Well said Dawie (hoezit daar in die ou Kaap?). High time perhaps to resurrect the old WWII propaganda poster "Is your journey really necessary?" (Is your air-conditioner/whatever ((lifestyle)) really necessary?)
You might enjoy this, if you haven't read it already: "How much fuel can we grow? How much land will it take?" http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html#howmuch "A sustainable energy future requires great reductions in energy use, great improvements in energy efficiency, and decentralisation of supply to the local-economy level, along with the use of all ready-to-use renewable energy technologies in combination as local circumstances require." You're right about the comparative eco-manufacturing costs of a Prius and an old Landie. But we don't have the Landies now. We sold one before we left Hong Kong, and sold the other in Tokyo (to the guy who restored the first Toyota FJ40 made, for Toyota's museum). Now we use a 1990 Toyota TownAce 4x4 diesel van and a Daihatsu K-truck, more re which here: http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/msg55611.html [Biofuel] K-trucks in the US - Re: advancement of car technology K-trucks are cheap, and cheap to build, but they're real trucks, just small. >The problem with today's cars is exactly that they are >mass-produced. Mass-producing electric cars isn't going to solve >that. Yeah, which one's top of the pops this year? They still can't sell them all, even with endless new models and billions in fashion hype. Pre-60s technology and consumption patterns weren't that bad, you could do it much more efficiently and cleaner these days. Not quite sure how you'd manage to build current CEO salaries into it though... (let alone the current legislation). Best Keith >The problem with most electrics is that the job they do best of all >is the job we should be doing with our feet. > >The entire debate around the ecology of transport is that the matter >of scale is always left out. Arguments rage about so many of >molecule x versus so many of molecule y, without ever considering >that patterns of use will radically influence the overall volume of >molecules we're talking about. The first issue should be to address >vehicle use patterns. This requires a holistic approach, and a sound >appreciation of the purposes of most vehicle trips, and how that >relates to the structure of cities. > >The bulk of one's effort should be oriented to developing a living >environment in which driving is unnecessary, and walking supported >by public transport is the obvious way to get from A to B. Given >that, the entirely subsidiary project of designing cars and fuels >concerns not so much cleaner cars and cleaner fuels, but types of >vehicle and fuel best suited to manufacture for a very-low-demand >scenario. > >The beauty of ethanol and biodiesel is predominantly that it is >perfectly suited to such a scenario. If motor vehicles are rare, we >aren't going to run them on a fuel that requires drilling very >expensive holes in another country. We would need a fuel that can be >made in small quantities as an agricultural by-product. > >The same applies to manufacture of vehicles. In the light of the >above, the Toyota Prius is an ecological disaster compared with >Keith's Landies, or other classics, or something Lotus-7-ish, or a >traditional hot rod, or a proper motorbike made out of bent tubing. >Note how typical current legislation militates against this approach. > >-Dawie _______________________________________________ Biofuel mailing list Biofuel@sustainablelists.org http://sustainablelists.org/mailman/listinfo/biofuel_sustainablelists.org Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Search the combined Biofuel and Biofuels-biz list archives (50,000 messages): http://www.mail-archive.com/biofuel@sustainablelists.org/
