Fairweather Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 A recent hate-filled 'anti-SUV' thread here on cc.com got me ta' thinking.... Which of these is easier on the 'ol petrol?..... OR..... Maximum Take-off Weight Wing Span Overall Length Vertical Fin Height Cabin Width Wing Area Average Cruise Speed Cruise Altitude Maximum Fuel Capacity Range With Full Payload Freight Capacity Volumetric Payload Maximum Thrust Engines 412,769kg/910,000lb 64.94metres/213.06ft 70.40metres/230.97ft 18.96metres/62.20ft 6.10metres/20.01ft 525sq m/5650sq ft 920kph/572mph 29-43,000ft 227,572litres/60,105gallons 12,971km/8,060miles 10,976kg/24,198lb 48,208kg/106,280lb 276kN/62,100 lb CF6-80C2B5F Wow! Did you know a round trip flight to New Zealand will pump aver 104,000 gallons of Jet-A exhaust into the atmosphere? (w/o the benefit of a catalytic converter, even!) Anyway, Have a nice trip JoshK. Quote
cracked Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 Drive that Hummer to NZ. Do the same for a few hundred people. Figure out how many tons of pollutants are released. Figure out how many tons of pollutants are released by one flight on that 747. Let the results speak for themselves. Quote
EWolfe Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 Fairweather. My wife recently did a bit of research to deter her mother from nagging her about going to France for Xmas. The reason she ended up using was that one one-way trans-atlantic flight releases as much carbon monoxide into the atmosphere as a year driving an SUV. Quote
cj001f Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 Funny. I thought this thread was going to be about all the cool, fuel efficent diesel SUV's they have there, and all the cool, fuel efficent 4wd wagons. Of course it should be noted that Premium gas (required for all those fancy German AWD wagons) requires more energy to produce = more pollution/per gallon. Then again 250gallons per person ain't that much (thats 2500 miles in a Hummer) Quote
cracked Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 This piqued my curiosity, so I did a rough calculation. A 747 can go about 6100 miles w/out refueling. Max fuel capacity is 48,000 gallons, typical passenger load is 400 people. A Hummer gets roughly 10mpg, though it's impossible to find an "official" figure. Since most Hummers carry one person, occasionally two, it would take 610 gallons of gas to drive two people in a Hummer those 6100 miles to where the 747 lands. So that's 300 or so gallons per person. Compare to the 747: 120 gallons per person for the same distance. So the 747 is 2.5 times as efficient! Quote
minx Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 i love how people who drive SUVs feel the need to find ways to justify them. Quote
vegetablebelay Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 Well I drive a full sized SUV and feel no need to justify it. It's funny some people would judge me without knowing a thing about what I need it for. Quote
scott_harpell Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 fucking hippies. have you looked at the amount of pollutants that come out of running a lawn mower for an hour? how about comming out of those old ass subarus that you are all carting around? Quote
cracked Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 All the Hummers I've seen were transporting a 30 year old yuppie chick around Bellvue from mall to mall. I think for this purpose there are more appropriate vehicles. IMHO, for the vast majority of people there are better choices than SUVs. Fuck the environment, I wouldn't buy one becaue they cost too much, their gas mileage is less than stellar, they aren't any safer than other cars, and I don't spend huge amounts of time on jeep trails where they might be appropriate. Drive an SUV, I don't care, when gas prices get high enough people will switch to smaller cars. Just like in Europe. Quote
scott_harpell Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 fucking light rail! how can there be so many hippies in this town and no light rail!?! everyone has one but us! WTF? double the fucking gas tax and put that shit in! Quote
cracked Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 scott_harpell said: fucking light rail! how can there be so many hippies in this town and no light rail!?! everyone has one but us! WTF? double the fucking gas tax and put that shit in! Oh, great, Scotty's tripping again..... Quote
scott_harpell Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 cracked said: scott_harpell said: fucking light rail! how can there be so many hippies in this town and no light rail!?! everyone has one but us! WTF? double the fucking gas tax and put that shit in! Oh, great, Scotty's tripping again..... its true damnit! even 3rd world cities have this shit. double the gas tax... or better yet... tripple it!!! it will solve a lot of problems ranging from health care, to budget constraints to traffic. Quote
iain Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 Right on scott. Money's the only thing that gets idiots to listen.. $5 or more a gallon (for non-commercial use) will get some hybrids on the road and people in the bus and on bikes. Driving should be an event, not a day-to-day like brushing your teeth or something. Quote
cracked Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 iain said: Right on scott. Money's the only thing that gets idiots to listen.. $5 or more a gallon (for non-commercial use) will get some hybrids on the road and people in the bus and on bikes. Driving should be an event, not a day-to-day like brushing your teeth or something. That's a bit of a blanket statement. While I agree that we tend to drive more than necessary, there are people who drive a lot because they HAVE to. Those who have a 30 minute commute to work, for example. For those people, driving is a daily occurence because it is a necessity. People will change their actions only when there is an incentive to do so, and pollution isn't much of an incentive because it is a long term effect. So yes, it comes down to money, once again. And I still have no clue what Scott is trying to say. Quote
Fejas Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 Sweet dood take a bus up pole creek to climb the sisters this spring... yeah right on! Or take the bus to wolf mountain to crag this summer... Quote
iain Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 if the price for gas is steep enough, people will move to avoid 30 minute commutes. That's still in biking range too. Yeah it sounds pretty naive and simplistic but it seems to work in England, for example. When I was living there you really had to think hard about if you needed to drive somewhere or not, and this was out in the northern country where distances can be far. Quote
minx Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 vegetablebelay said: Well I drive a full sized SUV and feel no need to justify it. It's funny some people would judge me without knowing a thing about what I need it for. veggie you're right that was an overly broad statement: i love how MANY people who drive SUVs feel the need to justify it. Quote
iain Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 I'm willing to pay the extra to drive to Pole Creek. I am well-enough off to be able to afford expensive luxuries like climbing, so I'm happy to give that extra money, esp if it is somehow earmarked directly to improve transportation. Maybe I'm just a communist though Quote
iain Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 It doesn't have to be all-or-nothing either. If people who could commute to work by bike just did it once a week, the numbers start to add up. I'm a vegetarian but I still wear leather climbing boots and petroleum-based clothes. Quote
cracked Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 Leather??? You cow-killer! At least I eat the cow too, while you're just being wasteful. Quote
Ratboy Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 I drive an SUV because I need one when I'm in the mountains. I don't need one in town, obviosuly, but I can't afford 2 cars, so I just have the one. It is one of the smaller ones so it gets better mileage (21mpg or so), but that's still pretty low. I'd rather see the mandatory fuel efficiency increased than a gas tax. I also think there's an untapped market for high-efficiency SUVs that's not being met by the auto companies. I know I'd buy one as long as it wasn't outrageously priced. Quote
Fejas Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 During the late spring to early fall I ride my bike to work 2-3 time a week and ride it to friends houses, bars, ect.. But in the past 15 months I've also put 30,000 miles on my 4 wheel drive V-8 pickup... Thats still alot of driving... Quote
iain Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 yeah I was just throwing out an idea, not saying it's perfect or anything. I don't know anything about econ. if it was not apparent already. Just sick of seeing clogged freeways all over Portland and people don't seem to be thinking outside the box at all. Just sit in traffic not able to do anything. At least on a bus you can read or talk, etc. Tho' I have seen people reading while commuting too Quote
Jim Posted December 15, 2003 Posted December 15, 2003 Did my usual bike commute - 10 mi to work, long loop 20 mi home. Decent workout. I don't buy the "I need the mondo 4x4 rig for the mountains gig". It's not like your driving to base camp for Christ's sake. There's ROADS to the trailheads. I use 4x4s for work all the time on roads you don't want to take the shiny SUVs you see on I5. I have a more fuel effcient car for personal use. I climb and ski a lot and can only remember a couple of times I've had to walk a bit futher to get to a trail head because of poor road conditions. You need a monster truck to get to Steven's Pass in the snow!? Yea right. Quote
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