pointing out the obvious

While contemplating a green car recently, it struck me that I am doing exactly what auto makers want me to do - purchase a new car. I want to support green cars, and show that there is interest in producing more sustainable vehicles, however, I also want to curb the consumerism, which is just as much a problem as non-sustainable products.

A comment left by Aleem Kanji got me thinking more about consumerism and how it affects my life. The comment was a little misleading, but it brought thoughts of consumerism front and centre in this discussion. Somehow, I’ve reached a point in my life where purchasing things gives me this small rush of happiness, and I’m not sure how I got here. Case in point - I purchased an Airport Express last week because I thought I needed it. After opening the box, setting it up and playing with it for a few hours, I haven’t touched it. I need to break the connection between purchasing things and gratification, it’s a vicious circle that isn’t helping my bank account or the values that I’m carving out.

With this in mind, I took a different angle to the green car research - car coops. The idea behind car sharing is simple - there is a pool of cars that the car sharing company has at your disposal any time of day or night. Of course the ’share’ part of this idea means this same set of cars is also available to anyone else subscribing to the service, but ultimately, it means there are less cars sitting in driveways, thus less cars produced, and a smaller overall ecological footprint for all of us.

I struggled with the idea for a little while, trying to determine the difference between an auto share and car rental company. The main differences of an auto share are hourly rates, included insurance, included gas, and local availability. The two auto shares that I’ve seen in Toronto are AutoShare and ZipCar. Both offer very similar cars, which are mostly low impact vehicles, a few hybrids and a few vans, both have decent pricing, and both have cars parked in areas close to my house. There is a great article comparing AutoShare with ZipCar written by Torontoist - if you’re serious about the service, you should give it a read.

I’m still in the ‘thinking’ stage of the game, but I’m thinking this might be a great overall solution. I can always try it out for a few months, see how it works, and comment from there.

Oddly enough, most cars that are considered green are diesel. Why? Because the ‘green’ factor of a car generally focuses on two factors, it’s CO2 emissions / km driven, and fuel efficiency.

Unfortunately, we are only comparing the green factor at the consumer end of the transaction. It would be prudent to compare all factors when determining which cars are the most eco-friendly. These unconsidered factors include:

• all emissions, not just CO2
• gas vs diesel refining costs
• battery disposal

Soot. This is the biggest non-CO2 emission as a result of burning diesel. Although diesel outputs less CO2 per km driven in general, it outputs MUCH more soot (up to 10x) because emissions standards are not yet as strict as that of gasoline burning engines. This should change by 2009 when diesel engines must meet the same output requirements as that of gasoline, but for now, the soot output can be brutal.

Refining costs. Did you know it takes 25% more oil to generate diesel than it does to generate gasoline? While diesel is generally thought of as more fuel efficient per litre by approximately 33%, this savings is simply pushed up the chain. 33% more mileage comes from 25% more oil, thus in reality diesel is approximately 8% more efficient when we consider it in terms of oil, not cost per litre. Weird huh?

Battery disposal. What happens to the batteries when their lifespan is over? It turns out that Toyota uses batteries that are recyclable, include a phone number and a $200 ‘bounty’ on each of their batteries to encourage returning them to recycling facilities. I’m not sure how other auto manufacturers handle the battery disposal, but Toyota seems to have a great solution here.

So, although this doesn’t cover everything and doesn’t provide all of the answers, it does bring a few other factors into play when deciding to go for a green car.

And yes, this is part of my ‘pre-green car purchase’ research. The prius is the #1 pick so far, as I drove one for a week in los angeles on business. Interesting car, but please.. turn the LCD off to prevent crashes! It’s very distracting!

All good shows get canceled their first year, this is how it works. But replacing a decent, well shot drama like “The Black Donnellys” with yet another lame reality show “The Real Wedding Crashers” is embarrassing. Who watches this stuff?

Is electric heating better for the environment than gas heating? I’m thinking electricity is better, but I’m open to discussion. Here’s why I think it’s better…

• Gas is a non-renewable fossil fuel right now. Electricity is not, provided it’s generated by low-impact means.

• Both have a delivery infrastructure within the city, so they are relatively equal in that respect.

• Unless there is a pipe from here to Alberta, gas is shipped here by something that burns fossil fuels. Electricity is generated locally.

• I believe electricity is a more efficient method of heating water than natural gas is, so it makes sense to have an electric hot water heater, specifically a tankless hot water heater, which are more efficient than the tank type, and provide unlimited hot water.

• At the moment, gas is a more efficient (or at least cheaper) method of heating air than electricity is, according to this source (pdf).

So, if I wanted to heat water in my house using electricity, I can invest in a tankless hot water heater, which is becoming more reasonably priced each year. I looked into one a few years back when Home Depot first started carrying them, and it was a little pricey ($1500 or so), but it’s getting better. I will have to re-investigate.

If I wanted to heat my house with electricity, it would reduce CO2 emissions by 30% (compared to gas using conventional hydro), but cost me twice as much. Unfortunately, that money tree I planted in the backyard has yet to bloom, so this might not be an option (yet).

Awesome.