Global warming: Too much focus on cars?
Is the focus on cars a global warming sham?Angus MacKenzie of MotorTrend was recently doing some research on global warming emissions and he found out that transportation accounted for 30 percent of US CO2 emissions, with cars accounting for 60 percent of those emissions. Thus, personal transportation - the cars and trucks we drive - account for just 18 percent of the total US CO2 emissions?
Sure Congress has achieved a plan to reduce these emissions by 30 percent, but how significant is 30 percent of 18 percent, Angus wonders. And, more important, what is Congress doing about the other 70 percent?
Shouldn't technologies, such as hybrid cars, be valued more for their potential to end foreign oil dependency, rather than to fight global warming? Has the auto sector become a CO2 scapegoat?
Labels: global warming, Hybrid Vehicles
posted by Dahcredyns at
7:06 AM
6 Comments:
Hi,
this is all definitely more about foreign oil dependency and preserving oil as a valuable resource for the future. It is also a matter of keeping the air in large (and congested) cities cleaner.
As to the global warming, cow's methane might account more for greenhouse affect than all autos on the Earth.
Not really no they are not the scapegoat.
The exhaust emissions from cars is not the only source of their pollution....construction, maintenance, lubricants, etc all contribute to the overall emissions and waste generation.
There are ALOT of cars...alot of vehicles overall. It's the shear number of them that is the problem...and their extremely inefficient use.
Let's think about it for a moment. I sit in an average car weighing in at 3000lbs to haul myself (140lbs)? Or even worse...a person in a luxury car weighing 4000lbs and they weigh say 200lbs?? This is absurb...talk about extremely poor rate of return as one commenter stated in another blog.
The people do things is the problem...it's people's mentalities, selfish, stupid mentalities that are really doing a number on everything around them.
I'm in a debate right now on another site with a bunch of yahoo's who think it's their God given right to waste resources, live in the suburbs in McMansions, and drive huge SUVs if they pay for it. They simply cannot grasp the notion that everyone pays for it...not just them.
So long as they live on this same planet you and I live on, and breath the same air we do, what right do they have to pollute more and waste more? How arrogant can someone be to think like that? And they wonder why we get attacked and are viewed with utter disgust around the world.
NOW...let's look at other vehicles...such as aircraft.
On average aircraft pollute MUCH MUCH MUCH more than a car...take a 747 on a fully laden flight...carries around 50K Gallons. Uses probably about 85% of it.
Just for kicks, let's say we use 43K Gallons on a 10 hour flight with 400 people...around 5500 miles let's say. That's .13 miles per gallon total but per person it is around 52 MPG...not bad considering. The emissions are another story...jet engines are quite dirty in comparison to cars in general...but their overall MPG is somewhat better. Even the most fuel efficient vehicles can't match that on a regular basis.
Other pollution factors such as coal factories, etc are a big one too...the probably the worst when fired up.
But one visit down to San Pedro, CA where all the ports are and the trucks come in leaves no one doubting how about auto and truck pollution can be...that place is a cesspool of pollution.
By the way Dahc...you're not commenting much...?
noz-
I'm fighting a cold, so I haven't had much energy, otherwise I'd be commenting more.
I'm not arguing that cars shouldn't be an important focus, I'm just asking why does Congress, for example, focus so much on cars and so little on anything else?
Additionally, I think the hybrid (especially the Prius) and the global warming connection has been over-played. Even worse, it turns a lot of people off.
Rather than simply call these people ignorant, red-neck global warming denyers, I'd rather try to sell them on the importance of fuel economy as a way to end foreign oil dependency and all the problems that US over-reliance upon foreign oil has created.
Perception is a key function of consumerism and I think a focus on foreign oil dependence and urban pollution - not CO2 - would be a better way to try reach the populace.
Global warming, on the other hand, is a divider.
Nozferatu:
The impact of personal cars on the global warming is overestimated. See, for example, http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2006/1000448/
I agree with the author completely. Take for example, American homes. It is a shame how awful is a typical insulation. Yes, they are cheap with huge one-glass cheap windows, but simply lousy in terms of energy-efficiency (both in cold and hot weather). Why aren't we seeing more efficient home technologies?
I wonder what the cost/benefit would be if all homes were forced to make some basic insulation updates. I imagine the savings far outweigh the costs.
More people should learn about electric vehicles as a solution. "Zero emissions" is something that's going to be required by law one day (you know it will). Making the decision to go electric is far cheaper anyway, like 10 cents on the dollar vs. gas. (source: zapworld.com)
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