Re: Totally off topic boycott

on 3/5/04 11:03 AM, Gregory W Blank at gblank@bellatlantic.net wrote:

> on 3/5/04 1:05 PM, Michael Slade at mike@tawayama.com wrote:
>> Actually Gregory, if you want to truly reduce emissions on the vehicle you
>> drive, you should look at one powered with a diesel engine.
>
> I had the newer hybrid vehicles in mind. Like the Prius.
> The technology does exist for these kind of cars, suvs
> trucks etc. That or Harley's ;-)
>>
>> Diesel fuel takes less overall energy to refine than gasoline does. It
>> takes roughly 1.5 gallons of diesel to make 1 gallon of regular unleaded
>> gasoline. The emissions that it takes to refine crude oil into gasoline is
>> much much higher than the emissions it takes to refine crude oil into
>> diesel.
>>
>> If you happen to see a diesel guzzling SUV, you can bet that it is producing
>> less emissions overall than your gasoline powered Subaru.
>>
>> Additionally, if you purchase a new car every 5-6 years rather than drive
>> your older, but well-tuned car for 10-15 years, you are adding to the
>> pollution problem in that way also. You would be flabbergasted at the
>> amount of waste, pollutants and toxins that are created in the manufacture
>> of an automobile.
>
> No I can imagine, everything has a price.
>
>> If you go around slamming gas-guzzling SUV's based on emissions and fuel
>> waste, you need to take the whole automobile cycle into account and re-think
>> where your stance is.
>
>> A hot-button of mine, so watch out.
>
> Michael don't know if you are in the US, but under the
> right circumstances SUV's are appriopriate, every soccer mom
> in the US has one, I understand the whole diesel statement.
> The emissions of diesel although better, are still carcinogenic.
>
>
>
>

Gregory,

I'm glad you didn't take my statement as an attack. I just try to point out
a different stance whenever people take pot-shots at the whole SUV argument.

Personally, I like a zero-emission vehicle, like the VW TDi. If run on
biodiesel, it is truly a zero-emission vehicle, as the carbon that is
released into the atmosphere is exactly the same amount of carbon that is
taken out of the atmosphere during the growth cycle of the particular
organic matter that was used to produce the biodiesel.

We plan on getting a VW Jetta Tdi this summer and run it either on biodiesel
or WVO (waste vegetable oil).

If a diesel vehicle is converted to run on WVO, fuel costs are practically
free, as the WVO is generated by every restaurant that uses a deep-fryer.
You can oftentimes collect WVO from restaurants at no cost because they
usually have to have the WVO disposed of which costs money.

Most restaurant owners/managers are more than happy to give it away after
it's been used. For the WVO diesel operating owner, it happens to work out
pretty well that your vehicle can run for free on someone else's waste.

Too bad more things in life don't work out that way.

We looked at the Prius very seriously, have a friend who has a Gen 1 and a
Gen 2 Prius and was very tempted.

Hybrid technology and diesel technology will, IMO, be the wave of the future
for automobile power.

biodiesel, IMO, could also solve the countries farming recession, put more
farmers to work growing soybeans for refining into fuel, and get them off of
government assistance.

Politically it is a charged issue, the oil-lobby is very powerful and
wouldn't want to give up any ground to a farmer growing beans in the
back-40.

Also, the public perception of diesel is still very bad (but
changing...slowly I think), so it'll take a while to catch on.

Anyway, your thoughts are similar to mine.

Thanks for writing.

Michael Slade
Tawàyama Safaris Inc.
www.tawayama.com
Received on Fri Mar 5 13:30:08 2004