dagblog - Comments for "Fuel me twice"

I don't think it's that long

Donal — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:43:24 +0000

In reply to I don't think the market is

I don't think it's that long off. I ride light rail with a lot more people that head for the bus station instead of the parking lot. I also see more and more folk riding bikes. And a lot of people have no jobs, hence no commute.

The first number was CO2

Donal — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:37:27 +0000

In reply to I guess my other question is:

The first number was CO2 emitted due to manufacturing, so that's a one-time cost, even if you never drive the car.

The second number was anticipated CO2 emitted over the first 150,000 Km, and was an estimate of CO2 emitted by whatever power station generated the electricity. If you get all your power from fossil-fuel-fired plants, it gets complicated. Charging overnight is better—much better—because many of the plants run all night with a lot of the generated power going unused. Coal is dirtiest, then oil, then natural gas. Hydro, wind and solar are cleanest, but do have some embedded emissions.

I guess my other question is:

Peter Schwartz — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 20:04:50 +0000

In reply to I don't think the market is

I guess my other question is: are these embed figures one-time environmental costs which, when amortized over years, decrease?

So, if a car embeds X CO2 is that a one-time figure which effectively decreases the longer you keep and drive the car because you aren't adding more CO2, as you would if you drove a car that kept throwing off new CO2 every time you drove it?

I don't think the market is

Peter Schwartz — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:57:37 +0000

In reply to Good question. According to

I don't think the market is committed to hybrids. I think auto manufacturers are committed to whatever technology keeps our obese fannies in their car seats—and they're hedging between hybrids, plugins, EVs, fuel cells and optimized ICE. I think they realize that fewer of us will be able to afford driving, and want to capture the market that does remain.

I agree on the fun part. When I biked to work, I started the day much more refreshed. That ended when I gave in to my wife's fears that a car was going to kill me. Arlington has done a lot to create bike lanes, but they aren't much protection. Getting REAL bike lanes, like they have in Amsterdam, for example, will be necessary to convert a lot of people, I think.

What you say above, though, is a stretch. The physical layout of our entire society simply demands cars, so I don't think the manufacturers are that worried. They probably are responding to what appears to be permanently higher cost gasoline (just as they started making smaller cars after the oil crisis in the 1970s when Japan showed them that lots of Americans would buy small cars).

They are also responding to a heightened "green consciousness," as more and more people are concerned about global warming.

But we are a LOOONG way off from the moment when anything close to a majority of people will give up driving because it's too expensive. Yes, gas prices bite, but most people don't feel they have any choice. Plus, the convenience is too great. They've built their lives around the fact that they can hop in their cars and get to XYZ in XYZ minutes or hours directly, without stopping or detouring for other passengers. Go out to where distances are great and public transportation is infrequent and it's cars all the way. Christ, even in NYC, where cars are a PITA, the streets are bulging with cars.

I guess you could be right, but I think it's a weak thesis. Plus, Americans don't like exercising as a rule, so the warm-cool, safe rolling couch with great sound that is the car has a huge appeal that pumping a bike or walking--day in and day out--does not (for most people).

Yes to your last point. My

Peter Schwartz — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 19:45:15 +0000

In reply to Main reason Britain feels

Yes to your last point.

My memories are of what it was like out in the street, not so much inside.

Of course, inside everyone wore sweaters anyway because, I was told, the British like to keep the heat down-:)

The cold just went through you even when it wasn't all that cold by our standards.

Main reason Britain feels

Qnonymous — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 21:22:14 +0000

In reply to I used to go around Christmas

Main reason Britain feels cold is that their housing stock - and even public buildings - were historically incredibly poorly put together. I had a bedroom one year in a building where every single door swung "closed" leaving a full 3" gap between the door bottom and the floor. Many are completely uninsulated. They lose thousands of extra old people every Winter to the cold. Plus, when you're around water, it just FEELS bloody colder.

Here's another thought: those

Verified Atheist — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:53:48 +0000

In reply to I used to go around Christmas

Here's another thought: those "average" temperatures are presumably means and not medians. Judging from the fact that the extreme temperatures are actually much worse for Atlanta (for example), I think it's quite likely that the median temperature in Atlanta is higher than the median temperature in London while the mean temperature is lower. Just a thought, and it has little to nothing to do with the original reason that Q and Donal were talking about relative temperatures in the UK.

I used to go around Christmas

Peter Schwartz — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 20:07:55 +0000

In reply to Interesting. I've been to the

I used to go around Christmas time, and it almost always felt bitterly cold--but I think it was the dampness that did it. As I recall, it was never freezing.

How do you like it?

Resistance — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:48:20 +0000

In reply to The LowCVP (www.lowcvp.org.uk

How do you like it?

It is somehow appropriate

Resistance — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 18:46:33 +0000

In reply to So you mistrust LowCVP and

It is somehow appropriate that both you and Resistance responded to my comment with more insults.

Speaking for myself:

It is appropriate how? Is it because I reciprocated for the aggressive behavior, you displayed towards me on another post?

Appropriate because you agree, you purposely went over the line to seek to insult with what I thought was a deliberate smearing innuendo; so it’s appropriate for me do onto you?

STOP sowing the seeds, , and I'll not need to defend myself, from your misleading attacks.

Maybe it was your choice of words that affected me, I hate the practice by those who find sport in spreading lies to attack the person.

Unless I misunderstood your comment; then please accept my apology.