B
- Status
L
lynnvinc
Guest
Well, we just brought it home last night. And you’re wrong. That’s how regular hybrids work. The Volt (they explained to me) is an electric vehicle with an extended range ICE. We drove home solely on electricity from the dealership – and the dealership had already put 66 miles on it, nearly all electricity. It goes for some 36-40 miles on a full charge only using electricity from your home or other plug-in place, and then switches to gasoline, which is basically used to recharge the battery, since the propulsion comes only from the battery into the wheels. So on one 9.3 gallon tank of gasoline, one can drive some 375 miles, the first 40 of which are solely on elecricity from our home supply and the rest are on both gas and electricity, as a regular hybrid, except it is the gasoline that is charging the battery after the first 40 miles.
In our case we almost never drive more than 40 miles in a day.
I’ll be going to our yearly Carmelite retreat in March (which is about 50 miles away in a beautiful desert monastery), and I’m pretty sure the sisters will let me charge up over there (we’ll compensate them nicely) – over the years they’ve been very receptive to our introduction to CF & LED bulbs and lowflow showerheads, etc.
L
lynnvinc
Guest
My real purpose is religious. I don’t like harming and killing people.
It’s just nice that if you seek first the Kingdom of God and its righteousness, all things will be added unto you. It is very very nice that what Jesus said is so very very true.
Is that how you feel about those that freely choose to drive their minivan or SUV?
‘harming and killing people’?
B
BernardM
Guest
So your answer is to get power from coal plants (more than likely in a poorer area) and to force poor rural people to have ugly windmills ruin their environment so you can feel morally superior. So in other words out of sight out of mind.
N
Nine_Two
Guest
Plans are already underway to build a pipeline through BC from which oil can be shipped to China. The hard part about that route is that a significant number of Indian bands all have to agree.
O
oldcelt
Guest
Ship all that garbage (bituminous oil) they want. We have far cleaner sources in the US.
Those who back the pipeline are in soneone’s pocket.
John
Those who back the pipeline are in soneone’s pocket.
John
L
lynnvinc
Guest
I think there is far more harm from ICE car emissions than from coal smokestacks (which can be better controlled), and EVs involve only about 2/3s the emissions of ICE cars, even if the electricity is 100% coal generated.
In IL we had 75% nuke and 25% coal generated electricity. Our environmental committee at church invited the ComEd guy to discuss energy issues, and he told us how they had to keep the nukes going continuously 24 hours a day, wasting energy at night. We talked about solutions to that. I brought up EVs and how they’d mainly be powered at night, and he got really excited and said, “If enough people in the Chicagoland area plugged EVs in at night, we could cut our electricity rate maybe in half.” AND that they wouldn’t need to use their coal-burning peaking plants as much.
Since we’ve moved to Texas, we’ve been on 100% wind-generated electricity.
I know, now you’re going to call me a “bird-killer.” And I do feel bad there is that problem, but I’ve heard they are working on it. The have some sonar devices to detect when a flock of birds is coming, which then automatically shuts down the windmill.
I was talking to some people on campus about this windmill-bird issue and they reminded me of how our campus had shooed away the huge bird population getting into the rafters of the walkway coverings and making nests and pooping on everyone). They used some horrible blasting sounds a few years ago, and the birds haven’t returned since. (We live in a bird “mecca” with 1000s of birds everywhere, and some very rare species, as well.) I’m just wondering if the windmill people have tried that.
RE the ugliness of the windmills, I’m thinking why not paint them purple with green polka dots or something – make each one different. There are ways to jazz them up I suppose. I actually find them quite beautiful in their white color, as is. But I do know there are ardent environmentalists against them, such as Robert F. Kennedy (on the NRDC board) who is opposed to having them off-shore near his home (or summer home?).
I suppose the scubba divers are going to hate the wave generators once they become popular and prevalent.
So in addition to us having our electricity through wind power, we are doing all we can to reduce our energy consumption thru efficiency and conservation practices. Unfortunately our home is not “aimed” right for solar panels (I don’t know why that slipped my mind when we bought our house 10 years ago…I was so focused on getting something close to work, I simply forgot). We still might do something solar, like put up an ugly pole with a solar array in our back yard. Ugly ugly ugly. That’s the beauty of it.
Anyway, the point is we can find solutions to problems. God will help. Never loose faith. He always does help, and help marvelously. And also with finding solutions to the problems created by solutions
As God might say, “no pain, no gain.”
L
lynnvinc
Guest
That’s their choice. They have to weigh all their issues.
What would Jesus drive? Maybe a minibus to fit in all his disciples. Or maybe he’d go on public transportation to outreach to the poor.
The minivan is okay. In fact we have one as a second car, bec we need it for hauling things in connection with our business – we put about 1,000 - 1,500 miles on it each year. Minivans are cars made into vans, and get okay mileage. Maybe when we recoup from buying this Volt, and when our Windstar gets to a point of no return, we’ll get an electric minivan.
SUVs, OTOH, are trucks turned into cars, and are notoriously polluting. Not to mention quite ugly, much more ugly than sleek, beautiful wind generators. I don’t really know why people would bother to buy them. If they need to haul a big family, then why not a station wagon?
RE light trucks, which nearly all men (and many women) here in Texas think they need to show they are macho, a study found that 24% of Texans have such trucks, but only 1.3% actually need them in conjunction with their work. Go figure. I’m thinking we could rent one if for some reason we really needed one…like we’re buying a tree from the nursery that doesn’t fit in our minivan. So far we only need one once in the past 10 years to haul a stove that didn’t fit in our minivan, and we got an acquaintance to do so in her truck, and we paid her in grapefruits, tangerines, and plants from our garden and some other things.
Let’s see some real manhood and womanhood. Let’s see some courage to stand up for life and righteousness and do the right thing, even if everyone hurls ridicule and nasty epithets, as I have to face, being an environmentalist concerned about life on planet earth.
L
lynnvinc
Guest
The whole point of the pipeline going from Canada to Port Arthur is to ship it to China. It was never intended for use here – there are already many pipelines from Canada to the U.S. that serve that purpose. In fact, when the pipeline is build (which it seems will happen), the price of gasoline in the Midwest is expected to go way up.
It might be good to see the film PIPE DREAMS - pipedreamsdoc.com/
In other words, we get some 1000s of temporary jobs for maybe a one year or so, and untold pollution and destruction of potable water for many many generations, and destruction of agricultural lands, but we don’t get the oil. I’d assumed people knew that, and were only pushing for it bec of the jobs.
M
Monte_RCMS
Guest
WWJD?
Ford F-350.
[His day job? Carpenter!]
Ford F-350.
[His day job? Carpenter!]
N
Nine_Two
Guest
The whole point of shipping our crude down there is for it to be refined, after that what happens doesn’t matter. While the number of temporary jobs created does dwarf the number of permanent jobs, so does any construction job of this type. The fact is that the jobs it does create tend to be higher paying skilled jobs, you know, the kind that are needed.
So you might be in favour of those refineries working at half capacity and your fellow countrymen collecting welfare, but I know there are many, particularly in the affected areas, who don’t see that as a positive.
The idea that a pipeline will pollute more than using trains and trucks to ship the oil is downright ludicrous,
As for where the oil goes after it is refined, it goes to whoever buys it. If American companies buy from those refineries it stays in the country, if not, then it gets shipped overseas (much will redoubtably be shipped back up here), that’s how the commodities market works.
I’m not.
And I support the pipeline.
You may wish to review your facts before committing to post.
You are ducking the question.
The only nastiness I have seen on this thread has to do with a judgement that apparently you have made.
Have the courage of conviction to speak plainly.
And I will ask again:
Is that how you feel about those that freely choose to drive their minivan or SUV?
‘harming and killing people’?
Your statistics are flawed.
My own minivan gets 17 to 18 MPG.
That of my neighbors, inlaws, and coworkers vary from 16 to 22.
That is practical experience, and is much more accurate then what some auto manufacturer claims.
Pure opinion.
You would likely feel the same of my opinion that I feel about this one.
You are assuming the truck must be utilized in conjunction with their work.
Of those I know with a truck, none use them for work.
The truck is used for recreation.
It is not practical to rent a truck every weekend.
We already have an example.
The Alasken pipeline.
Your theorized environmental destruction simply did not happen.
We have no reason to expect any different for this pipeline.
M
Monte_RCMS
Guest
The Obama Administration is trying to shut down the Alaska pipeline by shutting off the oil development along the North Slope of Alaska.
There is plenty of oil up there along the north coast of Alaska. But the Feds are pulling out all the stops in shutting it down.
So, as the development stops, then the flow of Alaska oil will slow down, and when the volume gets below a certain amount, they will have to shut down the Alaska pipeline. And if the flow stops, then by law or by previous agreement, the Alaska pipeline will have to be dismantled. Taken down. Demolished. Removed.
You can look it up.
L
lynnvinc
Guest
There are also many high paying jobs that are immoral. I would not suggest promoting such jobs simply bec we need the money.
Money is truly the root of all evil, as the Bible says.
I think it’s much better to take hold of this problem – peak oil, end of oil, and harmful effects from its local, regional, and global pollution – and work on establishing alternatives.
God has given us plenty of blessings and grace. The only thing needful is our humility and will. We can start with small baby steps, like carrying a hanky to dry hands in public restrooms, turning off lights not it use. The Little Way of Environmental Healing. As Mother Teresa said, it doesn’t matter how much one does, but that it be done with love, because our love makes it infinite. She said she wouldn’t have gone out to help over 35,000 people if she had not gone out to help that first man dying in the street.
Let us do what is right and good, even if we have to sacrifice a bit.
BTW, we got our Volt Friday night, and have now driven about 50 miles on it without using one drop of gasoline, only our wind-generated electricity. ((I’ll be praying that the birds don’t fly into the blades and die
.))
S
SamH
Guest
So your electricity isn’t "free’?
S
SamH
Guest
Where does it say that?
- Status