Archive for green

The right approach

16 November, 2007 at 8:58 am · Filed under car transport, ecological, fuel economy, green, pollution, toyota prius, travel, vw bluemotion

Three cheers for Angela Merkel, Chancellor of Germany, when she responded recently to a Green initiative to introduce blanket speed limits on German autobahns. ‘It won’t happen with me’, she is reported as saying.  She went on to point out that traffic jams and congestion are many times greater contributors to pollution and greenhouse gases than driving fast.

One of the great Green arguments against private car use, and in particular against large-engined cars, is the heavy fuel consumption arising from driving fast.  All too few people will actually argue that the most economical small diesel car in a traffic jam is doing ZERO mpg.  This is one area where the over-hyped Toyota Prius has a genuine advantage, but other manufacturers are catching up, with the Volkswagen BlueMotion and Mini range coming with an automatic start/stop system which turns the engine on and off in start/stop driving.  That Mini next to you in the traffic jam may actually be doing zero mpg!

Anyway, to return to my original point, I find it reassuring to hear of a politician that has a more panoramic view of the problem than most.

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Does my carbon footprint look big in this?

16 September, 2007 at 8:25 am · Filed under carbon footprint, co2, green, pollution, travel

I’ve just been enjoying an article on bbc.co.uk about a long-distance bus service from UK to Australia, run by a company called Ozbus. You can find the article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/6996233.stm.  It sounds a fascinating trip, and makes me wish I was already retired and could try it, but rather spoils the story at the end with a last-minute attempt to pay lipservice to greenery.  There is, apparently, only one brief flight involved.  That may be good, but the bus is going to create a whole lot of CO2 in its 15,000 mile journey. 

So why is the bus element of the CO2 generated totally ignored, while the effect of a brief flight picked upon?  There are other factors affecting the volume of CO2 generated by the trip.  I suppose the bus is in good mechanical order, but that sounds to me like the comsumption of at least 2,500 gallons of diesel.  I don’t know what the plane trip will take – it depends on the aircraft type, its engines, how high and fast it flies, and so on.

Can anyone tell me what the per-capita fuel cost is on a non-stop flight from Heathrow to Australia?

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Introduction

13 September, 2007 at 12:09 pm · Filed under ecological, green

I think I am now completely tired of the logically null and numerically illiterate nonsense that I see so much of about “green” matters.

I don’t care whether we are talking about articles that say “Buy this to help save the planet, or better still, buy two” or the hair-shirt brigade who imagine that if we all give up enjoying ourselves we will struggle through our current climatic difficulties.  Some of the writers make sense, but many don’t.  “Green” is not just a hot topic, it is also somewhere between a fashion and a fad, and I admit to envy of those people who now find themselves able to make a living out of the whole movement.

I plan to offer constructive comment where possible, but destructive derision in the majority of cases.

 From time to time (and not that infrequently) I come across some pronouncement so short-sighted and stupid, that I cannot resist giving vent to a loud cry of “Bullshit”, and it is to Green bullshit that this site is dedicated.

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