Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Studies have concluded that if all gasoline vehicles were replaced with electric vehicles that ran on power produced at oil- or coal-burning power plants, the amount of pollution created by those power plants would be less than the amount of pollution from the same number of gasoline engines. So, even if we used the same power source (oil), we would still be cutting down on the pollution of the planet.
|
Interesting. As I stated in my first post, I did not know if this would be the case or not but it is still an issue worth considering.
Whilst "less polution" is of course better, I don't think this should cause all research into other options that may end up producing "no pollution" to be ceased or completely ignored.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
Obviously, switching from large single-passenger vehicles to smaller vehicles and public trans would create even less emissions.
Yvan is right that we all need to rethink our needs, and learn to give up on some of our wants, for the good of all. We cannot afford to be unyieldingly sefish about our personal needs, and let everyone else change. Large single-passenger vehicles, self-driven, highly dangerous and heavily polluting, were fine for another era, but for the industrialized world, that era has passed.
|
Firstly, I do not take your comments regarding selfish people expecting others to change whilst they themselves refuse to, personally.
However, I'm a fire fighter. I like to think my choice of profession would indicate whether or not I'm generally "selfish". My specific role within the brigade is to travel to various stations around the state and fill in for anyone who is on leave. I must carry all my protective equipment(including helmet, boots etc), change of clothes, bedding, lunch, study materials and any personal items I may need. The total weight of all this is quite significant and the space required for storage is also quite significant. Often I may be required to travel 100's of kilometers to a station to work for the day then travel home.
That's just my work requirements for my car. In my private life I have family I visit on a regular basis that live 600km round trip away, my wife's family lives 300km round trip away and a brother spending some time as a guest of the state who lives 700km round trip away. None of these people live near a train line. Driving from one side of Sydney to the other to visit friends can be over a 100km round trip.
Now, if you could come up with a way in which an electric car would suit me, especially for my work requirements, I'd be happy to hear it. I might even be interested in buying it if it wasn't 3 times the cost of a petrol driven car.
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Steve Jordan
It's time to graduate to the next iteration of car--which I wish I could call, for the sake of this discussion, Car2.0... but I feel we've been driving Car Series 2 (Hybrids probably bring us up to Car2.7 now) since the aftermath of WWII, so I guess we're going to Car3.0 now.
And if you think there's a lot of difference between your present car and a Model A Ford, wait'll you see Car3.0...
|
I couldn't agree more, I'd love to see Car3.0 come along. I'm just not convinced the one and only answer is the electric car and that all other means of propulsion should be summarily dismissed from the discussion.
Cheers,
PKFFW