Palm | Kelapa Sawit

Mid-life Crisis hits.

And Dad drives home in a brand new red convertible sports car with a Porsche emblem on it. (Yeah, yeah, I know. Not likely in this economy… but help me out here, it’s a hypothetical situation…)

Mom is having a royal cow, but cool, calm, collected and fuel-savvy you...
You say, “It gets almost thirty miles per gallon on the highway.”

There are a lot of sports cars these days that will instantly give you a wicked smile as you drive along the coast with the top down. But what will make that smile widen as you go is the lack of gasoline-involved guilt as you press down on the accelerator.

Here are a few beauts that get pretty darn good gas mileage for being sports cars.


The 2008 Porsche Cayman (City: 20, Hwy: 29, Combined: 23)


The 2009 Audi TT Coupe (City: 23, Hwy: 31, Combined: 26)

The 2008 BMW Z4 (City: 19, Hwy: 28, Combined: 22)

The 2009 Mini Cooper S (City: 26, Hwy: 34, Combined: 29)

The 2009 Honda Civic SI (City: 26, Hwy: 29, Combined: 24)

And for you motorcycle fans…

A bonus.

The 2009 Ducati 1198 averages about 28 mpg.

The Story



As we all know there is a serious effort by many drivers on the road today to increase the average MPG of their existing vehicle. Many drivers are attempting to do this out of "eco-guilt", the guilt that they feel as a result of driving their car, while others do it as a means to save money. Either way the desire is there and for the sake of economics we'll call this desire "demand", which can be defined, "as the willingness and ability of a consumer to purchase a given product in a given frame of time.."



Now lets look at this same situation from another point of view. Capitalism can be defined as, "an economic and social system in which most trade and industry are privately controlled for profit rather than by the state." Since we live in a capitalistic society we can assume that there is someone out there somewhere who will attempt to take advantage of this opportunity to make money. As we have done above, we will call this “supply” for economics' sake.

Finally, elasticity, "refers to how supply and demand respond to various factors, including price as well as other stochastic principles". Applying this definition to our scenario, we can interpret the word stochastic to represent the unpredictable behavior of the consumer.

Economic Consequences

So, as the demand increases market rules suggest that the supply will also adjust to meet that demand. However, the suppliers are at an advantage because the false sense of urgency created by the media has simulated a highly inelastic environment. The media have compounded the publics need to feel as though they are doing their part to save the environment. Additionally, the economic strife that we have run headlong into over the last 18 months has caused people to go to ridiculous lengths to save money. This is often times taken to the extreme level of spending exceeding saving for the purpose of saving.

The arising problem lies amongst the individuals and companies that are entering into this newly developing market, of modifying existing vehicles to improve the gas mileage, for the sake of earning a profit at any expense. As you scour the web for ideas and gadgets that may help you in your adventure to reduce the MPG of your vehicle you may notice many “Miracle” gadgets or ideas that promise outlandish results. However, many of these gadgets and ideas are not as miraculous as they claim. In fact, many of them have no benefit what so ever.

Buyer Beware

If you go to the links that I will post below you will learn of just a few sources that have given a dose of reality to the preposterous claims of some of these ideas. Unfortunately, despite the public information that these products don't work, many of them are still on the market and the companies still continue to sell their products despite understanding that they are for the most part worthless.

Therefore, I propose that before any of us go out on a limb to purchase some kind of gadget or try some kind of crazy sounding idea to reduce our average MPG, that we should do some substantial research and understand what we are getting into.

Links:

http://www.popularmechanics.com/automotive/new_cars/1802932.html

and

http://www.fuelsaving.info/debunk.htm

While we are on the subject of greenwashing, let’s have a conversation about the Big Three automakers in Detroit that are comprised of General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler. Recently they have made the news with the continued failure of their companies to make a profit, especially in this current economic recession. Now that banks have been bailed out by the Treasury Department, these automakers are hopping on the bandwagon and asking for financial help from Congress.

Well, not quite hopping on the bandwagon…more like flying in on their private jets. Once news of this fantastic faux pas hit the airwaves, the back peddling began and the CEOs made their next trip to DC in their companies new “green” cars. All of this hubbub aside, the “green” record of these Big Three leaves much to be desired.

Ford has designed a specific website to demonstrate it’s record of sustainability and willingness to develop more fuel efficient cars. At one point in the site, an article states that they have designed the goal of reducing CO2 emissions by 30% by 2030. However, this wonderful claim is undermined by the fact that this is a legislative mandate that the company is being forced to meet. Yet, Ford manages to spin this situation into a marketing gimmick designed to convince the consumer that Ford is deeply committed to “climate stabilization”.

All of the focus in this Sustainability Report is around light-duty vehicles, instead of the development of better technology for the true polluters, the heavy-duty industrial vehicles. Think semi-trucks, people. By Ford’s own admission, light-duty cars and trucks account for only 11% of all CO2 emissions. While we all want better fuel-efficient cars for the consumers, very little is being done about the really big problem posed by massive scale freight transportation. You think Ford doesn’t produce big rigs? Think again. Check out the Ford F-650 or perhaps you like bigger, say F-800 series. These are the commercial vehicles that Ford has produced for the transportation industry and they manage to get a whopping 15 miles per gallon in the best-case scenario.

Don’t let the Big Three pull you in with their claims on environmental concern. If they really meant what they said, we would have had 40-50 mile per gallon cars ten years ago. This is just another case of greenwashed marketing.

- Gina Mason

Sources:

Ford Sustainability Report 2007/8

Ford - SourceWatch


Commercial Trucks - Ford

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