OT: how far we've come?, 35 years of non-progress Options

[lapuwali]

Hybrids are the buzzword now, and people marvel at how the latest Civic hybrid gets 50mpg.

Autoweek had a short article on the early Civics, which got 55mpg with a carb. 1.2L, 50hp, 1500lbs. Sure, they were slow, but they were described as still being fun to drive. The way most people drive modern Civics, I doubt they'd notice if they suddenly only had 50hp.

(yes, I know emissions are much better, it's quieter, it crashes better, yada, yada...)

[fiid]

Biodiesel is a good thing IMHO. It's good because it's almost exactly diesel, but has lower particulate emissions and it has a zero carbon footprint.

That doesn't mean that it's not emitting carbon (CO2) when it burns. All it means is that the carbon it's emitting was captured by a plant from the atmosphere within the last say 10 years.

The problem with fossil fuels is they are putting carbon into the atmosphere that used to be buried in the ground. The level of carbon in the air at the moment is the highest it has been in 650,000 years or so. It's probably not a good thing.

Most diesels will actually run on straight corn oil if it's heated a little bit, which does actually mean you can run on stuff stolen from behind McDonalds.