tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251183560375528307.post5258139332881240960..comments2024-03-28T21:34:42.328-05:00Comments on Bit Tooth Energy: Cap and TradeHeading Outhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01790783659594652657noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251183560375528307.post-91812710761713130762009-02-28T09:46:00.000-06:002009-02-28T09:46:00.000-06:00Luis:Don't forget that our gallons are 3.8 liters ...Luis:<BR/>Don't forget that our gallons are 3.8 liters and not the Imperial gallon. I drive some 3 miles to work, but have children that live in Maine, which is 3 days driving away. (Which would be 3 tanks of gas in the Camry, but may be just 2 with the Ford). <BR/><BR/>Thanks for the input Lars.Heading Outhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01790783659594652657noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251183560375528307.post-83483059464381927832009-02-27T13:06:00.000-06:002009-02-27T13:06:00.000-06:00Luís, the North American auto market is governed b...Luís, the North American auto market is governed by different emission regs than in Europe. Back around 2000, the US EPA decided that diesels would have to meet the same emission standards as gasoline engines. It sounds democratic but is actually difficult to achieve, because it’s hard to optimise the diesel combustion process for low NOx and low particulate emissions at the same time. The current North American standards for NOx and particulate emissions from diesels engines in light vehicles are half those in Europe. <BR/><BR/>The result is that diesels were severely restricted from the Canadian and US markets after 2006. In 2007, for example, we couldn’t buy a new diesel Golf because the current version didn’t meet the new NOx standard. The diesel Smart car disappeared, to be replaced a year later by a gasoline model. The only diesels on sale here now have a version of the Mercedes-Benz sequential catalyst system with an additive injection for NOx reduction: just models by MB, VW (but not Audi), and now BMW. <BR/><BR/>Unlike Europe, where over half the sales of new cars have been diesels for about a decade, in the USA the market penetration of diesels is about 2% and in Canada 3%. There are no American made diesels for light cars and trucks other than a 3-liter dating from the Chrysler-Mercedes-Benz hookup and sold only in an upmarket version of the Jeep. Many of us would love to have access to the small diesels sold in the rest of the world.<BR/><BR/>Automatic transmissions carried a fuel economy penalty from the very beginning until just recently. The introduction of automatic gearboxes with six and seven ratios has turned the disadvantage around. Upshifts take place at lower engine speeds in town, and the torque converter (if there is one) locks up on the highway. For example, ratings for a 2009 Camry on the Canadian test cycle (city/highway; L/100 km) are 9.6/6.4 with a manual transmission and 9.5/6.2 with an automatic.porsenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04362269873149438270noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251183560375528307.post-55140747411208944932009-02-27T04:06:00.000-06:002009-02-27T04:06:00.000-06:00Just to say that the previous comment was by me. I...Just to say that the previous comment was by me. I logged in with my openID credentials, but by some reason my name doesn't show up.<BR/><BR/>LuísAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08895745055248556694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251183560375528307.post-5879210998896304072009-02-27T04:03:00.000-06:002009-02-27T04:03:00.000-06:00Hi Dave, a few thoughts on this post:About a year ...Hi Dave, a few thoughts on this post:<BR/><BR/>About a year ago I bought a “new” car: a 1991 VW Golf GTD-intercooler that cost me 2000 € (by then about 3000 $). The lowest millage I got was 38 mpg; the average is around 44 mpg and with a lot of effort it can be pushed close to 50 mpg. Your Camry is at least one technological decade behind my Golf :)<BR/><BR/>All car makers (including Ford and General Motors) have now in the market diesel engines that fetch 60 mpg or higher. The latest Ford is being announced as making 64 miles on the short gallon (3.7 litres for 100 km). To me it seems that present hybrid technology is nowhere near to compete with that. The only hope might be the research Peugeot is making at endurance racing.<BR/><BR/>On that page that calculates carbon footprints, by toggling the automatic gearbox on/off mpg increases by up to 20%. One of the easiest things lawmakers could do to improve overall efficiency of the US car fleet would be to mandate the phase-out of automatic gear boxes.<BR/><BR/>I also point to the total millage you covered in a year: about 25 000 km. This is indeed a big difference from Europe to America, few people here would drive that distance unless their job depends on it. Rough calculations you drive 100 km per work day plus a few more on occasional trips.<BR/><BR/>An alternative look on Cap & Trade can be found at the <A HREF="http://www.dhf.uu.se/FMPro?-db=pub1.fp5&-format=/publications/dd/apubdddetail.html&-lay=weblayout&-sortfield=pubyear&-sortorder=descend&-sortfield=pubissuewithoutcolon&-sortorder=descend&pubtype=development&-max=2147483647&-recid=66&-find=" REL="nofollow">Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation</A>.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5251183560375528307.post-41307454173839806702009-02-26T22:05:00.000-06:002009-02-26T22:05:00.000-06:00Rule development for a cap and trade system is wel...Rule development for a cap and trade system is well underway for a consortium of seven US states and four Canadian provinces called the Western Climate Initiative http://tiny.cc/xijIj. British Columbia, where I live, a WCI signatory, has already passed enabling legislation for cap and trade and has consulted on the mechanics of a reporting system http://tiny.cc/EmLNl. <BR/><BR/>Like California (another WCI member), BC imports thermal power, mostly from Alberta, which it intends to subject to cap and trade, a situation that may come about because Alberta's government has avoided large-scale climate change abatement. <BR/><BR/>Fossil fuel combustion will be excluded from the cap and trade system in BC because the province already has a carbon tax on all forms of fossil fuel http://tiny.cc/cgOUq. This tax applies to indsutry and to drivers at the pump. It began last year at $10 per tonne CO2e and rises stepwise to $30 per tonne CO2e in 2012, with its most important feature being revenue-neutrality. The government has said the amount collected will be offset by an equal reduction in other provincial taxes <BR/><BR/>Coincidentally, the current rate is the the same as the cost of an EU tonne but was much lower at the time the tax was proposed. The carbon tax for your Camry would have been only $45 (except that it wasn't in effect when you bought your car). Even at that level, there's strong opposition, leading the government to make small changes to protect vulnerable groups http://tiny.cc/u5QH3.porsenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04362269873149438270noreply@blogger.com