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"The choice of vehicle that you drive has a greater effect on the environment than any other choice you make as a consumer" --- Union of Concerned Scientists
"What we are putting into the atmosphere today will not be felt or detected in terms of global warming for another 50 years or more. The discernible warming today due to fossil fuel burning comes from prior to 1950.
"Positive feedback loops mean that carbon or methane "sinks" become greenhouse gas sources (emitters), and rising temperatures cause more release of the gases, causing quicker global warming which releases more gases more quickly, and so on -- the runaway greenhouse effect. The Arctic's permafrost is melting, releasing CO2 and methane contained there.... Species are being driven extinct at a rate of perhaps over one hundred a day, before much global warming has even hit. [...and who is to say that the human species is not one of those to become extinct? -- DH]
"U.S. automobiles are the single biggest contributor to greenhouse-gas emissions. " --- Jan Lundberg, Sustainable Energy Institute
Whether it ends in a slow slide or a sudden panic, take your pick, the party's over.
Giving up our addiction to petroleum is an extremely personal act of surrender no different than addicts giving up their drugs in order to ensure their survival. It forces us out of our comfort zone. We cannot blame the oil companies, the car companies, or the government, for our addiction. This leap of faith is based on the hope that not only can we live without oil (on a bicycle, or a solar/wind-powered electric vehicle), but we can also develop a lifestyle that is far more creative, productive, and satisfying than anything we could have possibly imagined before. The lifestyle change becomes attractive to others, and soon "everybody's doing it."
"The Cultural Creatives" by Ray and Anderson poses the thesis that "a creative minority can have enormous leverage to carry us into a new renaissance instead of a disastrous fall." This book gives me hope.
The International Center for Technology Assessment estimated in 1998 the true unsubsidized cost of gasoline at between $5.60 and $15.14 per gallon, and it can only be higher now.
And after we pay and pay, what do we receive? Due to time required to buy, maintain and pay to insure cars, etc., in addition to sitting in cars, the U.S. motorist actually averages only five miles per hour, according to cultural revolutionary/author Ivan Illich. Primitive walking cultures can provide for more efficient transportation without the pollution, pavement and thralldom to corporate interests. --- Sustainable Energy Institute
Plans and supplies for building your own electric vehicle, or converting your car to electric, or even purchasing an electric vehicle, are available on the internet now. Links to some of these resources are on the next page. The infrastructure for delivering the fuel (electricity) is in place, the fuel is far cheaper per unit of energy than gasoline, the batteries recycle easily --- and the big oil and car companies don't want you to know about them!
Neighborhood Electric Vehicles can be an instrument of social change. See this speech by Mark Murphy
From: http://ev1.org/ and http://www.NoGaso.com/:
Electric cars are a viable option. 80% of our gasoline is expended on round trips of less than 80 miles from our house.
The "hydrogen hype" is just a PR campaign to delay battery electric cars. Electric cars are so efficient, we could eliminate 40% of our gasoline usage just with existing off-peak electric capacity, as shown on DrivingTheFuture.com.
At a fraction of the cost of the war in Iraq, alone, we could eliminate the need for overseas oil imports entirely.
My First Electric Vehicle, the scooter: I was driving
a 10-year-old Subaru wagon that got 22 mpg, and I was hearing the
alarms about the coming crisis in world oil supplies. My teenage son
got his driving liscense, no longer wanted to ride the bus, and I
thought three cars for three people was the height of financial
insanity. Then I saw this extremely cute Chinese electric scooter for
only $1200, and I couldn't resist. The construction is very cheap, the
speedometer doesn't work any more, I've blown two battery chargers, but
otherwise I have been impressed with the reliability and low cost of
operation over almost 3,500 miles in one year. Insurance is not
required in Oregon, but for $75 I thought liability coverage was a good
idea.
I asked the salesman if I could pull a dog trailer, he said it
would slow me down, and yes it would be possible. What he didn't
explain is that I had to be very easy on the throttle, so I burnt up my
first set of batteries in 5 months. Now I push the scooter by running
beside it to get going from a dead stop, and jump on, which is just a
little embarassing, to say the least. I get weak acceleration from the
permanent-magnet, 700 watt motor on the rear hub. It has four
22-Amphour glass-mat batteries which gets me and my dog to work (5
miles), where I recharge for the trip home. I could make it home
without the recharge, but the last mile would get pretty slow. I have
to keep my speed below 15 mph, stay in the bike lanes or the bike-route
streets, and on the streets without bike lanes it gets a bit scary. I
ride in all kinds of weather, so I've learned to allow extra time to
suit up in the required rain or cold weather gear. The comfort level
and visibility at night, in the rain, in the winter is terrible. Thus,
the motivation for a semi-enclosed, more powerful vehicle.
If I were to calculate the cost-to-benefit ratio of this project, I would never do it. To save money on my commute to work, I would continue riding the scooter and endure a few more winters before I retire. No, I am trying to be a small part of the change I want to see. The "humm-E-bird" is intended to be a statement of a possibility, an encouragement to the imagination of others.
Copyright 2005, David Hazen. You may download, store, or print a single copy of this page for your personal information. No part of this material may be reproduced, stored or transmitted for personal gain.
3-wheel Electric Vehicle Pages |
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