officially classified; however it is widely believed to be a KH-11 “Improved Crystal” electro-optical reconnaissance satellite. The KH-11 first flew in the late 1970s, replacing earlier film-return imaging satellites like the KH-9 Hexagon. Instead of returning images by film, KH-11 satellites transmit them electronically. Four separate generations of KH-11 satellites have been identified, with the later two unofficially referred to as KH-11B or KH-12.

KH-11 satellites are designed to produce high-resolution images, which are then relayed to the ground via Satellite Data System (SDS) spacecraft in molniya and geosynchronous orbits. They are reported to resemble the Hubble Space Telescope.

[…]

The launch of NRO L-49 came amid a period of increased activity in terms of NRO launches. One Medium and one Heavy payload were launched during the last four months of last year, and in the next year two heavy, two medium and one light payload are scheduled to fly. Two NRO CubeSats, QbX-1 and QbX-2, were also launched in December aboard a Falcon 9.

I noticed an amusing comparison on pickuptrucks.com of the Dodge Ram 3500 Heavy Duty Diesel to the NASA rocket.

Delta IV Heavy:
Max payload 28,650 lbs
51,000,000hp
0.00087mpg
$600,000 to fill up
0-60mph in 15 seconds

Dodge Ram 3500 HD:
Max payload 25,400 lbs
350hp
11.8mpg
$118.65 to fill up
0-60mph in 10.4 seconds

The rocket mpg calculation seems off, since it’s calculating only the first stage and not the total distance traveled after liftoff. More to the point, it is hard to believe that a 2011 Dodge pickup still only gets 11.8mpg.

Naomi Klein, author of “The Shock Doctrine”, asks in her TED presentation “What makes our culture so prone to the reckless high-stakes gamble, and why are women so frequently called upon to clean up the mess?”

One thing that comes to mind when I watched this was how President Bush signed an executive order on July 14, 2008, just before the end of his term, to lift the moratorium on offshore drilling in the eastern Gulf of Mexico and off the Atlantic and Pacific coasts. The moratorium was put in place in 1990 by his father. A year earlier President Bush lifted the moratorium from drilling in Alaska, also put in place by his father.

I thought the risk policy differences, between these two men, would have been at least mentioned.