Feeling Blue About Being Green
The automotive industry has to be one of the worst offenders when it comes to information distorted or manufactured to fit into a category that looks good to consumers. For years we've seen official MPG (miles per gallon) ratings for our favorite vehicles posted all over the place. Unfortunately the methods to come up with these numbers were developed in the 1970s, and even then used what many would consider to be questionable standards. Did you know that to calculate the official highway MPG the testing procedures used an average highway speed of 48 MPH? This means if we all drove 48 MPH on the interstate we would achieve their claimed gas mileage. What?! It's easy to see why this is ridiculous. It's also easy to see how many automakers were able to twist the truth just enough to make us buy their cars and trucks. It always made me wonder how they managed to get an SUV with a curb weight of almost 8000 pounds to get 20+ MPG. Now we know that they did it by traveling a meager 48 MPH, probably downhill in a tailwind, and driven by Webster.
If you're into being green, it's important to do your own research before you make a purchase. If it's a bathroom product, compare them to see what percentage of the paper is actually recycled. If it's an SUV, don't try to pretend like you're being green! Ford's "green" hybrid Escape model (which isn't even a large vehicle compared to the rest of their line) gets a whopping 30 MPG based on the 1971 standards. The EPA says we can expect these numbers to drop by as much as 30 percent when the new standards come into play in 2008. Do the math and you can easily see why you'd be kidding yourself to think that your hybrid SUV is doing the environment any favors, not to mention your pocketbook! There are lots of vehicles that really do get incredible gas mileage, and you don't have to drive a Prius.
You don't even have to buy a new car to start behaving more greenly! There are a number of things you can do within your current automotive framework to save money and gas, and cut down on harmful emissions. Did you know you can increase your car's gas mileage by properly inflating your tires? That means you can start making the world a cleaner place today!
Check out these informative spots on the web for more info on green driving:
The Green Car Club
Greener Cars
Comments
Well I didn’t know that gas mileage was based on 48 mph, but I don’t think that info would affect people much. Actually, I’m not sure it even matters if the number is the actual gas mileage obtained in a car. A MPG index number may work just as well. Say gas mileage was graded on a scale of 1-10. As long as there was a standard way of measuring this, consumers would just look for the highest number and not really concern themselves with how the manufacturer came to that number. So when the new way of measuring MPG, people will be shocked, but they will still buy the cars with the highest numbers for the same reasons.