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Automotive News & Views Are automobiles a major cause of global warming?
6918 messages, Last post on Dec 03, 2009 at 8:23 AM
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Replying to: kernick (Oct 14, 2008 6:10 am) . Indeed! For example in Beijing, China has had a relatively easy time in going from a nation that used mostly bicycles (sans the political elite) to having MASSIVE traffic jams and exponentially (for them anyway) more vehicles. It is NOT like they had to FORCE folks into cars...... This is pretty interesting in light of the fact the very expensive costs of ownership are again almost exponentially higher than ours and more importantly Europe's (as the costs are even higher) from a percentage of per capital income point of view.
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Replying to: ruking1 (Oct 14, 2008 6:15 am) Correct. Other points. 1) Until it costs more to produce oil then it does to produce some other convenient fuel - that can be accessed worldwide, oil will be used. Keeping warm and transport will always be preferred over "maybe a 1F increase in many years". 2) There is a lot of demand for oil. The true demand may be 10X higher than what is produced. This is the amount we would use if we had unlimited money. We in the U.S. want more oil/gasoline then we currently use, and if we want more certainly other parts of the world where there is less used per capita want the conveniences that oil and gasoline allow. 3) Based on 2) - if you take the top users of oil/gasoline and convert them to electric, all you're doing is shifting demand to somewhere else in that mass of unmet demand. The 90M bbd will still be pumped, at a price-point that these other countries can afford. If it costs $20/barrel today to produce and refine oil, the oil will be pumped as long as a profit can be made. AS LONG AS SOMEONE IS WILLING TO PAY MORE FOR OIL THAN IT COSTS TO PRODUCE, THE OIL WILL FLOW SOMEWHERE IN THE WORLD. 2)
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Replying to: kernick (Oct 14, 2008 8:56 am) In light of alternative energy's normally costing more than RUG to PUG products(Hybrid, E10, E 85, MTBE etc), the fact of the matter is that keeps almost unrelenting demand on RUG to PUG aka oil! What a lot of folks do not know nor as you mentioned even acknowledge is the SWAG of 10 x GREATER OIL demand if oil were so called "more affordable" to those who for whatever reasons can/do NOT afford it. So for example all things being equal (they are obviously NOT) if the government/s really wanted to stimulate the USE of an alternative fuel like DOMESTIC bio diesel, (b5,b10,b20 etc etc,) What would choke off demand for (foreign oil, as it usually is domestically refined) petro diesel would be 5 dollar petrol diesel and 3 dollar domestic B100!!! Combine that with a 25%-40% better fuel mileage than RUG to PUG and you have to be stupid not to be a happy camper! AIN''T GOING TO HAPPEN!! When it does (off line) and they catch the so called "revenue directors" they through them in jail on felony convictions!!! ( several nexus': 1. production of bio diesel from algae is a net consumer of C02 2. production of bio diesel from algae is a net producer of OYXGEN 3. production of bio diesel from algae is a net producer of FOOD albeit you or I might not be net consumers of this food, but it can be feed to livestock instead of higher consumptive farming products 4. algae production efficiencies per acre are literally phenomenal 5. production of bio diesel from a plethora of on going waste streams-further reduces WASTE.) If one has NOT been following the issue, bio diesel R& D, VC, new business' and support has all been CRUSHED by the CRASH of oil pricing from a high of 147 to current levels. Indeed current oil prices are estimated to drop to 55-65 dollar a barrel levels FROM 147 a barrel!!!! . So what is the SWAG now about the demand when it hits those lower prices!???  Keep in mind the current economic crisis aka 147 barrel to 76.60 link title has only truncated the world wide growth over 100% per year!!!!!!???? Indeed there are some that say that high per barrel oil prices are defacto taxes on the economy that has to use it  those higher prices. The same thing is true with plug in electric (any fuel source) It would of course need to be put into comparison terms (equalized-levelized, etc) like how many miles one gets per kilowatt etc. They are NOT going to do that and for obvious reasons. The only thing built in are higher per mile costs and greater C02 emissions. |
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Replying to: ruking1 (Oct 14, 2008 5:52 am) See the link below http://www.autobloggreen.com/2008/10/13/toyota-yaris-aygo-win-world-mpg-marathon- -with-80-mpg/ The Yaris 1.4 D-4D achieved 84.66 mpg, but the Toyota Aygo, with a 1.0-litre petrol engine netted 82.39 mpg. Not too bad for a RUG engine. I think you misunderstood my post. If the scientists are concerned we should listen. That does not mean we need to rush out and make a change. Not sure where you are going with the soda example. Putting soda in a bottle is different than burning fossil fuels. In the later case we are adding CO2 to the air that had been in the ground. Most Alaskan Glaciers Retreating, Thinning, and Stagnating, Says Major USGS Report http://www.usgs.gov/newsroom/article.asp?ID=2033 In this report we have some of the best scientists in the world making an observation. This is another report that shows climate change is happening. |
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Replying to: mattandi (Oct 14, 2008 5:30 am) I would agree. The whole GW debate has turned into a war with deniers battling it out with the sky is falling crowd. |
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Replying to: kernick (Oct 14, 2008 6:10 am) When you say constant, what time frame are referring to - 5 years, 20 years or a longer time frame? As to the question of getting most of the U.S. converted to electric cars, I am not so sure we will get over 50%. There are a few bumps in the road on the way. That and I would predict that we would still have a sizable population of RUG and diesel cars in 20 years. There is plenty of oil out there especially if the price per barrel is over $150 a barrel. "The U.S. Faces Serious Risks of Brownouts or Blackouts in 2009, Study Warns" http://www.nextgenenergy.org/nextgen+blackout+study.aspx |
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Replying to: mattandi (Oct 14, 2008 5:30 am) |
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Two hundred years of glacial shrinkage in Alaska, and then came the winter and summer of 2007-2008. Unusually large amounts of winter snow were followed by unusually chill temperatures in June, July and August. "In mid-June, I was surprised to see snow still at sea level in Prince William Sound," said U.S. Geological Survey glaciologist Bruce Molnia. "On the Juneau Icefield, there was still 20 feet of new snow on the surface of the Taku Glacier in late July. At Bering Glacier, a landslide I am studying, located at about 1,500 feet elevation, did not become snow free until early August. "In general, the weather this summer was the worst I have seen in at least 20 years." Never before in the history of a research project dating back to 1946 had the Juneau Icefield witnessed the kind of snow buildup that came this year. It was similar on a lot of other glaciers too. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/53884.html
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The Grape growers will be running their SUVs to try and warm up the area. Tuesday, October 14, 2008 at 5:26 a.m. A record cold snap in Mendocino County over the weekend caused little damage to wine grapes but chilled the hearts of farmers who already have suffered huge losses this year. "It's just one more thing on top of one more thing. You kind of hold your breath," said Potter Valley wine grape grower Bill Pauli. Temperatures dropped to 31 degrees in the Ukiah Valley on Saturday night and early Sunday morning, the coldest Oct. 12 morning since record keeping began in Ukiah in 1893, said Troy Nicolini, a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Eureka. The previous record was 34 degrees in 1916. http://www.pressdemocrat.com/article/20081014/NEWS/810140335/-1/frontpage?Title=- Frost__one_more_thing__for_grape_growers |
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From CA to AK record cold temps. Since before the advent of the SUV. The bright side is all the wackos in San Francisco may have to do without their wine due to the early frost. Cold temperatures set several new record lows this weekend, including a low of 22 Saturday in downtown Pendleton that broke a 118 year-old record of 24. Record lows started falling Thursday with a new low of 20 for Meacham, four degrees cooler than the previous record from 2006, according to information from the Web site for the National Weather Service Forecast Office in Pendleton. http://www.eastoregonian.info/print.asp?SectionID=13&SubSectionID=48&ArticleID=8- 3885&TM=29612.53 Where is Al Gore when you need him to explain. Probably laughing at the schmucks that believe his crappola. Out on the boat burning fuel in his jetski.
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