Re: FW: Gas Boycott (fwd)

[Rich Weyand <weyand@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 05:35 PM 3/2/2000 -0500, Malcolm A. Meyn wrote:
>Another fun fact, adjusted for inflation it turns out that this week, the
>week that the griping seems to have intensified, the average national gas
>price is exactly the same as it was in 1967, 27 cents.  Americans are
>definitely spoiled when it comes to fuel costs.


Nah, we're just spoiled, period.  Couple other interesting facts.  

- - The 1950 average income of a family of four in the US, corrected for constant 
dollars, was about $13,000, less than the current poverty line.  

- - The largest energy cost associated with a car is not gas costs, but the initial 
energy required to create the materials.  Consider a car getting 25 mpg for 
100,000 miles.  At $1.50 a gallon for gas, that is $6000, much of which is tax.  
A new car averages $25,000.  Don't remember the portion which is directly 
attributable to energy costs in making it, but it's more than $6000.  And a lot 
of cars don't make it to 100,000 miles.  Switching to more exotic and energy-
intensive materials to save gasoline is counter-productive.

- - Best way to save fuel is hybrid vehicles.  Average hp required to maintain 80
mph is 40-50 hp depending on the aerodynamics of the car.  Using a 50 hp engine 
tuned for constant rpm, you can generate hp very cleanly and efficiently.  Using
batteries for the 200 hp bursts, and then converting the momentum of the car
back into battery charge when stopping, you get the best of all worlds: 200 hp
starts, highway speeds, runs all day without stopping for charge, lighter than
all electric because of much less battery, cheaper than all electric because of
much less battery, uses regular gas through the existing distribution system,
and uses the existing know-how in the service industry of how to fix ICEs.  As
for the generator and electric drive motor, service guys know all about 
alternators, generators, and starter motors already.

- - Full-electric vehicles are not zero-pollution, they transfer the pollution to 
the electric power plants, which don't have the capacity to support widespread
full-electric transportation anyway.  And you have to safely get rid of the 
expensive batteries, which wear out and must be replaced several times during
the life of the car.

- - Most Europeans who criticize American driving habits have no concept at all
of how big the US is.  London to Moscow is less than Washington DC to Denver,
and you still have half again that far to go to get to LA.  The US also spans 
the distance from London to Moscow north to south, and is almost rectangular.
In that space, we have only half the population of the current EU countries.
That population density does not support mass transit such as trains except in
a very few high-density corridors.

- - I love it when people say the US has only 5% of the world's population and 
uses 25% of the resources.  The vast bulk of resources used in the US are used 
in manufacturing, and -- surprise, surprise -- we generate 25+% of the world's
manufactured goods.  The amount we save in having more efficient manufacturing
processes than the rest of the world over-compensates for the energy we use 
as individuals driving around in our SUVs.

So what's all that add up to?  I dunno, I just felt like posting a rant.


Rich Weyand      |  _______   ___,---. ---+_______:_   |Rich Weyand
Weyand Associates| |_N_&_W_| |_N_&_W_| |__|________|_  |TracTronics
Comm Consultants |  ooo ooo ~ ooo ooo ~ oOOOO- OOOO=o\ |Model RR Electronics
weyand@xxxxxxx   |     http://www.mcs.net/~weyand/     |weyand@xxxxxxx

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