Driving Into the Future

I am a cook and I really dream of a car that run on cooking oil. I think I will save a lot of the money that I now spend on oil and I believe many people will enjoy the same if they could find good cars that run on cooking oil.

I???m in favor of increasing fuel efficiency but I suspect it will have little environmental impact. People will tend to drive more since each mile is a little cheaper and with population increase, there will be more vehicles on the road.
Perhaps we need to measure gallons per week (GPW) instead of miles per gallon. If I walk to the store my GPW goes down. This also helps in that other major problem-healthcare costs.

Blaim the environmentalists for much of our dependance on oil when they threatened us with the 'China Syndom' back in the 1980s. Today you can blaim them for the biofuel push that is deforesting the rain forest in favor of corn fields (not to mention the high nitrogen levels in the Gulf of Mexico killing the fish). I find it interesting that the 'liberals' want us to embrace France's politics, but not their energy source - 80% of their electricity comes from nuke plants. You want to get off of our dependency on oil and produce enough wattage for your slow, low distance electric cars? Start splitting atoms.

Why is detoit so stubborn to offer what foreign manufacturers have offered for years? I have a 1988 Acura Integra with over 180,000 miles that gets 35 mpg today, and every day it is drove. Sure, I have the big 4X4 pickup, but why commute in that when and if I don't have to?

The major producers of electricity could not produce electricity without the coal brought to them by diesel powered trains that were loaded by diesel powered loaders that came from mines that produce coal using diesel powered equipment.
Sure we have hydropower dams......but not enough... and that market is to grow no more......because of fish salvation.
Electric powered automobiles??....yah...right.....you still mean fossil fuel......dont you?

Now that the Arctic ice is melting, we need to open the Arctic up to oil drilling. We need cheaper oil close to home. And because there are no trees there, we will not have to worry about the tree huggers! Sure, conservation is ok, inasmuch as we can go with it, but what we need even more is oil production! And now that the arctic ice is melting, and there's black gold in them thar' hills, lets bring in the drill rigs!

I agree that the CAFE fuel mileage calculations need to be changed to match the new EPA calculation so that there is not this disconnect between the federal law and what the consumer sees. That probably means that the same 35 mpg target could not be set, but it would be nice to be able to compare apples to apples.

"The new regulations still mean that hundreds of cars on the market today would be illegal in 2020." This sentence is ridiculous and represents irresponsible journalism. No car will be illegal in 2020. CAFE stands for Corporate AVERAGE Fuel Economy. You want to produce gas-guzzling Hummers? Fine. Just produce some fuel efficient cars too. Stop giving people who hate the environment excuses to complain about government regulation.

Predict what you want, but for those who have to drive 20,000 to 30,000 miles a year, and $4 to $5 dollars a gallon also predicted in only the next few years -- almost no one will be driving big low-mileage SUVs. By 2020 three-quarters of cars will be electric, hybrid, bio-fuel, steam, you-name-it, and only rich people or idiots will drive gas.

And when the oceans start rising, which is going to happen a lot faster than the predicted 2030 or 2050, and millions start moving inland across the globe -- gas will instantly be perceived as a threat to all life and an enemy of the state.

This new legislation is minimal. We can listen to thousands of songs from a small device, but our entire transportation system has changed less in the last 50 years than in the previous 10.