Well, It's A New Year. Let's Go Green.

Everybody seems to be talking about how beneficial electric and hybrid cars are for the environment, now I can't argue that the cars do let off less emissions and pollutants, in and of themselves. 

Did you know that about 54% of the nations electricity comes from coal fired electric plants. Now, it stands to figure that if we had more solar, hydroelectric, and wind powered plants in North America, these numbers would be a lot different. I'm just going to deal with carbon dioxide (CO2) for this little comparison, the other pollutants you find in both vehicle and power emissions are approximately the same percentages, just in far smaller numbers. The average car driven approximately 12,000 miles a year will put off about 8,700 pounds of CO2. On average CO2 emissions from electric production is 8.4+ tons per person. People that is all the power production combined, coal fired, natural gas fired, oil fired, hydroelectric, solar, and wind power combined. That was figured based on 2.6+ billion tons of CO2 put off per year that the EPA admits to, divided by the population of the United States of America (including every man, woman, and child) per the U.S. Census Bureau of 312+ million people. Now, I'm not a math professor, but my math shows that the average car puts out about 4.3 tons of CO2 a year, where as as I mention earlier all electric power averages out to about 8.4 tons per person a year, nearly twice as much. Now, granted coal fired only accounts for about 54% of all electric produced, if the other 46% was totally green and renewable electric that would still be an average of about 4.5 tons of CO2 from electric, still more that your average car produces. Also, according to the EPA, a compressed natural gas (CNG) vehicle reduces carbon monoxide emissions 90%-97, reduces carbon dioxide emissions 25%, reduces nitrogen oxide emissions 35%-60%, potentially reduces non-methane hydrocarbon emissions 50%-75%, emits fewer toxic and carcinogenic pollutants, emits little or no particulate matter, eliminates evaporative emissions. Personally I'm all for CNG vehicles. Last I checked, I could get my truck converted to dual fuel (gas/CNG) for about $3,000, but when I can fill up for about $1.40 per equivalent gallon, it'll come out in the wash. And, the price of the conversion may have come down since I last checked. Now, for you self righteous Prius Owners, well... you could have had a V8.

Well, I'm done talking about it, just wanted to put a little food for thought out there, just a little FYI.

Sources

U.S. Department Of Energy

  U.S. Energy Information Administration
http://www.eia.gov/electricity/annual/

Thinkers Bebo
http://thinkersbebo.com/Articles/pollution_stats.htm

Farron Cousins – DESMOGINBOG.COM
http://www.desmogblog.com/north-american-air-pollution-statistics-will-take-your-breath-away

Scientific America
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=electric-cars-cost-per-charge

Extraordinary Road Trip
http://www.extraordinaryroadtrip.org/pdfs/poundPollution.pdf

nutramed.com
http://www.nutramed.com/environment/cars.htm

Calculate Your Carbon Footprint
http://www.greenprogress.com/carbon_footprint_calculator.php

U.S. Census Bureau

http://www.census.gov/population/www/popclockus.html

Union of Concerned Scientists
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_energy/coalvswind/c01.html

EPA CNG
http://www.afdc.energy.gov/afdc/vehicles/natural_gas_emissions.html

ONG CNG Vehicle Stats
http://www.oklahomanaturalgas.com/en/saveenergyandmoney/naturalgasvehicles.aspx

Just A Couple Of Pictures.

This is my dog Rig, was told he was part Heeler.

I guarantee he's pure mutt, and at least three quarters retarded.

His parrot impression.





Quotes 12-25-11

Merry Damn Christmas!!!



"If someone wants to be a part of your life, they will make an effort to be in it, so don't bother reserving a space in your heart for someone who doesn't make an effort to stay."  
  -unknown

Happiness is a way station between too little and too much.

- Channing Pollock

I am beginning to learn that it is the sweet, simple things of life which are the real ones after all. - Laura Ingalls Wilder

Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday.

- Dale Carnegie

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

- Marianne Williamson

Even if you're on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there.

- Will Rogers

To find a fault is easy; to do better may be difficult.

- Plutarch

When I do things without any explanation, but just with spontaneity... I can be sure that I am right.

- Federico Fellini

Nothing lowers the level on conversation more than raising the voice.

- Stanley Horowitz

If you don't run your own life, someone else will.

- John Atkinson

I can be changed by what happens to me. But I refuse to be reduced by it.

- Maya Angelou

Tell me, I'll forget. Show me, I may remember. But involve me, and I'll understand.

- Chinese Proverb

Courage is not the towering oak that sees storms come and go; it is the fragile blossom that opens in the snow.

- Alice Mackenzie Swaim

There is a transcendent power in example. We reform others unconsciously when we walk uprightly.

- Anne Sophie Swetchine

If you don't know where you are going, you might wind up someplace else.

- Yogi Berra

Never mistake knowledge for wisdom. One helps you make a living, the other helps you make a life.

- Sandra Carey

You've got to be the best person you can be in your life.

- Jeff Gordon

If you don't make mistakes, you're not working on hard enough problems. And that's a big mistake.

- F. Wilezek

A bend in the road is not the end of the road...unless you fail to make the turn.

- Unknown

Horses, The Other, Bigger Puppies.

Indian in the barn.

Indian

My oldest daughters horse Eilean (Because she leans on ya)

My lovely wife, Emily and her horse Sedona

My youngest daughters horse Jazzabell

My stubborn ass horse Hell's Angel.



And, why old wooden posts, barbed wire, shorts, and a three hundred pound man don't mix. lol

After All

Well, after talking, debating, sulking, thinking, and a lot of beer and cigars. The wife and I have decided to give it another go. Things are still pretty rough, words were said, keys were thrown, whiskey was drank, and midgets tortured. But, as is my belief to leave the past the past, I will be letting that sleeping dog lie. And, I would like to give thanks to everybody that responded to my last post, your comments are always much appreciated and welcomed.


We got settled in at our new place. Cheaper rent, more land, and three free horses. Nothing to bitch about there at all. I plan on getting some pics of the place and horses up a bit later. But, for now, I have to go fight some dogs to see what I have to do to keep them in the fence.