Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

[Mhurron]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

Mhurron what i posted was advice from the environment commission

Forgive me for forgetting you don't like thinking for yourself.

As for your comment about a nice temperate climate, you obviously have not been to the UK!!!

Last week it hit 33C with 90% humidity, today its 18C and pissing down with rain, 4 weeks ago it was 10C, next week its going to be around 28C with high humidity. call that a nice temperate climate?

Extreems do not define a climate, unless you want to tell me that Calgary, Alberta is an arctic climate because I saw it once as low as -70C when factoring the windchill.

For your information, it has averaged between 95F and 100F (35-37C) here for the past one or two months. It's usually 85F (29C) when I leave for work. What was that about turning off AC again?

As for your mechanical wear thing, if you service your car regulary, use the right grades of oil and lubricants, it does not damage your engine.

I was unaware that you were able to change the simple wear issues of having a part go from stationary to moving over and over and over.

Ignoring that even, a car is at it's most inefficient when starting no matter what the temperature. You will waste more gas turing your engine off and on in stop and go traffic then just letting it idle.

Then there is the asshole factor of you holding everyone up as you try to save a few cents on gas.

[Satimasu]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

See: Pretty much everyone else in this thread. The answer to oil problems is to stop using it whenever and wherever possible.

Newsflash: Gas prices are not going to 'magically drop'. I'd be surprised if they ever go back down. If they do, it will likely be government shifting the cost from the pump to taxes. Offshore drilling, (as with my above post this pertains to the US) even if allowed, is not going to start showing results for years, and would not do us much good. see EIA - Impacts of Increased Access to Oil and Natural Gas Resources in the Lower 48 Federal Outer Continental Shelf and EIA - Petroleum Basic Data . Offshore drilling is patchwork at best. The money would be far better invested in alternative technologies and energy programs (for example, quick charging electric cars, and power stations) to get off oil instead.

So, instead of increasing supply, lowering demand, and investing in alternative energy, we have to just deal with the high prices and hope we can get off it in a couple of years? We need to ween ourselves off of it, there is no doubt about it. I don't see how seeing relief in a couple of years compared to...well...not, makes any sense. Actually, when the executive ban on offshore drilling was lifted, didn't the price of oil plummet? Guess I was dreaming it.

[Mhurron]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

So, instead of increasing supply, lowering demand, and investing in alternative energy, we have to just deal with the high prices and hope we can get off it in a couple of years?

Start drilling and you'll still have to deal with high prices. Unless you're going to advocate nationalizing oil drilling, whoever drills oil up is going to sell it on the open market at whatever price it's selling at.

Canada is self sufficient on oil production, they produces more then they use. Gas prices at the pump are higher in Canada then in the US, which is an importer of oil. Domestic drilling is neither a panacea or a solution to anything.

[Satimasu]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

Oh yeah, I forgot we don't even have the refining capacity for the oil. Seeing as how we haven't built one in 30 years.

[Gentoo]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

I really find it hard to understand how people can not check their tyre pressure once a month and expend $2 on inflating them if needed. I mean, not only does it save on fuel consumption but the chances of you being involved in an accident are significantly reduced. Under-inflated tyres seriously impact on the stopping distance of a motor vehicle.

Let's me see if I can help you come to grips with that. This is an old article, but it illustrates the point nicely:

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/30/sc...30profile.html

"...One adult American in five thinks the Sun revolves around the Earth, an idea science had abandoned by the 17th century..."

So when you take that into account, you kind of get an understanding why Americans don't understand the impacts of basic tire maintenance. Stringing together the logic of why under inflated tires can lead to poor gas mileage would require an understanding of basic scientific concepts.

[Malacite]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

BTS | Table 4-23: Average Fuel Efficiency of U.S. Passenger Cars and Light Trucks

Daily Fuel Economy Tip Gas Mileage for Cars Sold in America Peaked in 1987


IIRC last time I saw on CNN, the avgerage MPG in the USA is around 18-20, while European cars are 25-28. The Plug-in Hybrids Obama is pushing for get 100, and the technology actually exists now in the USA. Just gotta crack'n.

[Caspian]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

IIRC last time I saw on CNN, the avgerage MPG in the USA is around 18-20, while European cars are 25-28. The Plug-in Hybrids Obama is pushing for get 100, and the technology actually exists now in the USA. Just gotta crack'n.

Whats the range on one of those and how long do they have to charge between uses? Thats the biggest concern about these types of cars. It pretty much rules out car trips, keeping you stuck in town. If you want a car you can go out of town in, then you have to buy a 2nd car just for that purpose, and not everyone can afford multiple cars.
I may be wrong and they've developed new technologies that make them all purpose, but it would be news to me. Thats the biggest thing holding them back.

[Feba]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

Whats the range on one of those and how long do they have to charge between uses?

Plugin hybrid, Caspian. They use electric power when available (almost always for almost everyone who has a car) to greatly improve mileage, and can be run on gas otherwise. Such as the Aptera I mentioned before, which gets 300+ MPG when charged, and 130MPG when run on just gas.

It pretty much rules out car trips, keeping you stuck in town.

Not true at all. Rental cars, for one thing. Other forms of travel (plane, trains, buses, or more obscure things like bike trips) give plenty of ways to go out and about.

Pure electric cars are a viable option for the majority of car drivers in the US, especially when you consider rental vehicles. Shunning them because of limited range is like saying you have to have a giant pickup; because otherwise you wouldn't be able to move furniture. You rarely need to move furniture; that's what rental trucks are for.

[Mhurron]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

Pure electric cars are a viable option for the majority of car drivers in the US

They also have the fantastic side effects of letting everyone pay for your trips (higher electric bills for all YAY!) and the ability to cripple the existing, over used grid. YAY! Lets shut everything down!

Of course no one thinks about this because trading one shit storm for another is the American Way. You may all puff out your chests now.

[Jarre]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

Well if you use too much electricity, then econimise... I posted in a previous thread about how the US could save 40% of its electricity consumption by doing simple tasks, and if I recall rightly, it was poo pooed as meaning people had to get off their arses to do something their not used to.

complain about gas prices, complain about electricity prices, complain about this and that, but if your not willing to do something about it then shut the fuck up. People are having the wrong attitude to things. Its so easy to critisize or complain from your armchair, but you have no right to unless you are prepared to do something about it.

[Balfree]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

The industry will do everything it can to prevent new forms of energy. Hence why that hasn't evolved much, and if it has evolved, it's not being put to good use.

[Feba]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

They also have the fantastic side effects of letting everyone pay for your trips (higher electric bills for all YAY!)

Or see, you know, every OTHER fuel source. It's not like gas prices are high because almost all cars use it! Supply and demand is a real bitch, huh?

nd the ability to cripple the existing, over used grid.

You know that that grid is already in horrible shape, and needs to be improved (for that matter, so does pretty much anything in the US that you can call an infrastructure). There's also things like personal solar panels/wind turbines, which are getting more efficient all the time, give you independence (or make you less reliant upon, depending on how many you have, your battery arrangement, and so on) from outside energy sources, and can actually pay for themselves and make money (by selling power back to the electric company), all while taking strain off the grid. Biggest problem with that is the down payment, and from what I've seen they're getting to the point where they can be made at extremely low prices. They're becoming more efficient to boot, which means that even if it's overcast most of the time, or you don't get much wind, they can still harvest electricity. Heck, I've even heard of some solar panels that can work at night, although I don't know if those are in production yet.

[Neomage]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

They should get rid of gas in new cars completely and just start using nuclear batteries.

EDIT:

The industry will do everything it can to prevent new forms of energy. Hence why that hasn't evolved much, and if it has evolved, it's not being put to good use.

Exactly. As much as it hurts the public, the big oil/motor/metal companies are still bringing in record profits. It's called Corporate America for a reason. Hell, if most of the railroads were never decommissioned by GM, we would probably be using public transit a lot not now, both due it it actually existing and the the public wanting to use it because it was around for so long.

Also, my first statement was a joke. Just in case anyone missed that.

[TheGrandMom]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

They should get rid of gas in new cars completely and just start using nuclear batteries.

Remember the faulty Pintos with the exploding gas tank issue?? Can you imagine faulty nuclear batteries? WHEEEEEEEEEEE!!! lololololol

[Mhurron]

Re: Properly inflated tires - Too avant garde for the U.S.?

Remember the faulty Pintos with the exploding gas tank issue?? Can you imagine faulty nuclear batteries? WHEEEEEEEEEEE!!! lololololol

You might want to look into how a nuclear battery works before claiming its a small atomic bomb.

HINT: what you're suggesting isn't possible.