Well, Dirt is only one part of the story. The big problem is that no matter how clean your car works all the gas ends up in forms of CO in our atmosphere. Consumption matters here more than efficiency. The industry still offers a lot of brand new high fuel consumption cars and still introduces new models every year with the same high fuel consumption like 20 years ago. They are efficient and you sure get more horsepower from that big heavy powerful new car today than 20 years ago with the same fuel consumption.But do you really need 200hp were 100hp would move you and your gear with the same speed and comfort with half the amount of gas. Why is that so? The market still asks for trucks, SUV, and other big and heavy cars. They are in, cool and hip! Real men and women need powerful big and heavy and fast cars. At least that's what the commercials tell us and what we believe. For a long time gas was to cheap to worry if your car, old or new, needed 15 or 7 litres / 100km. Right now the prices are up, and I am sure a lot of people regret right now that they bought that fancy, stylish SUV to cruise the city. Don't worry. The crude oil is getting cheaper again and soon the gas price will drop. If not, people will get use to higher gas prices and they will not hesitate to buy another new fancy car with high fuel consumption. Note that I wrote about consumption, not efficiency. A big truck might transform lots of gas very efficient into power. The dumb thing is that most people who own one of these power- houses don't ever need that much power. To bring your weekly grocery home you don't a 200hp pick-up truck. Do you know that many of the 20 ton trucks run with less than 200hp engines? That little old firefly might have a lower fuel/power ratio, but it transforms only 1/3 of gas into power and pollutants to bring your groceries back home. On other lists were discussions what are the best cars for paddlers. Most people named SUVs, Trucks etc. Adventure, Freedom, Action, Power. Looks kind of funny to carry a full grown seakayak on a firefly with the boat bigger than the car. Does the job efficient, but Uncool! Carrying a kayak on a SUV is cool. The image is right. Though car, tough guy, though adventure. Do I feel guilty when I bring me and my kayak to the put in by car (a small uncool one that consumes less than 7litres/100km)? No, mainly because I do it to get from A to B with a purpose in mind and I don't cruise around all weekend to kill time or because there is nothing else to do. I feel not guilty because I use energy as efficient as I can. I feel more guilty to jump on that vacation plane for a weeklong trip into the sun for cheap bucks, because I know I pay for the gas but not the inflicted damage. I feel more guilty for heating my apartment like crazy, just because there is no good insulation in the building. That's wasted energy. ................... We sure need to change our consumption of fossil energy in the near future. Taking old cars from the road would help a bit, but to stop promoting bigger, heavier, and overpowered new cars would be better. Taking care of other energy waste helps as well. Who doesn't know the feeling of walking into the mall in summer and wishing to have a coat just because the AC is working like crazy to keep that place 20 degree below outside temperature? Eating fresh tropical fruit in the middle of the winter for a cheap price..............List can be continued endlessly My 0.02$ Ulli >From: obrien <obrien_at_proaxis.com> >Subject: Re: [Paddlewise] Kayaker's guilt (was:Jet Ski Ban >Proposal - Ind > >I don't have the numbers at my finger tips, but driving older less >efficient autos contribute a disproportionate am't of pollutants. >Many people suggest that we are at the point of diminishing >returns in our attempts at making autos more efficient. Now >maybe the time to get more bang for our buck by buying and >retiring the dirtiest autos. (All spelling errors are intentional and are there to show new and improved ways of spelling old words.) Dr. Ulli Hoeger Dept. Physiology and Biophysics Dalhousie University Halifax, B3H4H7, Nova Scotia Canada Phone I : 902-494-2673 Fax: 902-494-1685 Phone II :902-488-6796 http://is.dal.ca/~uhoeger *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************
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