Monday we flew back into Canton-Akron Airport from our family trip to Florida. Our rental car in Florida was a Toyota RAV 4. We loved it. The agent at CAK offered a RAV 4, I grabbed it. When I tried to start the vehicle nothing happened. The lights on the dash came on but the engine wouldn’t start. I was puzzled. It acted like a dead battery but the lights indicated everything was working. After several more minutes, I headed back to the rental counter to explain my problem. The agent apologized, “I forgot to tell you. That vehicle is a hybrid, an EV with a gasoline engine that charges the battery. You won’t hear the gasoline engine until you are out on the road. It doesn’t need to be plugged in to charge.”

Returning to the car, I pushed the “start button” again. No sound but dash lights came on. I put the car in “Drive” gently pushing the accelerator the RAV 4 inched forward. “Awesome”. The only sound was the tires on the pavement. It was a quiet comfortable vehicle with power and quickness. That RAV 4 Hybrid got close to 40 miles per gallon. The hardest thing for me to get used to is pushing “start” and not hearing a gasoline engine rev up. I enjoyed driving it and consider buying one. A hybrid has the benefits of an EV but uses existing infrastructure. It doesn’t need a charging station.

This raised the question, “Why did the prior administration in Washington, many environmental groups and major automakers like Ford and GM work so hard to promote and manufacture full EVs requiring charging stations?” Fast food was developed in America. The average American wants to refuel and get back on the road. I can’t imagine driving to Disney World with our kids in an EV when they were young and having to wait 30-60 minutes for our car to recharge. If someone gets distracted and forgets to plug in their EV overnight they may not be able to go work the next day.

I assume the perception is EVs are zero emission and hybrids are low emission vehicles. When Lynnda and I were in Tokyo a few years ago most of the vehicles we saw were hybrids. We were surprised at how clean the air was. Both EVs and hybrids are mostly plastic to make them lightweight. Plastic is made from natural gas liquids or oil.

Environmentally the difference between EVs and hybrids is perfect versus good. Increased hybrid use can help the environment now. It doesn’t have to wait for the infrastructure requiring money, time, construction and electricity availability. Should we wait for perfect or implement the good? Good vs. Perfect is a decision we make regularly in our lives. Many people wait for perfect conditions before acting and never get started.

Joe, our high school head soccer coach, played for me in high school. He was very talented holding the state record for most career goals scored until he got injured his senior year. Joe never saw a shot he didn’t like. He took a lot of shots, many were low percentage shots. He didn’t score on most of them. I noticed the more shots Joe took the more he scored. He might take 10 shots in a game and score on two. Other players tried to get the ball close to the goal or worked for perfect conditions before shooting. They only got a couple of shots a game and at best might score one goal. Joe didn’t wait for perfect conditions to take action. He scored a lot of goals. Now our coach, Joe gives the boys permission to fail. He never faults them for missing a shot. He does fault them for not taking a shot when they have an opportunity.

Many managers don’t act because they are afraid to fail. Others delay action continuing to study the problem asking for more data so they can make the perfect decision. Leaders act. They aren’t afraid to fail. Better to fail early than to miss opportunity by delaying action. I have an Asian friend who owns his own company. He wants his son to take over the business eventually. He is sending him to college in the USA. My friend said, “I want my son to have a failure in the USA. I will be half a world away and I can’t help him. He will learn to pick himself up, learn from failure and succeed.”

In relationships if we are waiting for the perfect person it will be a long wait. No one is perfect. My wife Lynnda isn’t perfect and neither am I. We learned to accept each others shortcomings. Many times my weaknesses are Lynnda’s strengths. I have to swallow my pride and ask for help. This is easier to do if we look at ourselves as a team. Diversity is essential for a successful team.

Last Tuesday we celebrated Earth Day. A lot of environmental progress has happened since I was in college. The environment we live in today is the cleanest of my life. There is more to be done. We can’t wait for perfect conditions. Pollution didn’t happen over night. Fixing it doesn’t happen overnight either especially if we are waiting for the perfect fix.

Use of natural gas as a fuel has lowered U.S. emissions. Instead of celebrating the victory some groups work to eliminate natural gas without having a dependable economical replacement. A poll last fall in Pennsylvania showed few voters willing to pay even $100 more to stop climate change.

Studies show reshoring more energy intensive manufacturing and using natural gas to produce electricity in the Shale Crescent Region of the USA reduces global emissions and cost to consumers. This may not be the perfect solution but it is a good solution much like a marriage of two imperfect people. Good beats perfect every time because action beats inaction.

Greg Kozera, gkozera@shalecrescentusa.com, is the director of marketing and sales for Shale Crescent USA, www.shalecrescentusa.com. He is a professional engineer with a master’s in environmental engineering and over 40 years’ experience in the energy industry. He is a professional speaker and author of four books and numerous published articles.