People with narrow minds usually have broad tongues.
‹anonymous›
Atlantis: the domain of the Stingray
25Aug
2005
Thu
19:08
author: Stingray
category: My Ramblings
comments: 0
trackbacks: 0

Who do They Think They're Fooling?

Are You One of the Many Fools?

With the price of gasoline on the rise as it has been the past few months in this country (possibly around the world), millions of people are finding themselves considering other modes of transportation to get to where they need to go (AKA, mass transit) and considering cutting short vacations or cancelling them altogether. Others are contemplating how best to voice their disapproval over President Bush, the war in Iraq or whatever political party or decision they dislike the most (as if we wouldn't be here now with either Gore or Kerry in office *shudder*).

However, according to the mainstream media, what we should be considering is hybrid or totally electric cars because they will "decrease our dependance on fossil fuels and are safer for the environment." Well, the wool isn't so quickly pulled over my eyes. I ask, "How?"

Let's look at those benefits mentioned. First, hybrid or electric cars will decrease our dependance on fossil fuels." Not true. Not totally true, anyway. Hybrid cars have both gasoline and electric motors in them. They have small fuel tanks—5-6 gallons—and can go about 300-400 miles on a full tank, supposedly. Recent reports on television news seem to indicate that hybrid cars are actually not that effecient. First, they are not designed to run on the electric motor at high speeds. Second, the batteries that power the electric motor are charged by the momentum created by the gasoline engine (especially the energy wasted by conventional gasoline-powered cars when braking). So, the effect is that these cars, if driven like most of us drive our conventional cars, will have to be refueled more often than our conventional cars (the net effect of a smaller fuel tank). Also, cars that are purely electric need to be rechared somehow...by plugging into a wall. Can you guarantee that the electricity going to your house was not generated from fossil fuels? Neither can I.

Second, hybrid and electric cars are "safer for the environment." The idea behind this is that the exhaust emissions from these cars is not what conventional cars put out. Well, hybrid cars still burn gasoline, so the argument from that perspective is shot. However, electric cars have no emissions. So, the car, itself, is better for the environment. But, this goes back to the first benefit. Can you be sure that the electricity used to charge your electric car was not produced from fossil fuels? So more will have to be burned to produce enough electricity to charge all our cars. Also, you cannot guarantee that all your electrical power comes from renewable resources (wind, solar, geothermal) unless you are "off the grid" with solar panels on your roof. So, even if the power comes from a nuclear site, there are still contained at that site side effects of producing the electricity that are harmful for the environment.

In short, both cars require fossil fuels to provide them power, or most likely do, and this either directly or indirectly. The end effect is either negligible on both "benefits" when compared to where we currently are or slightly worse; gasoline engines are tyically cleaner than fossil fuel power plants.

Right now, the best you can do to save fossil fuels and the environment is walk, ride a bike, or take a horse. Until there is a safer method for producing electricity that doesn't require fossil fuels, thereby powering our electric cars or providing fuel for fuel cell cars (hydrogen), we're stuck doing that or driving our conventional gasoline-powered cars.

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