Seth Godin has a great explanation in his latest post on the importance of choosing wisely when it comes to vehicle efficiencies. He then links this concept to marketing in the most poignant way.

Since my brother and I are into Ecomodding at the moment I found the post particularly interesting. The 20 June Podcast [mp3] from Science Magazine covers the same topic. Richard Larrick talks about the issue but in terms of how different methods of calculation effect how we perceive the efficiencies of our vehicles.

Here in Australia we generally use Litres per 100 Kilometres which give a nice intuitive feel for how efficient a vehicle is, or as one of my students pointed out, is useful because comparisons become easier. Miles per Gallon gives unintuitive results because it is an inverse relationship for the thing we care about, fuel.

Imagine what a difference improving fuel efficiencies would make to the carbon crisis. Both Seth and Richard demonstrate how easily it could be done, simply changing the way we present information. I think that’s the low hanging fruit.