Fred,
You raise a couple of very valid points. True, a lot of pollution is
associated with building new cars. However, with the increase in wealth,
more cars will be built; that's a given. Question then becomes one of
building cars with as little adverse impact on the environment as possible.
A lot of the material in cars does get recycled. The steel ends up in scrap
yards and gets fed into furnaces to make new steel. Some of the plastics
are also being recycled.
One would have to do a very careful analysis of the pollutants released to
the environment in the making of a car vs. that generated during the
operation of the car during its lifetime. For starters, a car that lasts
for 300 000 miles and has a fuel consumption of 10 L/100 km, would use up 30
000 L of gas during its lifetime. Assuming a density of 0.7 kg/L (octane),
this would generate ~60 tons of CO2 (if my math is correct). Interesting
case is the new Morgan Aero8 with its aluminum chassis/frame. Producing
aluminium is very energy intensive (that's why the two large aluminum
smelters in Canada are built in BC and in Quebec, where hydropower is cheap
and abundant). However, aluminums is also recycled and, barring a very
slight surface oxidation, the aluminium used in the Aero8 should last
forever (well, a long time, anyway). You could further argue that the
hydroelectric power used to refine the aluminium is, basically, solar power
and that, once the dams are built, the environmental impact is minimal.
Maybe we should all rush out and buy the new Aero8 and keep it forever? ;-)
Chuck Vandergraaf
'52 +4
Boy am I becoming a cynic.
Drive the old Morgan. As dirty as the exhaust is, you are doing a lot
more for the environment than the guy who buys a new air-powered car.
It is ALL about one thing… money. Nothing to do with pollution, saving the
planet, etc. If we really wanted to reduce pollution- we would simply quit
making new cars. The cars we drive now, whatever they be, incurred their
environmental cost when they were built. Yep, they may pollute a bit more
driving down the street, but…
How much pollution do you think is produced making/shipping a brand new car?
How much land is raped, how much oil is used, how much newsprint for sales
brochures, adds, how much to heat/cool a factory and dealerships world-wide
every day, how much to mine the iron oar, to ship and smelt it, to make the
plastic interiors, etc, etc, etc… A heck of a lot all totaled.
Fred sisson.
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