SUMMARIES ONE AND TWO
Jani
Professor B.
English 113
29 October 2013
Jani
Professor B.
English 113
29 October 2013
Summary
of the article “The Myth of the Efficient Car”
In his article, “The Myth of the Efficient Car,” author
Alec Dubro argues that the existing automobile culture should be left to
history. Dubro states that all people falsely believe that the pollution
problem caused by cars can be solved through manufacturing more efficient cars.
Dubro explains the Jevons Paradox, which argues that when something comes more
efficient for the consumer as an individual, the number of consumers using the
product will increase and finally this will lead to more consumption. Dubro
argues that because of the Jevons Paradox, individuals keep driving more and
buying new cars, which means more consumption. In Dubro’s opinion cars are also
a huge environmental issue because of the infrastructure they require. Dubro
also points out, that cars weight a lot, making them use most of the energy to
move themselves around. Dubro suggests that the society should change the way
we think about cars and find a consensus on how to create a car free life.
Jani
Professor B.
English 113
29 October 2013
Professor B.
English 113
29 October 2013
Summary
of the article “Efficiency, Imported from Europe”
In her article, “Efficiency, Imported from Europe,” Ulrich
Lawrence argues that diesel powered cars should have a larger market share.
Lawrence states that diesel cars are already have a fuel-efficient technology,
which is more reliable than the technology in hybrid cars. In Lawrence’s
opinion, the American government has not supported the diesel car manufactures
properly, and the government has rather concentrated on supporting the hybrid
car manufactures. Lawrence notices, that even though diesel car sales have
jumped, the American car manufacturers don’t have diesel models to offer for
the market. Lawrence believes that
because of this, European, mostly German, manufacturers are leading the way for
diesel cars. Lawrence concludes that diesel cars would be an easier way to
achieve less pollution from driving, than through developing hybrid cars.
Works Cited
Dubro, Alec. “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” Progressive 73.5 (2009): 28-30. Academic Search Elite. Web 4 Nov. 2013.
Lawrence, Ulrich. “Efficiency,
Imported From Europe.” New York Times,
19 July 2013. Print
SUMMARY THREE
EXERCISE ONE
SUMMARY THREE
Jani
Professor B.
English 113
3 November 2013
Professor B.
English 113
3 November 2013
Summary
of the article “A Green Car for Every Driver”
In her article “A Green Car for Every Driver,” Jessica
Anderson explains how different kind of drivers should purchase different kind
of green cars. Anderson informs readers that how much and where one drives
determines the kind of car that works best. Cost efficiency is also determined
for each type of car. Anderson calculates diesel cars and most of the hybrid cars as cost efficient. In
Anderson’s evaluation diesel cars are best for long highway travels and hybrids
should be used for commuting in the city. Anderson argues that electric
vehicles are not cost efficient because of their high purchase price. Anderson
also discusses that electric vehicles are only suitable for short distance
trips and their availability is limited.
Work Cited
Anderson, Jessica. “A Green Car
for Every Driver.” Kiplinger’s Personal
Finance Sep. 2010: 81- 85. Ebsco. Web 5 Nov. 2013.
EXERCISE ONE
Jani
Professor B.
English 113
4 November 2013
Professor B.
English 113
4 November 2013
Argument and Analysis, Exercise One
Alec Dubro’s article, “The Myth of
the Efficient Car,” presents a critical view on the automobile culture. Dubro’s
main idea in the article is that the automobile culture in the world should be
abandoned. Dubro also claims that the so-called green cars, hybrids and
electric vehicles, are the largest fraud in the whole environmentally
sustainable discussion. An interesting point in Dubro’s argument is also the
infrastructure that is used to support the use of automobiles. Dubro points out
that even if all vehicles were to produce zero emissions, cars would still
cause second hand emissions by requiring roads, garages and so on. Also the
emissions from producing the car itself would remain.
Dubro’s uses several pieces of evidence to support his argument. Dubro’s opinion about green cars actually not being so green is shown to be true in two different ways. First of all, Dubro writes that those green cars have to be produced before they can be used. This will create a large amount of pollution. Secondly Dubro introduces the Jevons Paradox. Simply put, Jevons Paradox means that any improvement on efficiency in technology will lead to an overall increase in the actual consumption. In this case it means that if fuel efficiency increases in all cars it will lead to more driving and more people buying cars. In Dubro’s argument cars are also inefficient because of their weight. When driving a car, most of the energy is used for moving the car, not the driver. When Dubro brings out the fact that infrastructure for automobiles is also harmful, he uses the production of concrete as an example; ten percent of all greenhouse gases in the United States is due to concrete production.
Even though Dubro goes through several positive reasons for eliminating the automobile culture, he still lacks some important points in his article. Dubro does not take into account that nearly all material in cars is recyclable. Using the recycled materials to create new, more efficient cars, would lower the overall emissions. Jevons Paradox is also somewhat controversial here, because people wouldn’t just keep on driving forever more. Dubro puts too much weight on his thought that the people who already have a car would cause most of the rising emissions. Probably that argument is somewhat true, but most of the increasing emissions would come from the increasing number of drivers in the developing countries. Dubro’s argument about the weight of the car is mostly true. But lighter materials are being developed to use in the manufacturing of the car. Also because of the weight, it would be important to develop cars that would have zero emissions. That way it wouldn’t matter whether the car weighs a ton or two. Dubro’s argument about cars requiring large amounts of infrastructure is at least somewhat biased. Dubro is correct in that everyone having a personal automobile increases the need for car-based infrastructure but most of this infrastructure would be needed anyways. Cities would still need roads and businesses would still require deliveries, which should be taken care of using trucks. Also if all the personal automobiles were to disappear tomorrow, the easiest way of setting a new culture would be an extended use of buses. Buses are highly efficient and beat the automobile in every aspect, but they would still require most of the infrastructure like autos. In the longer run Dubro suggests that cities should be planned more compact so walking would be the main transportation. This is highly desirable, but it is not the reality right now. The largest flaw in Dubro’s argument is the lack of option. He doesn’t really suggest any options for the existing automobile based society. Many large cities would be more or less able to handle more people using the existing trains, subways and buses but if absolutely everyone were to walk in the metro in the morning, it just wouldn’t work. That type of thinking is only valid in only couple of cities in the United States, most of the people just wouldn’t have a choice.
Dubro’s uses several pieces of evidence to support his argument. Dubro’s opinion about green cars actually not being so green is shown to be true in two different ways. First of all, Dubro writes that those green cars have to be produced before they can be used. This will create a large amount of pollution. Secondly Dubro introduces the Jevons Paradox. Simply put, Jevons Paradox means that any improvement on efficiency in technology will lead to an overall increase in the actual consumption. In this case it means that if fuel efficiency increases in all cars it will lead to more driving and more people buying cars. In Dubro’s argument cars are also inefficient because of their weight. When driving a car, most of the energy is used for moving the car, not the driver. When Dubro brings out the fact that infrastructure for automobiles is also harmful, he uses the production of concrete as an example; ten percent of all greenhouse gases in the United States is due to concrete production.
Even though Dubro goes through several positive reasons for eliminating the automobile culture, he still lacks some important points in his article. Dubro does not take into account that nearly all material in cars is recyclable. Using the recycled materials to create new, more efficient cars, would lower the overall emissions. Jevons Paradox is also somewhat controversial here, because people wouldn’t just keep on driving forever more. Dubro puts too much weight on his thought that the people who already have a car would cause most of the rising emissions. Probably that argument is somewhat true, but most of the increasing emissions would come from the increasing number of drivers in the developing countries. Dubro’s argument about the weight of the car is mostly true. But lighter materials are being developed to use in the manufacturing of the car. Also because of the weight, it would be important to develop cars that would have zero emissions. That way it wouldn’t matter whether the car weighs a ton or two. Dubro’s argument about cars requiring large amounts of infrastructure is at least somewhat biased. Dubro is correct in that everyone having a personal automobile increases the need for car-based infrastructure but most of this infrastructure would be needed anyways. Cities would still need roads and businesses would still require deliveries, which should be taken care of using trucks. Also if all the personal automobiles were to disappear tomorrow, the easiest way of setting a new culture would be an extended use of buses. Buses are highly efficient and beat the automobile in every aspect, but they would still require most of the infrastructure like autos. In the longer run Dubro suggests that cities should be planned more compact so walking would be the main transportation. This is highly desirable, but it is not the reality right now. The largest flaw in Dubro’s argument is the lack of option. He doesn’t really suggest any options for the existing automobile based society. Many large cities would be more or less able to handle more people using the existing trains, subways and buses but if absolutely everyone were to walk in the metro in the morning, it just wouldn’t work. That type of thinking is only valid in only couple of cities in the United States, most of the people just wouldn’t have a choice.
Work Cited
Dubro,
Alec. “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” Progressive
73.5 (2009): 28-30. Academic Search Elite. Web 4 Nov. 2013.
EXERCISE TWO
EXERCISE TWO
Jani
Professor B.
English 113
5 November 2013
Professor B.
English 113
5 November 2013
Argumentative
Proposal, Exercise two
Cars have
long been a necessity in most parts of the Unites States although it is
one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions and limited
natural resources, mainly oil, have caused the society to search for
alternative fuels to power cars. In the search of this new source for power
there has evolved a general belief that fuel-efficient or zero emission
vehicles would make driving an individual automobile environmentally
sustainable. The federal government has also supported the claim through their
actions. In his article, “The Myth of the Efficient Car,” Alec Dubro argues that
President Obama has given large financial support for buyers of fuel-efficient
cars. On the other hand, some people have even stretched the concept of a
sustainable car. Jessica Anderson’s article, “A Green Car for Every Driver,” uses
words like green and environmentally friendly to describe diesel fueled and
fuel efficient gas engines. Above mentioned actions and misleading statements have
led to the claim that fuel-efficient equals sustainability.
Claim against fuel-efficient cars is that even if all cars were to be highly fuel-efficient the manufacturing of the car would still be too much. Dubro argues that manufacturing these new cars will produce far too much emissions compared to the achieved advantage. Dubro also points out the Jevons Paradox, which means that efficiency achieved through technical advantages will be outrun by the increased overall consumption. Another claim that proves fuel-efficient cars to be fraud is the infrastructure required by automobiles. For example, Dubro reports that ten percent of all emissions in the United States is created by the manufacturing of concrete.
What I find questionable in the first claim of fuel-efficient cars and especially plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles is the source of the power. Regular hybrids still need to use gas, which is eventually going to run out as oil does. Electric powered cars are problematic because of the source of electricity. Most of the electricity in the United States is created by, burning fossil fuels. Electric vehicles would only move the source of the emissions, not decrease emissions. The second claim, producing fuel efficient cars will outcome the advantages, might be questionable, because of the study made by Ahmad Mayys, Ala Qattawi, Mohammed Omar and Dongri Shan. Their article, “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review,” shows that 87.1% of all energy consumption during car’s lifecycle comes from something else than manufacturing and related subject. Third claim about cars requiring infrastructure and creating second hand emissions can be biased but not totally diminished. No matter what the transportation system for humans would be, it would still need natural resources and create emissions, though the emissions for basically anything else then the personal automobile would be less.
My claim for the automobile discussion is that there will never be a car that is going to be environmentally sustainable. One critical view from other scholars might be that the technology has not developed enough for this to be possible. This is possible but it seems like we don’t have time to find this out. Instead we should develop a society where cars are not needed and where cars are neither welcome. Another critical view for my claim could be that there is not a real option for personal automobile. This is somewhat true, but it can be changed. It seems like it is easier to change city planning and create alternatives for cars then develop the technology for a sustainable car.
Claim against fuel-efficient cars is that even if all cars were to be highly fuel-efficient the manufacturing of the car would still be too much. Dubro argues that manufacturing these new cars will produce far too much emissions compared to the achieved advantage. Dubro also points out the Jevons Paradox, which means that efficiency achieved through technical advantages will be outrun by the increased overall consumption. Another claim that proves fuel-efficient cars to be fraud is the infrastructure required by automobiles. For example, Dubro reports that ten percent of all emissions in the United States is created by the manufacturing of concrete.
What I find questionable in the first claim of fuel-efficient cars and especially plug-in hybrids and electric vehicles is the source of the power. Regular hybrids still need to use gas, which is eventually going to run out as oil does. Electric powered cars are problematic because of the source of electricity. Most of the electricity in the United States is created by, burning fossil fuels. Electric vehicles would only move the source of the emissions, not decrease emissions. The second claim, producing fuel efficient cars will outcome the advantages, might be questionable, because of the study made by Ahmad Mayys, Ala Qattawi, Mohammed Omar and Dongri Shan. Their article, “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review,” shows that 87.1% of all energy consumption during car’s lifecycle comes from something else than manufacturing and related subject. Third claim about cars requiring infrastructure and creating second hand emissions can be biased but not totally diminished. No matter what the transportation system for humans would be, it would still need natural resources and create emissions, though the emissions for basically anything else then the personal automobile would be less.
My claim for the automobile discussion is that there will never be a car that is going to be environmentally sustainable. One critical view from other scholars might be that the technology has not developed enough for this to be possible. This is possible but it seems like we don’t have time to find this out. Instead we should develop a society where cars are not needed and where cars are neither welcome. Another critical view for my claim could be that there is not a real option for personal automobile. This is somewhat true, but it can be changed. It seems like it is easier to change city planning and create alternatives for cars then develop the technology for a sustainable car.
Works Cited
Anderson, Jessica. “A Green Car
for Every Driver.” Kiplinger’s Personal
Finance Sep. 2010: 81- 85. Ebsco. Web 5 Nov. 2013.
Dubro, Alec. “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” Progressive 73.5 (2009): 28-30. Ebsco. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Ahmad Mayys, Ala Qattawi, Mohammed Omar and Dongri Shan. “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012): 1845-1862. Science Direct. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
ESSAY THREE, DRAFT ONE
Dubro, Alec. “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” Progressive 73.5 (2009): 28-30. Ebsco. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Ahmad Mayys, Ala Qattawi, Mohammed Omar and Dongri Shan. “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012): 1845-1862. Science Direct. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
ESSAY THREE, DRAFT ONE
Jani
Professor B.
English 113
10 November 2013
Professor B.
English 113
10 November 2013
An
Illusion of a Sustainable Car
Cars have
long been a necessity in most parts of the Unites States although it is
one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions and limited
natural resources, mainly oil, have caused the society to search for several
ways to decrease the environmental impact of cars. In the search of this low
emission car there has evolved a general belief that fuel-efficient or electric
vehicles would make driving an individual automobile environmentally
sustainable. The federal government has also supported the claim through their
actions. In his article, “The Myth of the Efficient Car,” Alec Dubro argues
that President Obama has given large financial support for buyers of
fuel-efficient cars and this way the President has helped to create an illusion
of a green car. Despite the common belief of fuel efficiency making cars green,
this is not true. Nowhere in the near future can a personal automobile become environmentally
sustainable. The issue of transportation as a large part of the environmental
problem is also recognized by the authors Ahmad Mayys, Ala Qattawi, Mohammed
Omar and Dongri Shan, in their research article, “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive
Review.” Out of all the oil consumption in the world, 40% is used on
transportation. Their article also shows that in the United States one third of
total energy consumption and carbon dioxide emissions are created by the
transportation sector.
Rising oil prices and the concern for nature have also got the individual consumer to buy what is thought to be more sustainable in the automobile sector. Nick Bunkley, author of the article, “U.S. Car Sales Keep Up Their Firm Growth,” states that many customers are buying cars that get high mileage. For example, Toyota’s hybrid sales jumped 49 percent during the last year. The thought that fuel efficiency makes cars green is largely a fraud, even in the case of hybrid cars. First of all, hybrid cars burn fossil fuels as well, they just do it in a decreased quantity. Eventually the fossil fuels will run out, so hybrid car’s sustainability basically ends there. Some might argue, that the small amount of fuel needed for hybrid cars, could be provided by harvesting biofuels from plants, such as sugar cane. Although this is not the case, as Van Vliet Oscar, Brouwer Sjoerd Anne, Kuramochi Takeshi, Van Den Broek Machteld and Faaij Andre put it in their article, “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars.” Authors suggest that it would be controversial to use the scarce fertile land to produce fuel for cars while at the same time the food for humans is becoming scarce and more expensive.
Another issue with fuel efficiency is introduced in Dubro’s article, “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” Dubro explains how Jevons Paradox eventually overcomes all efforts to make technical inventions more efficient. The more efficient machines are made, the more energy they will finally consume. This is due to the fact that efficient machines are better and cheaper to buy. This will lead to more people buying the machines and finally, because the machine is so efficient, it is also used more. Instead of decreasing consumption, the efficiency will lead to overall increased consumption. Actually the whole concept of a fuel-efficient car can be argued. In their article, “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review,” Mayys Ahmad, Qattawi Ala, Omar Mohammed and Shan Dongri show that the main source for vehicle fuel-efficiency is the reduction of weight. They also state that the existing technology relies on increased use of aluminum in order to reduce the weight of automobiles. This actually brings into light the controversy of reducing vehicle weight. A research paper, “How Can Our Cars Become Less Polluting? An Assessment of the Environmental Improvement Potential of Cars.” by Leduc Guillaume, Mongelli Ignazio, Uihlein Andreas and Nemry Francoise proves that the increased use of aluminum in cars also increases the environmental impact and the emissions of cars. Fuel-efficiency itself is increased, but the emissions are passed to the manufacturing phase of the car. The production of aluminum is much more energy consuming than the production of steel. During the lifetime of an average car, the emissions will either stay at the same level or increase because of the use of aluminum. Based on the above facts it really is no choice to use fuel-efficiency as a way to make cars sustainable.
The new trend, what is thought to be the environmentally friendly option, is the electric car. According to the article, “A Green Car for Every Driver,” the author Jessica Anderson explains that electric cars have range issues, which will be solved during the coming years. After the issues on batteries supplying power for longer trips, electric vehicles are expected to solve the problem of car sustainability. Even if the issues with batteries are solved, there are still many issues that remain and which won’t be fixed anytime in the near future. First of all, Van Vliet, Brouwer, Kuramochi, Van Den Broek and Faaij’s article, “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars,” shows that the electricity use of an average household would increase by 50% after electrical vehicles are introduced large scale. This would overload the electric grid especially in many residential neighborhoods. The problem is not only present in the residential areas, but it would cover the United States in whole. Van Vliet and others evaluated the impact of several charging patterns of the electrical vehicles. The only way that charging would not lead to the need of new power plants is that all off peak hours of electricity use were to be used for charging vehicles. In other words this means that most of the charging should happen during nighttime and that not everyone should plug in their electric vehicles at the same time. This sounds very unlikely to happen. It is more than likely that people would charge their vehicles at least during the time they are at work. This would lead to an increased peak in electricity usage. Peak hours in electricity demand determine not only the price for electricity, but also the maximum capacity needed to create an adequate amount of electricity. Not only are the peak hours of electricity demand covered by burning more fossil fuels, so is most of the electricity demand in whole. The article, “Electricity Generation from Renewables in the United States: Resource Potential, Current Usage, Technical Status, Challenges, Strategies, Policies, and Future Directions,” by Osmani Atif, Zhang Jun, Gonela Vinay and Awudu Iddrisu shows how 83% of all energy in the United States is created by burning fossil fuels. This proofs that even if all automobiles were electric vehicles, they wouldn’t still produce a whole lot less emissions. The emissions that vehicles used to form in their location would be sifted to the location of the power plants.
It really seems like all the options to make automobiles environmentally sustainable are more or less just prestidigitation. Nearly all improvements and ideas to justify the wide use of cars are more or less fraud. The reason why we are so unable to find better options for cars could be the fact that our society is in the greatest detail planned for cars only. Everything from homes and stores to schools and hospitals is planned in a way that the main transportation is considered to be a vehicle with four rubber wheels. Unfortunately this is not a sustainable way to live and we have got to come up with a better solution. It would be a good idea to start planning cities and neighborhoods to be suitable for walking. City planning should be more compact and public transportation should be the assumed method of transportation. Before all this infrastructural change happens, people should start paying more attention to their own choices in order to decrease the dependency on cars. People should choose their homes according to the location of their jobs. It would also be a good idea to shop in stores that are conveniently located close to ones home. This would gradually lead to an increased use of the bike and more walking as well. When people would realize that there really is no need for the car, it would be easy to make the society more human centered instead of car centered.
Rising oil prices and the concern for nature have also got the individual consumer to buy what is thought to be more sustainable in the automobile sector. Nick Bunkley, author of the article, “U.S. Car Sales Keep Up Their Firm Growth,” states that many customers are buying cars that get high mileage. For example, Toyota’s hybrid sales jumped 49 percent during the last year. The thought that fuel efficiency makes cars green is largely a fraud, even in the case of hybrid cars. First of all, hybrid cars burn fossil fuels as well, they just do it in a decreased quantity. Eventually the fossil fuels will run out, so hybrid car’s sustainability basically ends there. Some might argue, that the small amount of fuel needed for hybrid cars, could be provided by harvesting biofuels from plants, such as sugar cane. Although this is not the case, as Van Vliet Oscar, Brouwer Sjoerd Anne, Kuramochi Takeshi, Van Den Broek Machteld and Faaij Andre put it in their article, “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars.” Authors suggest that it would be controversial to use the scarce fertile land to produce fuel for cars while at the same time the food for humans is becoming scarce and more expensive.
Another issue with fuel efficiency is introduced in Dubro’s article, “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” Dubro explains how Jevons Paradox eventually overcomes all efforts to make technical inventions more efficient. The more efficient machines are made, the more energy they will finally consume. This is due to the fact that efficient machines are better and cheaper to buy. This will lead to more people buying the machines and finally, because the machine is so efficient, it is also used more. Instead of decreasing consumption, the efficiency will lead to overall increased consumption. Actually the whole concept of a fuel-efficient car can be argued. In their article, “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review,” Mayys Ahmad, Qattawi Ala, Omar Mohammed and Shan Dongri show that the main source for vehicle fuel-efficiency is the reduction of weight. They also state that the existing technology relies on increased use of aluminum in order to reduce the weight of automobiles. This actually brings into light the controversy of reducing vehicle weight. A research paper, “How Can Our Cars Become Less Polluting? An Assessment of the Environmental Improvement Potential of Cars.” by Leduc Guillaume, Mongelli Ignazio, Uihlein Andreas and Nemry Francoise proves that the increased use of aluminum in cars also increases the environmental impact and the emissions of cars. Fuel-efficiency itself is increased, but the emissions are passed to the manufacturing phase of the car. The production of aluminum is much more energy consuming than the production of steel. During the lifetime of an average car, the emissions will either stay at the same level or increase because of the use of aluminum. Based on the above facts it really is no choice to use fuel-efficiency as a way to make cars sustainable.
The new trend, what is thought to be the environmentally friendly option, is the electric car. According to the article, “A Green Car for Every Driver,” the author Jessica Anderson explains that electric cars have range issues, which will be solved during the coming years. After the issues on batteries supplying power for longer trips, electric vehicles are expected to solve the problem of car sustainability. Even if the issues with batteries are solved, there are still many issues that remain and which won’t be fixed anytime in the near future. First of all, Van Vliet, Brouwer, Kuramochi, Van Den Broek and Faaij’s article, “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars,” shows that the electricity use of an average household would increase by 50% after electrical vehicles are introduced large scale. This would overload the electric grid especially in many residential neighborhoods. The problem is not only present in the residential areas, but it would cover the United States in whole. Van Vliet and others evaluated the impact of several charging patterns of the electrical vehicles. The only way that charging would not lead to the need of new power plants is that all off peak hours of electricity use were to be used for charging vehicles. In other words this means that most of the charging should happen during nighttime and that not everyone should plug in their electric vehicles at the same time. This sounds very unlikely to happen. It is more than likely that people would charge their vehicles at least during the time they are at work. This would lead to an increased peak in electricity usage. Peak hours in electricity demand determine not only the price for electricity, but also the maximum capacity needed to create an adequate amount of electricity. Not only are the peak hours of electricity demand covered by burning more fossil fuels, so is most of the electricity demand in whole. The article, “Electricity Generation from Renewables in the United States: Resource Potential, Current Usage, Technical Status, Challenges, Strategies, Policies, and Future Directions,” by Osmani Atif, Zhang Jun, Gonela Vinay and Awudu Iddrisu shows how 83% of all energy in the United States is created by burning fossil fuels. This proofs that even if all automobiles were electric vehicles, they wouldn’t still produce a whole lot less emissions. The emissions that vehicles used to form in their location would be sifted to the location of the power plants.
It really seems like all the options to make automobiles environmentally sustainable are more or less just prestidigitation. Nearly all improvements and ideas to justify the wide use of cars are more or less fraud. The reason why we are so unable to find better options for cars could be the fact that our society is in the greatest detail planned for cars only. Everything from homes and stores to schools and hospitals is planned in a way that the main transportation is considered to be a vehicle with four rubber wheels. Unfortunately this is not a sustainable way to live and we have got to come up with a better solution. It would be a good idea to start planning cities and neighborhoods to be suitable for walking. City planning should be more compact and public transportation should be the assumed method of transportation. Before all this infrastructural change happens, people should start paying more attention to their own choices in order to decrease the dependency on cars. People should choose their homes according to the location of their jobs. It would also be a good idea to shop in stores that are conveniently located close to ones home. This would gradually lead to an increased use of the bike and more walking as well. When people would realize that there really is no need for the car, it would be easy to make the society more human centered instead of car centered.
Works Cited
Anderson, Jessica. “A Green Car
for Every Driver.” Kiplinger’s Personal
Finance Sep. 2010: 81- 85. Ebsco. Web 5 Nov. 2013.
Bunkley, Nick. “U.S. Car Sales Keep Up Their Firm Growth.” The New York Times 3 Apr. 2012. The New York Times. Web 3 Nov. 2013.
Dubro, Alec. “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” Progressive 73.5 (2009): 28-30. Ebsco. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Leduc Guillaume, Mongelli Ignazio, Uihlein Andreas and Nemry Francoise. “How Can Our Cars Become Less Polluting? An Assessment of the Environmental Improvement Potential of Cars.” Transport Policy 17 (2010): 409-419. Ebsco. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Mayys Ahmad, Qattawi Ala, Omar Mohammed and Shan Dongri. “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012): 1845-1862. Science Direct. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Osmani Atif, Zhang Jun, Gonela Vinay and Awudu Iddrisu. “Electricity Generation from Renewables in the United States: Resource Potential, Current Usage, Technical Status, Challenges, Strategies, Policies, and Future Directions.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 24 (2013): 454-472. Ebsco. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.
Van Vliet Oscar, Brouwer Sjoerd Anne, Kuramochi Takeshi, Van Den Broek Machteld and Faaij Andre. “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars.” Journal of Power Sources 196 (2011): 2298-2310. Ebsco. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.
Bunkley, Nick. “U.S. Car Sales Keep Up Their Firm Growth.” The New York Times 3 Apr. 2012. The New York Times. Web 3 Nov. 2013.
Dubro, Alec. “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” Progressive 73.5 (2009): 28-30. Ebsco. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Leduc Guillaume, Mongelli Ignazio, Uihlein Andreas and Nemry Francoise. “How Can Our Cars Become Less Polluting? An Assessment of the Environmental Improvement Potential of Cars.” Transport Policy 17 (2010): 409-419. Ebsco. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Mayys Ahmad, Qattawi Ala, Omar Mohammed and Shan Dongri. “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012): 1845-1862. Science Direct. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Osmani Atif, Zhang Jun, Gonela Vinay and Awudu Iddrisu. “Electricity Generation from Renewables in the United States: Resource Potential, Current Usage, Technical Status, Challenges, Strategies, Policies, and Future Directions.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 24 (2013): 454-472. Ebsco. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.
Van Vliet Oscar, Brouwer Sjoerd Anne, Kuramochi Takeshi, Van Den Broek Machteld and Faaij Andre. “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars.” Journal of Power Sources 196 (2011): 2298-2310. Ebsco. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.
ESSAY THREE, DRAFT TWO
Jani
Professor B.
English 113
10 November 2013
Professor B.
English 113
10 November 2013
An
Illusion of a Sustainable Car
Cars have
long been a necessity in most parts of the Unites States although they
are also one of the largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions and
limited natural resources, mainly oil, have caused society to search for
several ways to decrease the environmental impact of cars. In the search for this
low emission car there has evolved a general belief that fuel-efficient or
electric vehicles would make driving an individual automobile environmentally
sustainable. The federal government has also supported the claim through their
actions. In his article, “The Myth of the Efficient Car,” Alec Dubro argues
that President Obama has given large financial support for buyers of
fuel-efficient cars and this way the President has helped to create an illusion
of a green car. Despite the common belief of fuel efficiency making cars green,
this is not true. Nowhere in the near future can a personal automobile become environmentally
sustainable.
The issue of transportation as a large part of the environmental problem is also recognized and it is noted that out of all the oil consumption in the world, 40% is used on transportation. Also one third of total energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission in the United States is created by the transportation sector as shown by the authors Ahmad Mayys, Ala Qattawi, Mohammed Omar and Dongri Shan, in their research article, “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review.” Rising oil prices and the concern for nature have also got the individual consumer to buy what is thought to be more sustainable in the automobile sector. For example, Toyota’s hybrid sales jumped 49 percent during the last year and many customers are buying cars that get high mileage, states Nick Bunkley, author of the article, “U.S. Car Sales Keep Up Their Firm Growth.” The thought that fuel efficiency makes cars green is largely a fraud, even in the case of hybrid cars. First of all, hybrid cars burn fossil fuels as well, they just do so in a decreased quantity, like Jessica Anderson informs in her article, “A Green Car for Every Driver.” Some might argue, that the small amount of fuel needed for hybrid cars, could be provided by harvesting biofuels from plants, such as sugar cane. This is not the case because it would be controversial to use the scarce fertile land to produce fuel for cars while at the same time the food for humans is becoming scarce and more expensive according to Van Vliet Oscar, Brouwer Sjoerd Anne, Kuramochi Takeshi, Van Den Broek Machteld and Faaij Andre in their article, “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars,”
Another issue with fuel efficiency is introduced in a form of Jevons Paradox. The Jevons Paradox was named after an English economist, William Stanley Jevons, who argued that the more efficient machines are made, the more energy they will finally consume. This is due to the fact that efficient machines are better and cheaper to buy, which will lead to more people buying the machines and because the machines are so efficient, people will also use them more. Instead of decreasing consumption, the efficiency will lead to overall increased consumption as argued in Alec Dubro’s article, “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” The whole concept of car’s fuel-efficiency leading to lower emissions during it`s lifetime can be argued. The main source for vehicle fuel-efficiency is the reduction of weight and the existing technology relies on increased use of aluminum in order to reduce the weight of automobiles as discussed in the article, “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review,” by Mayys Ahmad, Qattawi Ala, Omar Mohammed and Shan Dongri. Increased use of aluminum in cars also increases the environmental impact and the emissions of cars. The production of aluminum is much more energy consuming than the production of steel. During the lifetime of an average car, the emissions will either stay at the same level or increase because of the increased use of aluminum. While fuel-efficiency may be increased the emissions are passed to the manufacturing phase of the car. This is discussed in a research paper, “How Can Our Cars Become Less Polluting? An Assessment of the Environmental Improvement Potential of Cars.” by Leduc Guillaume, Mongelli Ignazio, Uihlein Andreas and Nemry Francoise. Based on the above facts it really is no choice to use fuel-efficiency as a way to make cars sustainable.
The new trend, what is thought to be the environmentally friendly option, is the electric car. According to the article, “A Green Car for Every Driver,” the author Jessica Anderson explains that electric cars have range issues, which will be solved during the coming years. After the issues on batteries supplying power for longer trips, electric vehicles are expected to solve the problem of car sustainability. Even if the issues with batteries are solved, there are still many issues that remain and which won’t be fixed anytime in the near future. First of all, Van Vliet, Brouwer, Kuramochi, Van Den Broek and Faaij’s article, “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars,” shows that the electricity use of an average household would increase by 50% after electrical vehicles are introduced large scale. This would overload the electric grid especially in many residential neighborhoods. The problem of overloading the electric grid is not only present in the residential areas, but it would cover most parts of the United States. Van Vliet and others evaluated the impact of several charging patterns of the electrical vehicles. The only way that charging would not lead to the need of new power plants is if all off peak hours of electricity use were to be used for charging vehicles. In other words, this means that most of the charging would need to occurred during nighttime and that not everyone should plug in their electric vehicles at the same time. This sounds very unlikely to happen. It is more than likely that people would charge their vehicles at least during the time they are at work. This would lead to an increased peak in electricity usage. Peak hours in electricity demand determine not only the price for electricity, but also the maximum capacity needed to create an adequate amount of electricity. Not only are the peak hours of electricity demand covered by burning more fossil fuels, so is most of the electricity demand in whole. 83% of all energy in the United States is created by burning fossil fuels as stated in the article, “Electricity Generation from Renewables in the United States: Resource Potential, Current Usage, Technical Status, Challenges, Strategies, Policies, and Future Directions,” by Osmani Atif, Zhang Jun, Gonela Vinay and Awudu Iddrisu. This proofs that even if all automobiles were electric vehicles, they wouldn’t still produce a whole lot less emissions. The emissions that vehicles used to form in their location would be sifted to the location of the power plants.
It really seems like all the options to make automobiles environmentally sustainable are more or less just prestidigitation. Nearly all improvements and ideas to justify the wide use of cars are more or less fraud. The reason why we are so unable to find better options for cars could be the fact that our society is in the greatest detail planned for cars only. Everything from homes and stores to schools and hospitals is planned in a way that the main transportation is considered to be the individual automobile. Unfortunately this is not a sustainable way to live and we have got to come up with a better solution. It would be a good idea to start planning cities and neighborhoods to be suitable for walking. City planning should be more compact and public transportation should be the assumed method of transportation. Before all this infrastructural change happens, people should start paying more attention to their own choices in order to decrease the dependency on cars. People should choose their homes according to the location of their jobs. It would also be a good idea to shop in stores that are conveniently located close to ones home. This would gradually lead to an increased use of the bike and more walking as well. When people would realize that there really is no need for the car, it would be easy to make the society more human centered instead of car centered.
The issue of transportation as a large part of the environmental problem is also recognized and it is noted that out of all the oil consumption in the world, 40% is used on transportation. Also one third of total energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission in the United States is created by the transportation sector as shown by the authors Ahmad Mayys, Ala Qattawi, Mohammed Omar and Dongri Shan, in their research article, “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review.” Rising oil prices and the concern for nature have also got the individual consumer to buy what is thought to be more sustainable in the automobile sector. For example, Toyota’s hybrid sales jumped 49 percent during the last year and many customers are buying cars that get high mileage, states Nick Bunkley, author of the article, “U.S. Car Sales Keep Up Their Firm Growth.” The thought that fuel efficiency makes cars green is largely a fraud, even in the case of hybrid cars. First of all, hybrid cars burn fossil fuels as well, they just do so in a decreased quantity, like Jessica Anderson informs in her article, “A Green Car for Every Driver.” Some might argue, that the small amount of fuel needed for hybrid cars, could be provided by harvesting biofuels from plants, such as sugar cane. This is not the case because it would be controversial to use the scarce fertile land to produce fuel for cars while at the same time the food for humans is becoming scarce and more expensive according to Van Vliet Oscar, Brouwer Sjoerd Anne, Kuramochi Takeshi, Van Den Broek Machteld and Faaij Andre in their article, “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars,”
Another issue with fuel efficiency is introduced in a form of Jevons Paradox. The Jevons Paradox was named after an English economist, William Stanley Jevons, who argued that the more efficient machines are made, the more energy they will finally consume. This is due to the fact that efficient machines are better and cheaper to buy, which will lead to more people buying the machines and because the machines are so efficient, people will also use them more. Instead of decreasing consumption, the efficiency will lead to overall increased consumption as argued in Alec Dubro’s article, “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” The whole concept of car’s fuel-efficiency leading to lower emissions during it`s lifetime can be argued. The main source for vehicle fuel-efficiency is the reduction of weight and the existing technology relies on increased use of aluminum in order to reduce the weight of automobiles as discussed in the article, “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review,” by Mayys Ahmad, Qattawi Ala, Omar Mohammed and Shan Dongri. Increased use of aluminum in cars also increases the environmental impact and the emissions of cars. The production of aluminum is much more energy consuming than the production of steel. During the lifetime of an average car, the emissions will either stay at the same level or increase because of the increased use of aluminum. While fuel-efficiency may be increased the emissions are passed to the manufacturing phase of the car. This is discussed in a research paper, “How Can Our Cars Become Less Polluting? An Assessment of the Environmental Improvement Potential of Cars.” by Leduc Guillaume, Mongelli Ignazio, Uihlein Andreas and Nemry Francoise. Based on the above facts it really is no choice to use fuel-efficiency as a way to make cars sustainable.
The new trend, what is thought to be the environmentally friendly option, is the electric car. According to the article, “A Green Car for Every Driver,” the author Jessica Anderson explains that electric cars have range issues, which will be solved during the coming years. After the issues on batteries supplying power for longer trips, electric vehicles are expected to solve the problem of car sustainability. Even if the issues with batteries are solved, there are still many issues that remain and which won’t be fixed anytime in the near future. First of all, Van Vliet, Brouwer, Kuramochi, Van Den Broek and Faaij’s article, “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars,” shows that the electricity use of an average household would increase by 50% after electrical vehicles are introduced large scale. This would overload the electric grid especially in many residential neighborhoods. The problem of overloading the electric grid is not only present in the residential areas, but it would cover most parts of the United States. Van Vliet and others evaluated the impact of several charging patterns of the electrical vehicles. The only way that charging would not lead to the need of new power plants is if all off peak hours of electricity use were to be used for charging vehicles. In other words, this means that most of the charging would need to occurred during nighttime and that not everyone should plug in their electric vehicles at the same time. This sounds very unlikely to happen. It is more than likely that people would charge their vehicles at least during the time they are at work. This would lead to an increased peak in electricity usage. Peak hours in electricity demand determine not only the price for electricity, but also the maximum capacity needed to create an adequate amount of electricity. Not only are the peak hours of electricity demand covered by burning more fossil fuels, so is most of the electricity demand in whole. 83% of all energy in the United States is created by burning fossil fuels as stated in the article, “Electricity Generation from Renewables in the United States: Resource Potential, Current Usage, Technical Status, Challenges, Strategies, Policies, and Future Directions,” by Osmani Atif, Zhang Jun, Gonela Vinay and Awudu Iddrisu. This proofs that even if all automobiles were electric vehicles, they wouldn’t still produce a whole lot less emissions. The emissions that vehicles used to form in their location would be sifted to the location of the power plants.
It really seems like all the options to make automobiles environmentally sustainable are more or less just prestidigitation. Nearly all improvements and ideas to justify the wide use of cars are more or less fraud. The reason why we are so unable to find better options for cars could be the fact that our society is in the greatest detail planned for cars only. Everything from homes and stores to schools and hospitals is planned in a way that the main transportation is considered to be the individual automobile. Unfortunately this is not a sustainable way to live and we have got to come up with a better solution. It would be a good idea to start planning cities and neighborhoods to be suitable for walking. City planning should be more compact and public transportation should be the assumed method of transportation. Before all this infrastructural change happens, people should start paying more attention to their own choices in order to decrease the dependency on cars. People should choose their homes according to the location of their jobs. It would also be a good idea to shop in stores that are conveniently located close to ones home. This would gradually lead to an increased use of the bike and more walking as well. When people would realize that there really is no need for the car, it would be easy to make the society more human centered instead of car centered.
Works Cited
Anderson, Jessica. “A Green Car
for Every Driver.” Kiplinger’s Personal
Finance Sep. 2010: 81- 85. Ebsco. Web 5 Nov. 2013.
Bunkley, Nick. “U.S. Car Sales Keep Up Their Firm Growth.” The New York Times 3 Apr. 2012. The New York Times. Web 3 Nov. 2013.
Dubro, Alec. “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” Progressive 73.5 (2009): 28-30. Ebsco. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Leduc Guillaume, Mongelli Ignazio, Uihlein Andreas and Nemry Francoise. “How Can Our Cars Become Less Polluting? An Assessment of the Environmental Improvement Potential of Cars.” Transport Policy 17 (2010): 409-419. Ebsco. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Mayys Ahmad, Qattawi Ala, Omar Mohammed and Shan Dongri. “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012): 1845-1862. Science Direct. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Osmani Atif, Zhang Jun, Gonela Vinay and Awudu Iddrisu. “Electricity Generation from Renewables in the United States: Resource Potential, Current Usage, Technical Status, Challenges, Strategies, Policies, and Future Directions.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 24 (2013): 454-472. Ebsco. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.
Van Vliet Oscar, Brouwer Sjoerd Anne, Kuramochi Takeshi, Van Den Broek Machteld and Faaij Andre. “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars.” Journal of Power Sources 196 (2011): 2298-2310. Ebsco. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.
Bunkley, Nick. “U.S. Car Sales Keep Up Their Firm Growth.” The New York Times 3 Apr. 2012. The New York Times. Web 3 Nov. 2013.
Dubro, Alec. “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” Progressive 73.5 (2009): 28-30. Ebsco. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Leduc Guillaume, Mongelli Ignazio, Uihlein Andreas and Nemry Francoise. “How Can Our Cars Become Less Polluting? An Assessment of the Environmental Improvement Potential of Cars.” Transport Policy 17 (2010): 409-419. Ebsco. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Mayys Ahmad, Qattawi Ala, Omar Mohammed and Shan Dongri. “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012): 1845-1862. Science Direct. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Osmani Atif, Zhang Jun, Gonela Vinay and Awudu Iddrisu. “Electricity Generation from Renewables in the United States: Resource Potential, Current Usage, Technical Status, Challenges, Strategies, Policies, and Future Directions.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 24 (2013): 454-472. Ebsco. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.
Van Vliet Oscar, Brouwer Sjoerd Anne, Kuramochi Takeshi, Van Den Broek Machteld and Faaij Andre. “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars.” Journal of Power Sources 196 (2011): 2298-2310. Ebsco. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.
ESSAY THREE, DRAFT THREE
Jani
Professor B.
English 113
2 December 2013
Professor B.
English 113
2 December 2013
An
Illusion of a Sustainable Car
Cars have
long been a necessity in most parts of the United States although they are also one of the
largest sources of greenhouse gas emissions. Emissions and limited natural
resources, mainly oil, have caused society to search for several ways to
decrease the environmental impact of cars. In the search for this low emission
car there has evolved a general belief that fuel-efficient or electric vehicles
would make driving an individual automobile environmentally sustainable. The
federal government has helped to foster this belief by providing
financial support for buyers of fuel-efficient cars. Despite the common belief
of fuel efficiency making cars green, this is not true. Nowhere in the near
future can a personal automobile become environmentally sustainable.
Transportation is a large part of the environmental problem, as 40% of all the oil consumption in the world is used on transportation. In the United States, one third of total energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission is created by the transportation sector (Mayys, Qattawi, Omar and Shan). Rising oil prices and the concern for the environment has caused individual consumers to buy what is thought to be more sustainable in the automobile sector. For example, Toyota’s hybrid sales jumped 49 percent during the last year and many customers are buying cars that get high mileage (Bunkley). The thought that fuel efficiency makes cars green is largely a fraud, even in the case of hybrid cars. First of all, hybrid cars burn fossil fuels as well, they just do so in a decreased quantity (Anderson). Although some might argue that the small amount of fuel needed for hybrid cars could be provided by harvesting biofuels from plants, such as sugar cane, this is not the case. Using scarce fertile land to produce fuel for cars while at the same time the food for humans is becoming scarce and more expensive would be controversial and harmful to humans ( Van Vliet, Brouwer, Kuramochi, Van Den Broek and Faaij).
Another issue with fuel efficiency is introduced in a form of Jevons Paradox. The Jevons Paradox was named after an English economist, William Stanley Jevons, who argued that the more efficient machines are made, the more energy they will consume. This is due to the fact that efficient machines are better and cheaper to buy, which will lead to more people buying the machines, and, because the machines are so efficient, people will also use them more (Dubro). Instead of decreasing consumption, the efficiency will lead to overall increased consumption (Dubro).
The whole concept of car’s fuel-efficiency leading to lower emissions during it`s lifetime can be argued. The main source for vehicle fuel-efficiency is the reduction of weight and the existing technology relies on increased use of aluminum in order to reduce the weight of automobiles (Mayys, Qattawa, Omar and Shan). Increased use of aluminum in cars also increases the environmental impact and the emissions of cars. The production of aluminum is much more energy consuming than the production of steel. During the lifetime of an average car, the emissions will either stay at the same level or increase because of the increased use of aluminum. While fuel-efficiency may be increased the emissions are passed to the manufacturing phase of the car (Guillaume, Mongelli, Uihlein and Nemry). Thus, there is no choice to use fuel-efficiency as a way to make cars sustainable.
The new trend, what is thought to be the environmentally friendly option, is the electric car. According to the article, “A Green Car for Every Driver,” the author Jessica Anderson explains that electric cars have range issues, which will be solved during the coming years. After the issues on batteries supplying power for longer trips, electric vehicles are expected to solve the problem of car sustainability. Even if the issues with batteries are solved, there are still many issues that remain with respect to electric cars and which won’t be fixed anytime in the near future. First of all, the electricity use of an average household would increase by 50% after electrical vehicles are introduced large scale (Van Vliet, Brouwer, Kuramochi, Van Den Broek and Faaij). This would overload the electric grid especially in many residential neighborhoods. The problem of overloading the electric grid is not only present in the residential areas, but it would cover most parts of the United States. In the article “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars” Van Vliet, Brouwer, Kuramochi, Van Den Broek and Faaij evaluated the impact of several charging patterns of the electrical vehicles. They concluded that the only way that charging would not lead to the need of new power plants is if all off peak hours of electricity use were to be used for charging vehicles. In other words, this means that most of the charging would need to occurred during nighttime and that not everyone should plug in their electric vehicles at the same time. This sounds very unlikely to happen. It is more than likely that people would charge their vehicles at least during the time they are at work. This would lead to an increased peak in electricity usage. Peak hours in electricity demand determine not only the price for electricity, but also the maximum capacity needed to create an adequate amount of electricity. Not only are the peak hours of electricity demand covered by burning more fossil fuels, so is most of the electricity demand in whole. Out of all energy in the United States 83% is created by burning fossil fuels as stated in the article, “Electricity Generation from Renewables in the United States: Resource Potential, Current Usage, Technical Status, Challenges, Strategies, Policies, and Future Directions,” by Osmani Atif, Zhang Jun, Gonela Vinay and Awudu Iddrisu. This proofs that even if all automobiles were electric vehicles, they wouldn’t still produce a whole lot less emissions. The emissions that vehicles used to form in their location would be sifted to the location of the power plants.
It really seems like all the options to make automobiles environmentally sustainable are more or less just prestidigitation. Nearly all improvements and ideas to justify the wide use of cars are more or less fraud. The reason why we are so unable to find better options for cars could be the fact that our society is in the greatest detail planned for cars only. Everything from homes and stores to schools and hospitals is planned in a way that the main transportation is considered to be the individual automobile. Unfortunately this is not a sustainable way to live and we have got to come up with a better solution. It would be a good idea to start planning cities and neighborhoods to be suitable for walking. City planning should be more compact and public transportation should be the assumed method of transportation. Before all this infrastructural change happens, people should start paying more attention to their own choices in order to decrease the dependency on cars. People should choose their homes according to the location of their jobs. It would also be a good idea to shop in stores that are conveniently located close to ones home. This would gradually lead to an increased use of the bike and more walking as well. When people would realize that there really is no need for the car, it would be easy to make the society more human centered instead of car centered.
Transportation is a large part of the environmental problem, as 40% of all the oil consumption in the world is used on transportation. In the United States, one third of total energy consumption and carbon dioxide emission is created by the transportation sector (Mayys, Qattawi, Omar and Shan). Rising oil prices and the concern for the environment has caused individual consumers to buy what is thought to be more sustainable in the automobile sector. For example, Toyota’s hybrid sales jumped 49 percent during the last year and many customers are buying cars that get high mileage (Bunkley). The thought that fuel efficiency makes cars green is largely a fraud, even in the case of hybrid cars. First of all, hybrid cars burn fossil fuels as well, they just do so in a decreased quantity (Anderson). Although some might argue that the small amount of fuel needed for hybrid cars could be provided by harvesting biofuels from plants, such as sugar cane, this is not the case. Using scarce fertile land to produce fuel for cars while at the same time the food for humans is becoming scarce and more expensive would be controversial and harmful to humans ( Van Vliet, Brouwer, Kuramochi, Van Den Broek and Faaij).
Another issue with fuel efficiency is introduced in a form of Jevons Paradox. The Jevons Paradox was named after an English economist, William Stanley Jevons, who argued that the more efficient machines are made, the more energy they will consume. This is due to the fact that efficient machines are better and cheaper to buy, which will lead to more people buying the machines, and, because the machines are so efficient, people will also use them more (Dubro). Instead of decreasing consumption, the efficiency will lead to overall increased consumption (Dubro).
The whole concept of car’s fuel-efficiency leading to lower emissions during it`s lifetime can be argued. The main source for vehicle fuel-efficiency is the reduction of weight and the existing technology relies on increased use of aluminum in order to reduce the weight of automobiles (Mayys, Qattawa, Omar and Shan). Increased use of aluminum in cars also increases the environmental impact and the emissions of cars. The production of aluminum is much more energy consuming than the production of steel. During the lifetime of an average car, the emissions will either stay at the same level or increase because of the increased use of aluminum. While fuel-efficiency may be increased the emissions are passed to the manufacturing phase of the car (Guillaume, Mongelli, Uihlein and Nemry). Thus, there is no choice to use fuel-efficiency as a way to make cars sustainable.
The new trend, what is thought to be the environmentally friendly option, is the electric car. According to the article, “A Green Car for Every Driver,” the author Jessica Anderson explains that electric cars have range issues, which will be solved during the coming years. After the issues on batteries supplying power for longer trips, electric vehicles are expected to solve the problem of car sustainability. Even if the issues with batteries are solved, there are still many issues that remain with respect to electric cars and which won’t be fixed anytime in the near future. First of all, the electricity use of an average household would increase by 50% after electrical vehicles are introduced large scale (Van Vliet, Brouwer, Kuramochi, Van Den Broek and Faaij). This would overload the electric grid especially in many residential neighborhoods. The problem of overloading the electric grid is not only present in the residential areas, but it would cover most parts of the United States. In the article “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars” Van Vliet, Brouwer, Kuramochi, Van Den Broek and Faaij evaluated the impact of several charging patterns of the electrical vehicles. They concluded that the only way that charging would not lead to the need of new power plants is if all off peak hours of electricity use were to be used for charging vehicles. In other words, this means that most of the charging would need to occurred during nighttime and that not everyone should plug in their electric vehicles at the same time. This sounds very unlikely to happen. It is more than likely that people would charge their vehicles at least during the time they are at work. This would lead to an increased peak in electricity usage. Peak hours in electricity demand determine not only the price for electricity, but also the maximum capacity needed to create an adequate amount of electricity. Not only are the peak hours of electricity demand covered by burning more fossil fuels, so is most of the electricity demand in whole. Out of all energy in the United States 83% is created by burning fossil fuels as stated in the article, “Electricity Generation from Renewables in the United States: Resource Potential, Current Usage, Technical Status, Challenges, Strategies, Policies, and Future Directions,” by Osmani Atif, Zhang Jun, Gonela Vinay and Awudu Iddrisu. This proofs that even if all automobiles were electric vehicles, they wouldn’t still produce a whole lot less emissions. The emissions that vehicles used to form in their location would be sifted to the location of the power plants.
It really seems like all the options to make automobiles environmentally sustainable are more or less just prestidigitation. Nearly all improvements and ideas to justify the wide use of cars are more or less fraud. The reason why we are so unable to find better options for cars could be the fact that our society is in the greatest detail planned for cars only. Everything from homes and stores to schools and hospitals is planned in a way that the main transportation is considered to be the individual automobile. Unfortunately this is not a sustainable way to live and we have got to come up with a better solution. It would be a good idea to start planning cities and neighborhoods to be suitable for walking. City planning should be more compact and public transportation should be the assumed method of transportation. Before all this infrastructural change happens, people should start paying more attention to their own choices in order to decrease the dependency on cars. People should choose their homes according to the location of their jobs. It would also be a good idea to shop in stores that are conveniently located close to ones home. This would gradually lead to an increased use of the bike and more walking as well. When people would realize that there really is no need for the car, it would be easy to make the society more human centered instead of car centered.
Works Cited
Anderson, Jessica. “A Green Car
for Every Driver.” Kiplinger’s Personal
Finance Sep. 2010: 81- 85. Ebsco. Web 5 Nov. 2013.
Bunkley, Nick. “U.S. Car Sales Keep Up Their Firm Growth.” The New York Times 3 Apr. 2012. The New York Times. Web 3 Nov. 2013.
Dubro, Alec. “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” Progressive 73.5 (2009): 28-30. Ebsco. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Leduc Guillaume, Mongelli Ignazio, Uihlein Andreas and Nemry Francoise. “How Can Our Cars Become Less Polluting? An Assessment of the Environmental Improvement Potential of Cars.” Transport Policy 17 (2010): 409-419. Ebsco. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Mayys Ahmad, Qattawi Ala, Omar Mohammed and Shan Dongri. “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012): 1845-1862. Science Direct. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Osmani Atif, Zhang Jun, Gonela Vinay and Awudu Iddrisu. “Electricity Generation from Renewables in the United States: Resource Potential, Current Usage, Technical Status, Challenges, Strategies, Policies, and Future Directions.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 24 (2013): 454-472. Ebsco. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.
Van Vliet Oscar, Brouwer Sjoerd Anne, Kuramochi Takeshi, Van Den Broek Machteld and Faaij Andre. “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars.” Journal of Power Sources 196 (2011): 2298-2310. Ebsco. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.
Bunkley, Nick. “U.S. Car Sales Keep Up Their Firm Growth.” The New York Times 3 Apr. 2012. The New York Times. Web 3 Nov. 2013.
Dubro, Alec. “The Myth of the Efficient Car.” Progressive 73.5 (2009): 28-30. Ebsco. Web. 4 Nov. 2013.
Leduc Guillaume, Mongelli Ignazio, Uihlein Andreas and Nemry Francoise. “How Can Our Cars Become Less Polluting? An Assessment of the Environmental Improvement Potential of Cars.” Transport Policy 17 (2010): 409-419. Ebsco. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Mayys Ahmad, Qattawi Ala, Omar Mohammed and Shan Dongri. “Design for Sustainability in Automotive Industry: A Comprehensive Review.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 16 (2012): 1845-1862. Science Direct. Web. 5 Nov. 2013.
Osmani Atif, Zhang Jun, Gonela Vinay and Awudu Iddrisu. “Electricity Generation from Renewables in the United States: Resource Potential, Current Usage, Technical Status, Challenges, Strategies, Policies, and Future Directions.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 24 (2013): 454-472. Ebsco. Web. 3 Nov. 2013.
Van Vliet Oscar, Brouwer Sjoerd Anne, Kuramochi Takeshi, Van Den Broek Machteld and Faaij Andre. “Energy Use, Cost and CO2 Emissions of Electrical Cars.” Journal of Power Sources 196 (2011): 2298-2310. Ebsco. Web. 6 Nov. 2013.
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