Do Average Americans Have Better Answers Than Car Companies?
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 03.22.08
Listen up, auto manufacturers. When the people start inventing better cars because you are not doing it, you lose cred. So get your gearheads in gear and follow step with the folks in this ABC piece on how to save money by reducing fuel use. For TreeHuggers that caught news but want to know a bit more, or who want to follow suit with the people shown in this video, check the hints over the fold.
Fred Crane of Jacksonville demonstrates his invention, the "mileage master", which he wired under his own hood to turn off half the cylinders when the car is up to speed. This technology is available on a limited number of models, for example from
- General Motors: AFM (Active Fuel Management)
- DaimlerChrysler: MDS (Multiple Displacement System), and
- Honda: VCM (Variable Cylinder Management).
Gordon Blau notes that his garage smells like "stale chinese noodles", but that he saves "easily over $3000 a year" by collecting used vegetable oil from local restaurants and mixing it with diesel for his engine. As noted earlier in TreeHugger, US EPA has banned the use of vegetable oil as diesel, the tax guys hate veggie oil. Furthermore, it is not as easy as just funneling your leftover fryer grease into your car's tank--modifications are required or you will gum up the works. But anecdotal evidence suggests the demand is rising for vegetable oil fuel. It never fails: rising temperatures may not move people to action, but rising prices always will.
Via ::Yahoo
I think you bring up a good point. It's not the failure in the intelligence of the American people as a population, it's the failure of corporate America to give the average American any creedence.
When companies start acknowledging that their employees actually know something, then maybe we'll start advancing. When companies shake the intertwining ties they have with each other in the name of profit cushions, we will start advancing. There's nothing wrong with the minds of most of us, just the minds of the people who hold the dollars. Their greed is holding us back from moving forward.
But what happens when everyone is running around to restaurants asking for leftover vegetable oil? Won't that make the price of vegetable oil go up?
The other question I have is what happens when the government realizes that you're using the roads without paying gas taxes for the infrastructure? Are these people paying extra every time they register their cars and giving a record of their mileage?
I don't think it'll take 20 years for electric cars to hit mainstream. I am intrigued by the device that allows you to turn off half the cylinders. Not everyone will be able to take advantage of waste vegetable oil.
It will just be a matter of time before the current crop of cars we have will be changed. Apparently most car manufacturers today are concerned about sales. If this social responsibility starts to sink in, then customers will start to note how much savings they can get.
It can all be summed up like a teacher-student relationship. The student just needs furthe advice on how to really go green.
somewhat disapointing, 3 rather tired options :(
1 - Biodiesel
2 - Manually shutting of cylinders,
3 - An unobtainable electric super car.
Hardly average americans, or real solutions to high gas prices.
What about more realistic options like
increasing use of public transport
Telecommuting vs traveling to the office every day (for those that can)
Cycling vs using a car
Car Pooling.
But then those options dont make good TV, which means no ad revenue.
UNLESS, you find a way to get the local transit co, broadband companies, cycle shops, and car pooling sites to buy ad time during the broadcast.
When I was shopping for a used car, I was encouraged by my inability to find anything that was fuel efficient. I ended up buying a Scion xA, without test driving it, because demand was so high that if I waited it would be off the lot.
"When the people start inventing better cars because you are not doing it, you lose cred."
Exactly which of these cars was better than what the manufacturers offer? The article noted that cylinder deactivation is already offered by several manufacturers, auto manufacturers do not make fuel and there is no standard for them to use to design a WVO powered vehicle, and even the builder of the electric car acknoledged that it is too expensive.