Okay, so, we've all heard the talk: we should cut down on fossil fuel consumption because it causes environmental damage, it's toxic, it accumulates in human habitats and is having an effect on the overall warming of the world. Plus, we only have a limited supply of it, so, stretch it out as long as we can.

Why?

One of the main reasons we don't have more use of other sources of energy is because petroleum-based fuels still exist in reasonable quantities and (for now) are still affordable (until China and India REALLY get going).

So, I'm changing my car in a way that I would encourage all of you to do. No, I'm not buying a hybrid or a smart car, but an original 1972 Cadillac ElDorado with the V-8 engine that got 10 gallons to the mile. If more of us continued to drive classic cars like this (though, I admit, a modern SUV is a good second choice) then we'll have global oil reserves depleted by February and can finally concentrate on renewable, cleaner energy sources!

Who's with me?

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&gt; Okay, so, we've all heard the talk: we should cut down on fossil fuel
&gt; consumption because it causes environmental damage, it's toxic, it accumulates
&gt; in human habitats and is having an effect on the overall warming of the world.
&gt; Plus, we only have a limited supply of it, so, stretch it out as long as we
&gt; can.
&gt;
&gt; Why?
&gt;
&gt; One of the main reasons we don't have more use of other sources of energy is
&gt; because petroleum-based fuels still exist in reasonable quantities and (for
&gt; now) are still affordable (until China and India REALLY get going).
&gt;
&gt; So, I'm changing my car in a way that I would encourage all of you to do. No,
&gt; I'm not buying a hybrid or a smart car, but an original 1972 Cadillac ElDorado
&gt; with the V-8 engine that got 10 gallons to the mile. If more of us continued
&gt; to drive classic cars like this (though, I admit, a modern SUV is a good
&gt; second choice) then we'll have global oil reserves depleted by February and
&gt; can finally concentrate on renewable, cleaner energy sources!

Wrong economic model...........the price will just keep going up until you park your Caddie, cause you can't afford the gas.

&gt;
&gt; Who's with me?
&gt;
&gt; <IMG> SRC="http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats.php?userID=376&amp;prj=4&amp;trans=off"&gt;<BR>
&gt; <A> HREF="http://climateapps2.oucs.ox.ac.uk/cpdnboinc/team_display.php?teamid=1886"&gt;<IMG> SRC="http://www.fandom.ca/bucket/bcboincrib.png"&gt;</A>
&gt;

&gt; Okay, so, we've all heard the talk: we should cut down on fossil fuel
&gt; consumption because it causes environmental damage, it's toxic, it accumulates
&gt; in human habitats and is having an effect on the overall warming of the world.
&gt; Plus, we only have a limited supply of it, so, stretch it out as long as we
&gt; can.
&gt;
&gt; Why?
&gt;
&gt; One of the main reasons we don't have more use of other sources of energy is
&gt; because petroleum-based fuels still exist in reasonable quantities and (for
&gt; now) are still affordable (until China and India REALLY get going).
&gt;
&gt; So, I'm changing my car in a way that I would encourage all of you to do. No,
&gt; I'm not buying a hybrid or a smart car, but an original 1972 Cadillac ElDorado
&gt; with the V-8 engine that got 10 gallons to the mile. If more of us continued
&gt; to drive classic cars like this (though, I admit, a modern SUV is a good
&gt; second choice) then we'll have global oil reserves depleted by February and
&gt; can finally concentrate on renewable, cleaner energy sources!
&gt;
&gt; Who's with me?

I'm with you (though perhaps not all the way).

China, India, Brazil, et al need to be industrialized to bring them into the 21st century and to try to minimize (and hopefully eradicate) poverty. There is relative poverty in the G8 countries but it is still (generally) a better quality of life than than living in poverty in a third world country.

I say we should continue to use fossil fuels until something better comes along.

I like the idea of developing the technology to be able to use <b>water</b> or <b>vegetable oil</b> as fuels. Growing vegetables I think would be quite good for both being a replenishable (re)source and for extracting carbon from the atmosphere, hell why not grow vegetables in desert areas to aid in the greening of the planet.

Any body have better ideas?

<b>


Team ARSE
<img src="http://tinyurl.com/9zdrd" /> + SetiClassic: 205
Arthur C Clarke</b>
The only way to find the limits of the possible is by going beyond them into the impossible
For every expert there is an equal and opposite expert

I think any plan to burn up fossil fuels early will cause problems. There is no replacement fuel source as yet. Energy is costed on the basis of its rivals so gas prices generally follow oil prices etc. Large rises in demand will cause price increases and it will be the most vulnerable that will suffer....not the V8 driver. Eventually China would make war on us to get hold of whatever energy sources remained and mankind would be doomed....as it already is.....as a result. My solution would be to place a 25% tax on all fossil fuel consumption on a hypothicated basis and see that go into world wide scientific search for new fuels that will sustain the human race for the next 1000 years. It must be government based of course to avoid commercial rip-offs. I hate to say it but nuclear power is perhaps an option here and we must not ignore it. That hurts a bit to say that but we would be foolish to ignore it. France generates something like 90% of its electricity that way which must be benficial to the environment. Contentious as usual..........that's me.
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I do love Cadillacs and can see the point of using almost any old car until it dies even if it does only do 10mpg because so much fossil fuel is used in the production of new cars.

I cannot, however, see the point of buying a new SUV unless this type gas-guzzling vehicle is essential eg for one's work. Surely we should be choosing the smallest and most efficient car for our needs in order to conserve the remaining supplies of fossil fuels for as long as possible while the technology for new clean types of energy is developed?

Kinhull, in a number of places where the desert has been irrigated big-time to produce vegetables, fruit or cotton, this has resulted in a serious lowering of the water table. This happens if the water used is pumped up from underground deposits; it is fossil water that has been there for thousands of years, and because the area has low precipitation, it hardly gets replenished. In Israel the water table has fallen so much that sea water is seeping into the underground water and making it salty.

In the Lake Baikal region, over-extraction of water for irrigation has caused an environmental disaster.

Along the Nile they have been using river water for irrigation for thousands of years, and most of the fields would otherwise be desert, but they're limited to the water that's actually there. The limitation of supplies and depletion of water resources leads to international disputes (Portugal-Spain, Turkey-Iraq, India-Pakistan, Israel-Palestine, Egypt-Sudan etc).
__________________________________________________

There is a wonderful ;) argument that the most enviromentally conscious people should only buy old ineffecient vehicles. They will do low milage in these vehicles. This forces people who are not enviromentally conscious to buy newer more efficient cars. It doesn't exactly feel right does it :? Is leading by example better?

To some extent, it depends on how much people who are not enviromentally conscious might feel peer pressure from enviromentally conscious people.

Another problem or two with the argument is that you can buy big new vehicles which use a lot of fuel and development of new vehicles probably depends on what new vehicles are being bought. So if enviromentally conscious people stop buying new vehicles, their wishes for efficient vehicles further into the future may go unheeded.
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