I'm frequently commenting on the horrid state of econuts in America. What's got my goat now is hybrid cars. I'm not anti-hybrid completely, my dad designed a hybrid in the late 70's with 4 wheel drive, and 4 wheel steering. My dad was an inventor and a mad genius. He envisioned a car with 4 induction electric motors, 1 over each tire and a super efficient 2 cycle gas engine to keep the batteries topped off. His car actually recharged the batteries when you hit the brakes. Anyway, he abandoned the project because gas prices weren't quite bad enough to get people to buy it AND because you've got to mine the lithium for the batteries so its really not that eco-friendly anyway.
Modern hybrids are ridiculous. They don't actually get better gas mileage than a standard car. I call that a failure. Then theirs the all electric vehicles with 100 mile range. Completely impractical. Say you want to go 105 miles. You've got to stop and charge your car for 8 hours. With power rates being what they are you actually pay more per mile.
Everytime I turn around someones talking about how smart they are in Europe, well for a change I agree. Europe has been investing in clean diesel for a long time and they are very close to making it. Ford now has a new Fiesta that goes 71 mpg. Can you get it in the US...nope. Econuts have green washed our economy. Pop culture environmentalism says hybrids are the way to go so you don't get to have the option of something that works.
I have a dream folks, that one day the news media will stop propgandizing for the left and cover what's really out there that's news worthy.
http://www.gizmag.com/ford-fiesta-econetic-technology/21943/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=4483461352-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email
Perhaps the answer is to make the car small. Here's a couple ideas from MIT I do think are ingenious.
The smallest car ever made for production was the P50 which originally sold for just over $300. The Peel Company will be releasing replicas of the classic soon, but thanks to the unionized workers and massive safety restrictions, and just plain greed on behalf of automakers it will now sell for $12,676.
http://www.gizmag.com/ford-fiesta-econetic-technology/21943/?utm_source=Gizmag+Subscribers&utm_campaign=4483461352-UA-2235360-4&utm_medium=email
And here's an alternate fuel for you:
Showing posts with label Ecology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ecology. Show all posts
Monday, April 2, 2012
Thursday, March 1, 2012
Eco Nuts??
Anyone who knows me, knows Eco nuts drive me nuts. It's not that I want to destroy the environment--I don't even litter--its that I keep running into pop ecologists who've so lost their connection to reality that they do more harm than good. Seriously, for every greedy, corporate overlord who dumps toxic waste into a stream there are a hundred angry, vocal, ill-informed radicals bending the ears of ignorant politicians and activist judges. This later group comes up with regulations that stifle the economy, put people out of work and spend millions of tax-payer dollars to warp how people shop and do little to improve the environment.
Now I'll revisit this issue with some specifics later, but my goals is to keep this blog full of fun and amazing things (and whenever I rant about things like the billion dollar windmills in the gorge that have a lifespan of 20 years but won't show a return on investment for 25, people think I'm just anti windmill, which I'm not. I think they work great for pumping water and we should have them pump water from below the dams to above it.) Therefore I'll just point to people who are doing it right.
I've been following Trackers Earth for several years and I've read many of their manifestos. Standing next to me they are total hippies, none the less they are authentic to their passion. They aren't trying to convert you to some green religion where mankind is a disease and we must all have a zero carbon footprint or some ice melting ragnaroc will doom us all to the death we so richly deserve. These guys actually research their wilderness lore and believe if you actually spend time in nature you'll like it and respect it, and just maybe your stress levels will go down.
These are mind kind of nature nerds. They don't take themselves too seriously and that always garners my respect. So check them out.
Now I'll revisit this issue with some specifics later, but my goals is to keep this blog full of fun and amazing things (and whenever I rant about things like the billion dollar windmills in the gorge that have a lifespan of 20 years but won't show a return on investment for 25, people think I'm just anti windmill, which I'm not. I think they work great for pumping water and we should have them pump water from below the dams to above it.) Therefore I'll just point to people who are doing it right.
I've been following Trackers Earth for several years and I've read many of their manifestos. Standing next to me they are total hippies, none the less they are authentic to their passion. They aren't trying to convert you to some green religion where mankind is a disease and we must all have a zero carbon footprint or some ice melting ragnaroc will doom us all to the death we so richly deserve. These guys actually research their wilderness lore and believe if you actually spend time in nature you'll like it and respect it, and just maybe your stress levels will go down.
These are mind kind of nature nerds. They don't take themselves too seriously and that always garners my respect. So check them out.
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