----- Original Message ----- From: "Julia Thompson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[email protected]> Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 12:40 PM Subject: Re: Cost of conservation
> > How many pickup trucks run on diesel? Around here it isn't all that many. Dodge has had a popular truck with the Cummins diesel engine for several years but you see them only as a small percentage of trucks overall. Now that diesel is mostly more expensive than gasoline, you see fewer new diesel pickups. > > How many SUVs run on diesel? I've never noticed any myself. The movement seems to be towards hybrids in SUVs, but I don't doubt there will be some hydrid diesels. > > Is diesel better or worse than gasoline? Until recently diesel was a dirtier fuel (emissions wise), but you got better mileage and it was cheaper. Now there are cleaner diesel fuels and more efficient diesel engines available and a few diesel hybrids in the works. > > Should we be encouraging switching to diesel? Why or why not? > My personal opinion is that we should not be encouraging the burning of fuels at all (WRT automobiles). We should be encouraging electric powered vehicles. Certainly, there is an issue with range that has not been sufficiently overcome, but energy densities in batteries are improving very nicely and it appears that the problems are not so much in straight forward physics as it is in materials science. The only question really is "what is the best method for storing energy?". Li-Ion batteries are making great strides currently and it may not be long before you see versatile all-electric vehicles available and on the road. xponent Power Shift Maru rob _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
