I covered the AFVI Expo last week and that trip was my first visit to Las Vegas. I've heard the stories, the advertising campaign that tries to sell Sin City as, well, Sin City that takes your credit card. What interested me the most, though, was how my environmentalist mind would react to being in a city that, quite honestly, celebrates excess and waste. I didn't expect to feel comfortable in an oasis of VIP come-ons and bright lights surrounded by a harsh desert. I arrived in town around noon and, during my lunch at a quite reasonable buffet (Indian food, not one of those with endless tables featuring every food ever), I happened to read Wendel Berry's essay Faustian Economics from the latest issue of Harper's. Whoops.

Berry, who wrote an astounding collection of essays called The Long-Legged House back in 1969, takes on biofuels in the Harper's essay. Well, he starts with biofuels and smoothly segues into a discussion of limits, reductions and how it will ever be possible to really come to terms with the way we're consuming the world's resources. More thoughts on this after the break.

Andrew Littlefair (left) and T. Boone Pickens

The majority of the attendees at the AFVI Expo's Fleet Day breakfast keynote seemed quite pleased to listen to T. Boone Pickens (just like last year). Pickens is the founder of BP Capital Management and had a sit-down discussion with Andrew Littlefair, the president and CEO of Clean Energy. Why do AFVI folks like this guy? He's got a lot of information (he's made billions in the oil and energy industry) and he sees a way to power the future (he's made a huge investment in wind power in Texas, for example. Littlefair said that without Boone, there wouldn't be an NGV industry in the U.S.

A few choice quotes:

• "We are importing 72 percent of our oil. ... We are now transferring $600 billion [a year] out of the United States to a few friends and a hell of a bunch of enemies. I can tell you, we are paying for the war against ourselves."
• "If they [China] had the Olympics today, in this smog, and ran the 100 meter dash, it would have to be a relay."
• "Diesel will never sell, again, below gasoline. It will always be more expensive than gasoline."
• "We're actually dealing with a huge shift of capital out to somewhere. We're going to be reduced to - I promise you it's going to happen pretty quick, too - we'll be reduced to something less than the superpower that we are."

Much more from Boone (including audio of his chat) after the break.

There weren't a lot of astoundingly cool vehicles to drive at the AFVI Expo Ride and Drive earlier this week. Still, throw a handful of alternative-fueled cars, trucks and CUVs in a Las Vegas parking lot, and I'll check it out. As you can see in the video I made of the event, Bosch was heavily represented by a half-dozen or so clean diesel models. GEM and Miles EVs were easy to spot, and there was even a hybrid cherry-picker and a propane pickup or two. To kick off the event, Ed Begley, Jr. and Bobby Rahal cut a ribbon (see pictures below) and then took a short loop around the lot. Watch the video after the break, and thanks to Shotgun Musical Laboratories for the sounds.

So, I'm editing together a short video of the Ride and Drive portion of the AFVI Expo that ended yesterday in Las Vegas. While we have (and often use) a piece of music we crafted ourselves as an intro and bed for our podcasts and videos, it really wasn't designed to be played in its entirety. And, since the video I'm working on has no comments, no talking heads, I thought you might want a change of pace this time. I figured at least one of our readers out there is a musician and would like to have his or her music, whether it's instrumental or have words that match out ABG theme, be the backdrop to this video.

Therefore, if you've got your music online in an easy-to-edit-in-iMovie format - along with (important) proof of either a Creative Commons license or some other way to guarantee that it's OK that we use the music - then post a link in the comments by 4 pm EST today. Alternately, if you know of come great Creative Commons music you think I should use, let me know that, too. I hope to post the video tonight, so don't delay. Thanks!