by Steve Clark, Founder of Citizens for Clean Energy 1989 (changed to the singular “Citizen” when no one seemed to care during the ’90s), and still a renewable energy advocate in Boulder, Colorado

Just a confessional note before I address the problems associated with ever increasing horsepower in vehicles. I got my start as a "car guy" handing my cousin tools to work on race cars for the street and track, and, as we all know, there is no more obnoxious holier-than-thou critic of fellow humans than a reformed sinner. And while my ego still tells me I am a better than average driver, so of course I am competent to drive aggressively while I think others should not drive too fast, I fully acknowledge that it is not by driving skill but by the grace of God that I am here today.

Our automotive culture is seen by most people as a reality that we are not likely to abandon in favor of any alternatives. The worst of grid lock and the destruction of the atmosphere is not going to get us out of our cars and walking as a means of mobility. Neither the bicycle nor the bus is likely to have much impact on the transportation policy wonks enemy -- the ever increasing VMT (vehicle miles driven).

But we must step back for a moment from the advertising juggernaut that convinces us that we need ever more powerful vehicles and consider whether all this power and speed is smart.

The "supersize me" concept is at the root of the problem with our More-Bigger-Faster, life without limits, modern culture. There is a perverse pressure at the point of sale that convinces us that getting more of something is better even if that thing is bad for us, let alone wastefully over indulgent. We all like to get the best deal.

This concept was a given in automotive marketing long before the fast food industry coined the word. The cross over between automotive marketing and food is interesting. The phrase "I could have had a V8." was used to advertise a drink although the drink never became as popular as the engine.

After attending the 2005 North American Auto Show Gregg Easterbrook was inspired to write an excellent article titled Hold Your Horsepower. He was stuck by the promotion of power.

The big "more" of the auto show is more horsepower. Eighteen models on display at the show boasted 500 horsepower or more. And these aren't race cars, but rather models intended for the street. Five-hundred horsepower is not only obscene but antisocial.... -- FreeRepublic.com

He goes on to state that average horsepower has more than doubled in the past 25 years. The first problem with this trend is of course that this increase in horse power is the cause of the decrease in miles per gallon of our cars. While the automakers will tell us horse power is sexy, horsepower is what sells, this is mainly a product of the manipulation of our thinking by their marketing campaign. We all know the power of commercial advertising. It can convince us to do things that are not in our own best interest. It can even convince us to kill ourselves. Thus the need to ban commercials by the tobacco industry.

And speed kills as surely as cancer.

One horsepower cars are very uncommon

The auto industry argues that meeting increased mileage standards will increase the cost of new cars by several thousand dollars. This is pure BS. All that is needed to increase miles per gallon is to decrease horsepower and reducing the size of the engine in a vehicle will decrease the cost, not increase it. Even the EPA recently called for an end to the "horsepower wars".

Even if some of us don't care about global warming or wars over oil, is it smart to have vehicles that are excessively quick to accelerate? Mr. Easterbrook goes on to make the argument for less horsepower:

Today the average new car or SUV does zero-to-sixty in 9.9 seconds... more horsepower means more people dead -- especially, more young people dead? -- FreeRepublic.com

I was lucky to get up the driving skill curve without a serious accident. It is no accident that young people are regularly killed in automobiles with excessive power. It would be better and smarter for us all to refuse to fall victim to the automotive supersize me syndrome.