A Simple Solution to a Worldwide Crisis

[donbuggy]

...Im really considering Vios instead of buying an Adventure diesel.

Noooo! Say it ain't so! With all due respect sir, why not buy a handcrafted vehicle from a local fabricator?

[uls]

hahaha

amazing

the guy who is the NUMBER 1 CHEERLEADER for Pinoy motor vehicle builders/fabricators wants to buy a Toyota (second choice Mistubishi)

[ehnriko]

Me I'm so tempted to bring out my Warp Drive Space Vehicle. But I will just keep this secret.... Mr. Spock wont be happy about it.

Affirmative... and I think that's funny.

[jpdm]

Noooo! Say it ain't so! With all due respect sir, why not buy a handcrafted vehicle from a local fabricator?

We just bought a nice AUV and an OTJ made by a well-known Cavite fabricator.

Vios and Adventure are locally assembled vehicles.

[uls]

but the earnings are remitted to Toyota and Mitsu headquarters in Japan

[jpdm]

There are many things you can do in your daily life that can have an effect on your immediate surroundings, and on places as far away as Antarctica. Here is a list of things that you can do to make a difference. Reduce your own adding on to this problem!


Buy a Fuel Efficient Car, Carpool When You Can, Inflate Your Tires, Change Your Air Filter. Reduce Garbage, Use Recycled Paper, Buy Minimally Packaged Goods, Unplug Un-used Electronics. Plant a Tree, Use Compact Fluorescent Bulbs, Fill the Dishwasher, Adjust Your Thermostat, Check Your Water-heater, Change the AC Filter, Take Shorter Showers.



Install a Low-Flow Showerhead, Buy Products Locally, Buy Energy Certificates, Insulate Your Water Heater, Replace Old Appliances, Weatherize Your Home, Use a Push Mower, Put on a Sweater, Insulate Your Home, Air Dry Your Clothes, Switch to a Tankless Water Heater. Switch to Double Pane Windows. Buy Organic Food, Bring Cloth Bags to the Market.
[SIZE=2] [/SIZE]

[SIZE=2]from:

[/SIZE][SIZE=2][SIZE=3]Water Everywhere[/SIZE]

by Dahli Aspillera
Editorial
Malaya
September 30, 2009
[/SIZE] [SIZE=3]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=3]Dahli_a*yahoo.com[/SIZE]

Simple solutions to a world-wide crisis...

[ehnriko]

JP, I agree with ULS about the profits are brought to Japan if you buy a new JJ (Japanese Junk).

It would be more sensible to keep you old car and recondition it so it will be a lot - better than brand new.

I say this for the following practicalities:

1. Old cars (not brand new in this respect) will not depreciate as fast as a speeding bullet.

2. Oldies don't need a stupid comprehensive insurance coverage that does not cover Acts of God. If your old car drowns in the flood, compared to a new one, both cars are basically the same in value... good as junks.

3. Restoring or reconditioning or pimping an old car gives you a Huge increase in value added factor on an old car.... Much Much more than a NEW Car with so much blings. No matter what pimping you do on a new car, it will not become anymore expensive or valuable as another brand new car without the blinging.

4. AN old car with renewed bushings and suspension works...will outlast a Brand new car 15 times! Bring an old car in CRUVEN for a complete polyurethane bushings and rubbers replacements for the underpart will cost you about P30,000. You can even have your shocks converted for an adjustable ride feel system.

5. In essence... an old car - can already be considered a Pinoy car if it doesn't make the CASA's and After-Market Sales Departments of the manufacturer any centavo richer by the day.

If you are able to enjoy the whole service life of your car without paying the troll so to speak... and instead, able to keep it maintained by adopting an alternative maintenance program - serviced by Pinoys - with parts or alternative systems from Pinoys... locally. Then, your car becomes converted to a Pinoy Car in essence.

How does this equate as a simple solution to a Global Crisis?...

One of the reasons why there is such a crisis is due to the unbalanced distribution of wealth... which can be blamed to no other but the masses themselves.

Ika nga ni Rizal... ang Sakit ng Lipunan ay... Walang mang aapi kung walang magpapa api.

Nagpapa api ang masa sa pamamagitan ng pag suporta sa consumerismo. Ito and paraan ng mga capitalista upang mapanatili ang masa sa ilalim ng kanilang kapangyarihan.

No need to elaborate on this... just keep your awareness heightened all the time as to who are we going to patronize.

I say, you dont need to get rid of your old JJ in order to become nationalistic.

IMH Observation.... Keeping an old car empowers an individual. Making it run perfectly well using local resources will truly empower him more.

Buying a Brand New Foreign Made Car is the is actually an Enslaving situation... I dont know if you are aware of this?... I have been an owner of Brand New Cars in the past and I think - it was the most stupid decision ever made.

Spending you Millions on brand new cars is like throwing away your guns and ammo.

I regret selling my old old cars that can outperform brand new cars in Comfort, ride and safety as well as economy.

My 1971 VW 411 AT has a ride similar to My 1980 Renault 2.0 M/T... both have enough power and makes between 7 to 10 km per liter (rough estimates/ I dont normally measure my FC's those days). The ride and comfort I had with those cars is much better than my 1971 MB 250CE A/T. which has a ride feel similar to my 1963 Jaguar XJS.

Anyway, those cars were made for nothing but that... definitely nothing to do with power to weight ratio efficiencies.

Nowadays, cars are valued for their efficiency and for their greenability. The greener they are... the more pricey they get. But why believe that only the Big companies are capable of making cars green?

The CASA will not make a new car any greener than it already is... The fact that it makes no smoke is not a sign of beeing green. The worse gas that have caused the severe weather we are having is invisible.

If for any reason why you are getting rid of your old JJ is because you just want to drive a fresher looking car... Believe me... You will enjoy it more if you just pimp it using locally sourced technology and products. Bring it ATOY Body Kits or the like, put in RiCeY seats and interior... Swap your Mags with Light weight mags to get more Fuel Economy. Buy Westlake tyres - Dunlop Quality for half the price... (China made - better than buying Japanese made in this respect).

Repaint or Washover paint it with a lighter toned color to help in cooling the interior and it also makes your car less contributory to greenhouse affect.

If you notice - Solar Water Heaters have dark painted surfaces under the heat exchanger coils or tubings... this is to retain heat. Darker Cars absorb heat much more than lighter colored ones. Which makes your AC work lesser for that matter.

[A121]

OT: New cars are designed to absorb impact in helping to protect the occupants and the driver. (for the vios, of course)

[ehnriko]

OT: New cars are designed to absorb impact in helping to protect the occupants and the driver. (for the vios, of course)

Even older makes are designed with Crumple Zones. aka Energy Absorption System.

Many Cars built in the 80's to the 90's have soft ends... the materials used for the fenders are much lighter than the ones around the cockpit

But driving a 70's made car nowadays is a lot safer since all the other cars around it will absorb all the impact, and the older car will remain more intact.

For example 1960-s to 70's MOPARS or Stangs.

[A121]

But driving a 70's made car nowadays is a lot safer since all the other cars around it will absorb all the impact, and the older car will remain more intact.

OT: I am not sure about this. Crumple zones are really important.

http://www.autoblog.com/2009/09/26/p...bu-bel-air-cr/

[ghosthunter]

Even older makes are designed with Crumple Zones. aka Energy Absorption System.

Many Cars built in the 80's to the 90's have soft ends... the materials used for the fenders are much lighter than the ones around the cockpit

But driving a 70's made car nowadays is a lot safer since all the other cars around it will absorb all the impact, and the older car will remain more intact.

For example 1960-s to 70's MOPARS or Stangs.

Not really. The car might be more "sturdy" but it just means the occupants will sustain a higher deceleration force upon impact. That means higher chance of injuries as compared to modern designs.

Modern designed cars are meant to crumple upon impact to absorb the energy of impact, minimizing the deceleration forces that are passed onto the passengers inside the vehicle.

It is a myth that older cars are safer in an accident. Even the old "safe" Volvo sedans of the 80s are much less safe than the lastest Korean car on the market.

[ghosthunter]

Here is a video where Fifth Gear (UK-based car TV show) compares the crash safety of two cars, a 15 year old Volvo and a 3 year old Renault.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k3ygYUYia9I"]YouTube - Fifth Gear Crash-test Volvo 940 estate vs Renault Modus[/ame]

Fifth Gear Crash-test Volvo 940 estate vs Renault Modus

They crash a 15 year old Volvo 940 estate, for many people the epitome of a solid and safe family car, into a 3 year old Renault Modus, notable as the first small car to earn a maximum 5 Star safety rating from the European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP).

[marg]

But driving a 70's made car nowadays is a lot safer since all the other cars around it will absorb all the impact, and the older car will remain more intact.

Your mouth is moving without your brain knowing about it. You obviously don't know what you are talking about.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YRbwTutw-Hk&feature=fvw"]YouTube - 1970's VW Beetle and 1970's Gen. 1 Golf[/ame]
70's VW Beetle and 70's Gen. 1 GOLF Crash Test

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YHp1GAFQzto"]YouTube - 2009 CHEVY MALIBU vs. Vintage MALIBU[/ame]
New CHEVY MALIBU vs. Old CHEVY MALIBU, the guy in the new car was expected to walk away from the accident while the one in the old car would have died.

[Benji_DCP]

The crash test videos are very informative, considering it was sponsored by Insurance companies. You can clearly conclude that older cars comprehensive/collision insurance premiums would be very costly in the US due to the high risk involve.

[ghosthunter]

The crash test videos are very informative, considering it was sponsored by Insurance companies. You can clearly conclude that older cars comprehensive/collision insurance premiums would be very costly in the US due to the high risk involve.

Er... wrong. The one done by Fifth Gear UK was for a TV program. No insurance companies included.

[architect]

Prius Outdoes Hummer in Environmental Damage – By Chris Demorro

The Toyota Prius has become the flagship car for those in our society so environmentally conscious that they are willing to spend a premium to show the world how much they care. Unfortunately for them, their ultimate green car is the source of some of the worst pollution in North America; it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer.

Before we delve into the seedy underworld of hybrids, you must first understand how a hybrid works. For this, we will use the most popular hybrid on the market, the Toyota Prius.

The Prius is powered by not one, but two engines: a standard 76 horsepower, 1.5-liter gas engine found in most cars today and a battery- powered engine that deals out 67 horsepower and a whooping 295ft/lbs of torque, below 2000 revolutions per minute. Essentially, the Toyota Synergy Drive system, as it is so called, propels the car from a dead stop to up to 30mph. This is where the largest percent of gas is consumed. As any physics major can tell you, it takes more energy to get an object moving than to keep it moving. The battery is recharged through the braking system, as well as when the gasoline engine takes over anywhere north of 30mph. It seems like a great energy efficient and environmentally sound car, right?

You would be right if you went by the old government EPA estimates, which netted the Prius an incredible 60 miles per gallon in the city and 51 miles per gallon on the highway. Unfortunately for Toyota, the government realized how unrealistic their EPA tests were, which consisted of highway speeds limited to 55mph and acceleration of only 3.3 mph per second. The new tests which affect all 2008 models give a much more realistic rating with highway speeds of 80mph and acceleration of 8mph per second. This has dropped the Prius EPA down by 25 percent to an average of 45mpg. This now puts the Toyota within spitting distance of cars like the Chevy Aveo, which costs less then half what the Prius costs.

However, if that was the only issue with the Prius, I wouldn't be writing this article. It gets much worse.

Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius. As already noted, the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the dead zone around the plant to test moon rovers. The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles.

The plant is the source of all the nickel found in a Prius battery and Toyota purchases 1,000 tons annually. Dubbed the Superstack, the plague-factory has spread sulfur dioxide across northern Ontario, becoming every environmentalist nightmare.

The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside, said Canadian Greenpeace energy-coordinator David Martin during an interview with Mail, a British-based newspaper.

All of this would be bad enough in and of itself; however, the journey to make a hybrid doesn't end there. The nickel produced by this disastrous plant is shipped via massive container ship to the largest nickel refinery in Europe. From there, the nickel hops over to China to produce nickel foam. From there, it goes to Japan. Finally, the completed batteries are shipped to the United States, finalizing the around-the-world trip required to produce a single Prius battery. Are these not sounding less and less like environmentally sound cars and more like a farce?

Wait, I haven't even got to the best part yet.

When you pool together all the combined energy it takes to drive and build a Toyota Prius, the flagship car of energy fanatics, it takes almost 50 percent more energy than a Hummer – the Prius arch nemesis.

Through a study by CNW Marketing called “Dust to Dust" the total combined energy is taken from all the electrical, fuel, transportation, materials (metal, plastic, etc) and hundreds of other factors over the expected lifetime of a vehicle. The Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles – the expected lifespan of the Hybrid.

The Hummer, on the other hand, costs a more fiscal $1.95 per mile to put on the road over an expected lifetime of 300,000 miles. That means the Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy doing it.

So, if you are really an environmentalist – ditch the Prius. Instead, buy one of the most economical cars available – a Toyota Scion xB. The Scion only costs a paltry $0.48 per mile to put on the road. If you are still obsessed over gas mileage – buy a Chevy Aveo and fix that lead foot.

One last fun fact for you: it takes five years to offset the premium price of a Prius. Meaning, you have to wait 60 months to save any money over a non-hybrid car because of lower gas expenses.

It may interest you to know that the above article was written by a staff writer of a school paper of a small town school - Central Connecticut State University.

The article has since been debated in several blogs and forums, such as the ones below, with several of Demorro's "facts" being disputed -

http://forums.storagereview.net/inde...howtopic=24978

http://www.greenhybrid.com/discuss/f...part-ii-18789/

http://wallofcheese.blogspot.com/200...mental_03.html

In addition, Demorro has been accused of plagiarizing from the article below -
http://cnwmr.com/nss-folder/automoti...Commentary.pdf

[jpdm]

I will only take the article seriously if it was written in a scientific journal or academic journal (peer reviewed), but definitely its not.

Also, Im not comfortable with his sources i.e CNW Marketing

[architect]

I will only take the article seriously if it was written in a scientific journal or academic journal (peer reviewed), but definitely its not.

Also, Im not comfortable with his sources i.e CNW Marketing

*doc JP

AFAIK, Spinella has not refuted rumors alleging CNW Marketing to be funded by GM. In addition, he has steadfastly refused to publish his research methodology in garnering facts for the Dust to Dust report - despite numerous requests from publications such as Slate, which picked up on said report.

His refusal is incredulous, given his credibility is at stake and that CNW's supposed profitability is anchored on subscriptions. Without credibility, the company will logically lose its subscribers.

[ghosthunter]

I will only take the article seriously if it was written in a scientific journal or academic journal (peer reviewed), but definitely its not.

Also, Im not comfortable with his sources i.e CNW Marketing

I find this ironic coming from someone who likes to use YOUTUBE videos as proof of a working concept.

More over, the comparison analysis of the e-jeepney vs regular jeepney is pretty much similar if only not as detailed as the prius vs hummer.

[Gerbo]

So much have been said. But in my opinion, really, a simple but difficult way is to go back in time and change our ways how we do things.

In essence, go the Amish way.

The human species have been so dominant that we have crafted the way to the future of this planet.

It's now a duel between nature vs. anything "man-made". Time will come some of us will leave Earth because it will become inhospitable.

In the name of development, we become poor stewards of the resources we are given.