May 05, 2007
Cars: Can't live with 'em ...
Is your relationship with your car a little strained? Your vehicle gotten a lot more needy lately?
Feeling a little restless, perhaps?
Well, with gasoline back in the neighborhood of $3 a gallon and all the focus on the greenhouse gas coming out of your tailpipe, nobody would blame you. But, what are you gonna do? Walk?
You might find some answers during Commute Another Way Week, May 14 to 18.
The annual event was expanded from a single day to an entire week this year to give participants more flexibility and to give people the chance to try different ways of getting to work. On Tuesday the 15th, for example, all public bus services in greater Portland will be giving away free rides all day. And Friday the 18th will coincide with national Bike to Work Day.
Look here for a complete schedule of themes and events, information about carpooling and other options, or to register and qualify for prizes, go to www.gomaine.org.
The organizers seem to have good timing. A gallon of gasoline climbed to an average price of $2.97 in Maine on Friday morning. It’s over $3 nationwide.
But Americans are well known for their devotion, or addiction, to their cars, and it’ll take more than that to come between us. In 2005, the year Katrina hit the Gulf Coast and gas prices first spiked toward $3 a gallon, we put 3 trillion highway miles on the national odometer – that breaks down to 44 commutes to the sun and back, every day.
Despite our green self-image, Mainers tend to drive even more than other Americans – a function both of our rural landscape and our sprawling development patterns. Mainers traveled an average of 11,294 miles per person in 2005 compared to 10,087 for the average American.
Not only do we Mainers burn more gasoline than people from away do, our cars and trucks are Maine’s number one source of global warming pollution, bigger than the state’s power plants and all other industries put together.
There are a few signs out there that people may be starting to assert a little independence from their autos.
Vehicle miles traveled by the average American dropped slightly in 2005, ending a 25-year string of steady increases.
In Maine, the number of miles traveled peaked in 2003 and was down slightly in 2004 and 2005. The total for 2006 isn’t available yet.
At the same time, Go Maine – the non-profit agency behind Commute Another Way Week – has seen steadily growing interest from people who register on its Web site to find carpools and vanpools. (The agency can set you up with other commuters who happen to be going your way. There ought to be a few – about 80 percent of Mainers commute to work alone.)
Metro, the Portland-based bus service, also has seen steady ridership growth over the past seven years. It gave 1.38 million rides last year.
So, maybe there’s no mass migration back to the cities and no glut of late-model SUVs on the used-car market, but some people are spending more time apart from their cars. And a lot of us may be quietly wishing we could be less dependent on ours, too.
A trial separation might be just the thing.
Posted by at 06:32 AM
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Let's work with what we already have...i.e. Why aren't we working on ways to make existing vehicles more fuel-efficient? Surely, if the U.S. went to the moon over 30 years ago using crude computers, there must be ways to harness the more powerful technology we have find ways to retro-fit most vehicles (not just diesels) to make them go further per gallon of gas. Why doesn't the scientific community see this?
Posted by
LJCMay 5, 2007 03:47 PM
It is most unfortunate that every reasonable desire to curb our dependence upon oil must be couched in the language of Global Warming.
Yes, if we put the same amount of advocacy into the development of cold fusion, fuel cells, and battery technology that we do for stem-cell research, I have no doubt that we could completely eliminate our interests in the Middle-East and allow them to get back to the business of killing each other without our soldiers getting caught in the cross-fire.
Entirely by accident we could also appease those who lament our "carbon footprint" and slow down their desire to halt development in third-world nations whose survival depend upon it.
As Americans who will never freely give up the freedom of travel and the automobile that defines it, we need a muscle car powered entirely by electricity that everybody will want. Appealing to the "green" in everybody has never worked. Appeal to our interests in speed and profit, and there is no boundary we cannot cross.
Posted by
DickMay 7, 2007 10:59 AM
Hybrid vehicles have come of age. As a racer and technologist, and a husband with a wife involved with hybrid vehicles, I have had the priviledge of driving many of the new hybrid models. These new vehicles are largely very efficient in terms of economy and low emissions, and many of the models have excellent performance and ammenities.
Even though I thrive on rear wheel drive V8 horsepower, some of these new hybrids will spin the tires and achieve 45-55 miles per gallon, in comfort with a powered sunroof, ipod jack, and great stereo for 23-28 grand.
For the existing fleet of cars already in service we need to revise the laws to allow exhaust, gearing, and intake modifications (think of hot rodder technology) that will allow owners to make their cars more fuel efficient. If even half our our existing cars could increase their fuel economy by 2-4 miles per gallon that is a lot less fuel burned and less pollutants at the other end but environmental legislation currently discourages such modifications in Maine.
These typical modifications will make most vehicles more fuel efficient, less polluting, and run better all at the same time.
Additional driver education as to how to ontain better fuel economy through better driving practices should also be encouraged.
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