But, this technology has been successfully squelched by the big oil companies and the auto manufacturers. You see, reducing our need for oil will simultaneously reduce their vulgar profits. As long as they continue getting rich they have little to no regard for our environment.But instead of supporting cleaner, non-polluting, renewable sources of energy like solar, wind, and electricity, some would have us believe we need to open up oil drilling on our coastlines and wildlife refuges.
We all know this is not the answer.
Even if you take away the fact that these new wells won't produce oil for 15 or more years, having more oil will not reduce the cost of gasoline. A lack of oil supply is NOT causing gasoline prices to be sky high; corporate greed is.
With President Bush promising lower gas prices if we sacrifice our coasts to Big Oil, members of both parties are clamoring to lift the ban on offshore drilling. Congress could cave under the enormous and growing pressure.
If that happens, thousands of miles of our most spectacular coasts, including California's Big Sur, Maine's Acadia National Park, North Carolina's Outer Banks, Florida's Everglades and coral reefs, and eventually the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge will all be at risk of catastrophic oil spills.
The raping of our beautiful coastlines is unacceptable and completely unnecessary.
Alternative energy sources are out there! We don't need to destroy our coastlines and wildlife refuges for oil.
I urge everyone: Educate yourself, and then speak out. Tell them "No offshore drilling."
Crush du Jour: William Levy
6 comments:
All the GOP has for the fall election is off shore drilling and the lie that it will somehow provide relief to consumers. They will beat that drum relentlessly, all the more reason to educate ourselves. Great post.
Don't get me started -- at least without a glass of wine. Another thing I find weird is that we've been looking to possibly buy a hybrid vehicle. There are none to be found. they just keep on producing more of the full gas engines than the hybrids. interesting, isnt' it.
If you get a chance read Edwin Black's "Internal Combustion". There were pure electric vehicles in the late 19th century and early 20th century. The auto and oil industry did their part to destroy it.
Battery technology has come a long was since then and you could get 200+ miles per charge out of Li-Ion batteries.
I'd love an electric vehicle. My commutes are such that it's maybe 80 miles a day. Electric would be ideal for that.
And the way we do hybrids is in a word, stupid. We mechanically add an electric motor in the drive train with the IC engine.
Instead what we should do is drive the wheels with electric motors and have a small 2 cylinder engine operating at prime efficiency keeping a battery array charged up.
That's the thing, an IC engine has an optimal band where it is at top efficiency. That generally translates to speeds between 35MPH and 55MPH. So if you run the engine at a constant speed it gets the best 'mileage' and so to does your vehicle.
Trains have done that very thing for many years now. A diesel engine turns a generator which sends power to the drive wheels.
Experimental vehicles with the arrangement I've described get well over 100MPG.
I've even noted major bus manufactures are now switching to diesel-electric drive. It boosts the mileage by a factor of 4. I estimate the average bus probably gets about 10MPG, so 40MPG would help struggling transit companies. In essence they'd use a quarter of the fuel they currently use if their entire fleet was converted to this system.
I need to contact the board at the Rhode Island Public Transit Authority and tell them that with the next grants for equipment they should start investing in diesel-electric.
Isnt it s damm shame! These guys are all a bunch of crooks! I hope times change--it can only get better and with your post and more people bringing this to light and attention things will hopefully change....
There are electric cars made in Quebec and I think they are selling them in Europe, but the Canadian government is doing its utmost to prevent them from being sold here in Canada. Pisses me off no end.
We have to wean ourselves off of oil. Period.
Good post!
Indigo Incarnates
The thing that cracks me up is that GM has the capability to make almost EVERY vehicle at least a mild hybrid. BAS has a unit cost of about $800, but boost fuel economy by 3-5 MPG. So why aren't they doing it? I have no idea. Sure, 3-5 MPG isn't a big boost, but if every car had it, I think it would be worthwhile.
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