Everyone on this board is here PRIMARILY (I assume) because we are concerned about the pollution automobiles spew into our air and have made a big financial commitment to curtail our contribution to this problem. We spew less toxins when we burn less gasoline, and therefore hybrids are currently the only and best automotive avenue available to us to achieve this goal. Yet, we must all still strive to live closer to our place of employment and therefore drive less until electrical, solar, or hydrogen become available and affordable for everyone. The mileage on your Prius will diminish due to the short nature of the trips, yet our current goal should not be so much to get "better gas mileage" as much as to completely get away from the need to burn gasoline, or as much as can be possible. Plan to move close to your place of employment. Take public transportation for occasional long trips if you can. Thanks to everyone who have made the commitment to cut down on gasoline!
Yeah, you've hit the nail on the head. I just bought a new home, and now live 3.7 miles from work. Not bad for Salt Lake. My milage has gone to shit, but that is coming from commuting 5.2 miles or so.... I once read a thread here where the poster was wondering if he should take a longer route to work to increase his MPG's.... Yikes! Driving the Prius 30,000 miles a year is no better then grandma driving her Camry 10k per year... In fact, it's worst.
And just how does this qualify for the Main Prius Forum???? [man, there has been a rash of these things since the PriusChat software upgrade.]
Speaking of the mod nazi, the software leads one into some dubious actions. I was going to post the thing about the Prius Taxi in the Hybrid New Section. As soon as I typed in the title, a list of existing topics showed up. So I added my post to that one. Once I did it showed up on the Main Forum. Of course, the mistake was made by the original poster. So next time I have to look to see on which forum the original post was made.
I think this is big assumption on your part, and not necessarily correct. There are many reasons that people buy and drive a Prius, the environment being only one. We have many engineers on PC that are early technology adopters and like the Prius for it's gee whiz features and engineering. Others like the great mileage, or the federal tax credit. Let's not overlook that fact that the Prius is a great car and not a bad price for what you get. There is also the rather cynical reasoning that owning a high efficiency clean burning car makes it okay for us to drive more and frivolously burn fuel: "It's okay, we'll take the Prius..." Many, if not most, Prius Chatters will have been influenced by several factors, the order and number of which will be as unique as the individuals involved. Tom
Same here. Walking doesn't just save gas, it is important to your health. A sedentary lifestyle is a dangerous lifestyle. Harry
Agreed yet public transportation does cause people to walk more than having personal cars. The progress I'm seeing around the world is incorporating public transportation with green ways (ripping out existint roads) and promoting bicycling and walking. These areas are lined with shops for daily needs, art or natural areas, and ultimately promote health and community relations. The money saved on health care due to reduced cases of smog or obesity related disease more than covers the cost of the work.
I'm not. Automobile pollution (per vehicle) has been reduced by about 99% in the U.S. versus 30 years ago. I am concerned about using less gasoline (and therefore oil), since the money mostly goes to foreign countries and funds dictatorships and hordes of terrorist troglodytes. Preserving natural resources and protecting the environment is just icing on the cake. I am also attracted to the high technology of the Prius, its huge cruising range, and the convenience of far fewer visits to the gas pump. I solved the "driving less" issue by starting my own company and mostly working from home. Walking down the hallway sure beats my previous commute of an hour each way in heavy traffic.
Don't forget that we have added a huge amount of vehicles over that period of time so it is almost a wash. 99% is a bit of a stretch. That is a killer commute!
Yes, the number of vehicles on the roads is a lot higher now. But even 99% less per vehicle is a tad understated. Per a recent study (a legitimate one, not from Detroit) that I listened to a radio discussion about last week, per vehicle emissions are 99.5% less than in 1970, thanks to technology like catalytic converters, miniaturized electronics, exhaust recirculation, VVT, etc. That's remarkable. Hybrids like the Prius will only improve the situation.
Looking at historical EPA Emission Standards: Page 2 shows historical standards. Not sure if that is such a drastic improvement as you claim but it is large. Do you have any sources for the content on the radio show or is it streaming audio so I could take a listen? I'd like find out more about this.
I wish I did, but no. The show was on WMAL in D.C. If I have time and their website lists the show archive, I will try to find it. I was working at the time, so not really paying attention to which show/timeslot it was. The 99.5% number really caught my attention for a few minutes of the discussion, though. FYI. I spent a few minutes looking at the EPA data at the link you provided. I don't see data from 1970, so I will use the pre-1973 data for cars (labeled pre-1968 on EPA chart) . The old hydrocarbon data was tracked somewhat differently than the new. Improvements since 1970: Tier 2, Bin 7 HC reduction (HCHO new, THC old) = (8.8 - 0.018)/8.8 = 99.8% CO reduction = (87 - 4.2)/87 = 95.2% NOx reduction = (3.5 - 0.15)/3.5 = 95.7% Tier 2, Bin 5 HC reduction (HCHO new, THC old) = (8.8 - 0.018)/8.8 = 99.8% CO reduction = (87 - 4.2)/87 = 95.2% NOx reduction = (3.5 - 0.07)/3.5 = 98% Tier 2, Bin 3 HC reduction (HCHO new, THC old) = (8.8 - 0.011)/8.8 = 99.9% CO reduction = (87 - 2.1)/87 = 97.6% NOx reduction = (3.5 - 0.03)/3.5 = 99.1% So it would seem the 99.5% number in the study must be referring to hydrocarbon emissions, although the carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxide improvements are just as impressive nonetheless.
I should have done the math before posting. lol Thanks for clearing that up. Should theoretically we should be able to calculate the difference by the cars added to the road since 1970 then and come up with an impact figure? I really hate math btw.
Not me.... I bought the prius because I happen to think it's a cool car. I have no motivation whatsoever to "save" the environment and I wholeheartedly disagree with the concept of manmade "global warming". Am I a minority? If I am, it's unfortunate - a car as cool as this shouldnt be relegated to envirofreaks and granola heads IMHO. BTW... I own a chainsaw, so sue me!
Cool, way to spew your uninformed opinion within your first post. You can go drown yourself now. *edit* That wasn't very nice I apologize.
