[Greenbuilding] OT What car?

[MKL]

Pursuant to the collective realization here of the
futility of attempting to establish a universal Green
manifesto.


A puzzle.



If someone drove under 12,000 kms per year (suburban
or rural retiree perhaps) should they drive an old gas
guzzler (or just a gas fueled car) perhaps with a
bigger engine thereby reducing the need for new car
production and consequent production pollution and
save a lot of money on the price of the vehicle or buy
a new expensive fuel efficient vehicle and save on the
cost of fuel (with the AC off) but contribute to
production pollution and have less to spend on evac
tube technology?

There is presumably a ratio like there is with
everything else practical by which this might be
decided but in a retiring baby boom dominated society
likely to be only going into town once a week will it
matter much if its in a   5 litre Bentley Continental
or Lincoln Town Car? Indeed SHOULD it be rather than a
NEW vehicle of any type? (assuming VERY low annual
mileage of course) 

If the store was only 3 miles away then would it be OK
then to drive from Buffalo to Arizona and back once a
year in the Lincoln? The auto industry in North
America has traditionally catered to the suburban
commuter where high daily mileage can be offset with
savings in the choice of engine but in the near future
aging boomers and beyond will not drive as much as
they did possibly making the savings on fuel type
small and for many the deciding factor of how much
they will pay to save a few dollars. Especially if
they live in the city in multi unit housing and only
use their car to get to the Summer "cottage/cabin" in
the country where they are active in tree planting,
growing organic foods and breathing cleaner air.

Michael Lough

No doubt concentration camps were a means, a menace
used to keep order.
Albert Speer

 




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