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As a man thinks, so he is. Some people are never. Recent Posts
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CarSpace Alternate RouteTurn off the nav system, crumple up that MapQuest printout, and let's find out where the next random turn may take us! Sep 19, 2009 - Ask Dub Schwartz!
Ah yes. Welcome to the Cathedral of the Never-Ending Debate. As I recall, it's located right down the street from the Imports vs Domestics Friendship Society. Drive your car. Be happy with it. And if you feel the urge to tell me that my car is wrong for me... well Mama Schwartz always told me to not say anything if I didn't have anything nice to say.
Apr 3, 2009 - Number Crunching
Mar 6, 2009 - Have A Coke And Some Miles?
Jul 11, 2008 - It's A Gas
Read the entire story at BusinessWeek.com
Apr 30, 2008 - Always Looking For Problems
The Chicken Little crowd has some red meat with electromagnetic fields and hybrid vehicles. And just like global warming, they forge ahead as if there's an actual problem with very sketchy "evidence". But once you've got it in people's heads, it's hard to stop the panic. Remember that cell phones and microwave ovens were going to kill us too. And don't forget to google chem trails before you lock yourself in the bunker. There's an article in the NY Times that includes the story of a 58 year old hybrid owner who started falling asleep at the wheel. She concluded on her own that the car is what's causing it because she "never had a sleepiness problem before". She had her car tested by a "wellness consultant". I wonder if the consultant figured out that the car owner has never been 58 years old before and that sometimes naps come with that territory as well. Whenever there's a non-problem problem, the snake oil salesmen are never far behind.
Apr 9, 2008 - Greener Cleaner
But that's exactly what's being tested in Sweden as refuse hauler Renova is testing Volvo Truck's diesel-electric hybrid. Now the details always bother me, so I'm wondering how much the garbage capacity of the truck is impacted by the added weight of the hybrid system and batteries. Just looking at the photo, that truck doesn't seem as large as the one that rumbles through my neighborhood each week. If it doesn't haul as much trash, either you make more runs with the truck or send out more trucks, both of which would eat into the fuel efficiency gains and emissions reductions. Still, a lot of diesel fans have always wanted to see a diesel hybrid, although they might be looking for something a bit easier to park. Read the story at Green Car Advisor
Mar 17, 2008 - Blarney
Everyone seems to be going green now. It's as if we're celebrating St. Patrick's Day all year round. Gone are the days when to be "green" meant that one was a Birkenstock-wearing anarchist. Now, even our bourgeois bohemians are hugging trees. But our embrace of green bears a resemblance to St. Patrick's Day in another important respect: On that one day of the year, everyone suddenly claims to be Irish whether or not that claim bears any relation to reality. A few years ago, even Ireland started holding parades on that day, not to disappoint the American tourists who made special trips to Ireland to celebrate (quite a bit like all the revelers at Mardi Gras who have no intent to observe Lent, nor possess even the knowledge of what Lent is). Our greenness is as substantial as our March 17 Irishness: Neither bears any relation to reality. A case in point: I attended an auto show not long ago and wasn't remotely surprised that every auto manufacturer prominently advertised all the ways that they are embracing a "green future." Signs bragging about the bright future of cars running on biofuels and electricity all sought to induce the collective illusion that we can continue to behave exactly as we've been doing and pay no costs. What this feel-good advertising campaign in fact promises is that we can continue to pay absolutely no attention to what it is we are doing. It's quite evident that we are all rushing to embrace the "green" label so that we can avoid actually thinking about what would be entailed to slow our destruction of the natural world. The leftist environmentalists, the bourgeois bohemian centrists, and the Schwarznegger Republicans – along with various automobile manufacturers – all share a great deal of excitement about the prospect of a "clean" biofuel-powered or plug-in electric car. No more dirty emissions; no more addiction to oil! Just fill it with vegetable oil, or plug it in and save the planet. Alas, if only it were that easy. It turns out that biofuels and electricity aren't exactly great ways to save the planet. As a new study reports, there is growing evidence of the enormous destruction and carbon emissions of biofuels, the boom in which is resulting in the destruction of huge swaths of carbon-consuming rainforests and nature preserves. It turns out our rush to adopt this new, "clean" energy source – which, incidentally, is also resulting in the starvation of poor people who cannot afford the related rising price of food – is contributing mightily to the ravaging of the Earth. Further, enthusiasts of the electric car can spare nary a thought to the question of where electricity comes from. Electricity is really another dirty energy: We generate half of our electricity using coal, followed by natural gas and then distantly by nuclear, water, wind and solar. Our "clean" electric car future is going to be powered by a different (and still limited) fossil fuel, one that is considerably dirtier than refined oil and is mined in ways that destroy the land and unsettle communities. Once we begin to reflect on our desperation to continue our current rate of consumption and reckless addiction to profligate energy usage, it's quite clear that all the "green" that is being embraced is as genuine as the Irish heritage of many of our St. Patrick's day revelers. It's a fun day without any of the hard times. If we truly intend to go green, we have to fundamentally change our current way of life. We must make changes to our built community so that we can walk more, buy goods from more local sources, and live smaller and less wastefully. My money, alas, is on a big self-delusive continuation of our St. Patrick's Day party. Rather than luxuriating in our self-satisfaction over being green, why not do the difficult thing and start acting responsibly? Boy did he nail it on the head. There are a bunch of folks running around promoting hybrids, alternative fuels, and electric cars not because it's the right thing to do or even makes sense, but because they think it says something about them or makes them better than other people somehow. Worse yet, these greenies will accuse you of wanting to destroy the planet if you don't agree with them or have legitimate questions and concerns about problems that might result from a blind rush to their green nirvana. Everyone wants clean air. Everyone would like to find a more efficient fuel or vehicle. But this is a lot like losing weight. It took time to put it on, it's going to take time to get it off.
Jan 16, 2008 - Northern Exposure
I have a healthy skepticism about the rush to be greener than the next guy. Not that I want fuel to be wasted but a lot of the time the primary motivation of the manufacturers seems to be image building. I'm not a big fan of style over substance, hence my doubts. The problem is that if you question hybrid vehicles, ethanol, or any other "green" concept, you get labeled as wanting the planet to be destroyed. There's a lot of money being spent in this push to ge green at all cost, and not an awful lot of benefit coming from it. And trying to force consumers to buy more efficient vehicles through legislation is something that the markets should be allowed to handle. A commentary from Canada titled, "Enviro-nonsense at Detroit auto show" sums it up nicely... Many North Americans still want muscle and believe they should have the right to own it. Having said that, however, motorists are also responding to high gasoline prices, which will inevitably feed through to what is being designed for, and coming off, production lines. The problem is that the policy environment is thoroughly polluted by a moralizing environmental lobby that promises little environmental benefit but lots of economic harm. Read the entire commentary at financialpost.com
Nov 15, 2007 - LA Auto Show Green News
One day one, the super-fast Nissan GT-R and the hulking hybridized Cadillac Escalade SUV captured a lot of media attention. And Honda is showing the FCX Clarity, a ready-for-production fuel-cell vehicle. Always a lot of excitement surrounding the auto show season, and if you can't make it to LA, the stop by the Green Car Advisor for John O'Dell's take on all the emerging greenery. Auto show season
Nov 9, 2007 - News & Numbers
So with that irritant in the background getting me in the mood, I'm scanning the automotive news of the day and come across an article in the Detroit News about GM unveiling a hybrid version of the Escalade. It's slated to hit dealerships next summer. Pricing has not been announced. Cadillac executives said he largest and most opulent SUV to go green will show a 50 percent increase in its fuel economy in the city. "No other manufacturer offers a hybrid that can seat eight luxuriously while simultaneously carrying or trailering lots of cargo comfortably," said Jim Taylor, Cadillac's general manager, in a news release. OK, here comes the spin and you can blame the math geek that lives inside me. The story includes the following paragraph: The 2008 Escalade, with a 6.2-liter V-8, gets 12 mpg in city driving. The hybrid model, which will use General Motors Corp.'s 2-Mode Hybrid system with a 6-liter V-8, should come close to 20 mpg in city driving if the vehicle meets GM's 50-percent boost. Does it bother anyone but me that a 50% increase from 12 mpg is 18 mpg and not 20? But hey, it says so in the news so I'm certain the masses will be running around saying the new Escalade is going to get 20 mpg. Oh it's only off by 10%, what's the big deal? P.T. Barnum was definitely on to something. Keep your brain engaged Read more at the Detroit News
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