The Other Drummer

This article from Popular Mechanics talks about a man who gets about 100 mpg on road trips. He put some solar panels on the roof of his Prius to keep the batteries charged and…ta-da. The article asks, “If this guy can to it in his back yard, why can’t automakers?”

Perhaps it’s the conspiracy theorist in me, but I think the question isn’t why CAN’T automakers do it, but why WON’T automakers do it.

Which brings me to another irksome question. Right now, the gas prices in Utah are well above average. All throughout the press you read about how gas prices are falling. Twelve cents here, five cents there. The prices in Utah? Down maybe two or three cents. The explanation? Three of the five oil refineries in Utah (that refine the oil we use in Utah) are shut down for repairs, so output is still low while demand remains the same.

My question is, if we’re getting our oil refined here in Utah, why did our prices skyrocket after Katrina hit?

I think the whole thing is an unregulated mess, and I lean toward the opinion that if Bush weren’t in office with all his oil company backing, maybe things would be different.

It looks like GM’s whole “Live Green, Go Yellow” campaign centered around their flex fuel vehicles is a bit of a sham. The fuel itself is nearly impossible to come by, even in the corn-rich Midwest. So these supposed environmentally friendly machines are chugging along on the same amount of gas they always have been.

Why the big push by GM to promote these vehicles that, in most circumstances, aren’t any different than a regular gas-guzzling SUV? According to TreeHugger, “It turns out that the Government gives GM a bonus in the average fuel economy standards, whether or not the pickup truck or SUV ever sees a drop of the stuff. Some purchasers don’t even know they are driving flex-fuel vehicles.”

What? Corporate America treating environmental reform as no more than a PR stunt? Sounds familiar. And the U.S. auto industry wonders why they’re slowly going under. Here’s a tip: do something good, for the right reason, and you’ll come out ahead.

Today was my first day taking TRAX to work (due to my desire to be more “green”). I just thought I’d let everyone know that I did indeed drag my lazy self out of bed an extra hour early this morning and made it to work on time. (I’m sure all four of you were on pins and needles wondering if I was going to do it.)

It’s nice leaving the house at the same time my wife does, and I was pleasantly surprised about the lack of people on the train as I had a seat both ways. The trip was short, only about 20 minutes. If you don’t include the walking time to and from the office, it doesn’t take much longer to take TRAX than it does to drive.

I was also able to read on the train, and listen to a podcast. It was kind of relaxing.

Of course, I’m still not as cool as Matt because I don’t ride a bike to work.

Did you know that according to this government website only 15% of the gas you put in your tank goes to moving you down the road and running things like your headlights and AC? 64% of the gas you put in your car is wasted thanks to “engine losses”.

Engine losses? Are you kidding me? We can put a man on the moon and launch sattelites that can read the time off your watch but we can’t figure out how to design an engine that’s more than 15% efficient? I find that very hard to believe. (Any big oil/auto industry conspiracy theorists out there?)

Here’s an earth-shattering idea: let’s make a law that says cars have to be, oh, I don’t know 30% effecient within 5 years and 50% effecient within 10. Imagine the impact be if all cars doubled their fuel effeciency! Don’t worry about the discovery, production or distribution of a new fuel source (although we should still be working on that), just make more efficient use of what we already have.

Hey! Rich Guys Auto Industry Guys! Instead of designing self-parking cars and in-car DVD players for the kids, maybe you should work on designing a gas engine that doesn’t suck gas, because no matter which car you look at, knowing that it’s only using 15% of the fuel you put in it means the Prius should be getting 400 mpg, not 60.

“The era of procrastination, of half-measures, of soothing and baffling expedients, of delays, is coming to its close. In its place we are entering a period of consequences.” – Winston Churchill, 1936

What a profound quote. I found it in An Inconvenient Truth and I whole-heartedly agree with it. Corporations and citizens alike can no longer claim ignorance regarding their responsibility toward the Earth and its inhabitants.

Most environmental action thus far has been moderate at best. (“We don’t want to be too stringent on the auto industry. They have a huge impact on the economy.”) Guess what? Europe has much stricter environmental standards than we do (Kyoto Protocol anyone?) and their economy is thriving.

Another quote, this one from Al Gore, fits perfectly. After talking about how the U.S. could conceivably lose 60% of its soil moisture in the next 50 years due to global warming he says:

“How do we debate something as cataclysmic as this in the traditional framework of our political dialogue?”

In short: suck it up. We’ve been skirting around serious, lasting environmental regulations for too long. To date, environmental promises have been nothing more than PR releases, premeditatedly forgotten and swept under the rug. If we continue to try to create environmental reform the same way we have been, nothing will ever change. It hasn’t yet.

As Churchill stated, the time is past. Let’s set some tough standards…now. Rarely does anybody talk about short-term, immediate plans. Why? Because it requires change and that’s hard to do (and, when it comes to corporations, it’s expensive). But that’s exactly what needs to happen.

Well, if you’d been doing a little bit all along instead of ignoring the problem, the change you’re inevitably going to have to make wouldn’t suck as much. It’s time for everyone to bite the bullet and do the right thing.