It seems like I receive yet another brochure about the huge advances various government entities, enterprises, vendors, or energy companies making in protecting the planet every month. Everyone seems to think that their technology is going to be the next green thing, when the facts simply don’t bear them out. The previous post I wrote on this topic, More People Noticing that Green Technology Really Isn’t, discussed the issue that some informed people are discovering that all that green technology out there is really just designed to sell more products-not help the earth in any significant way. The problem is one of complexity, which is the case with the green car.
Driving an electric car might seem like the right way to reduce emissions. However, recent studies show that your electric car might actually be worse for the environment. I say might here because it all depends on how the electricity is generated. In some cases, your electric car actually is better than gas at the first level. That is, the manner in which the electricity is generated produces fewer pollutants than driving a car with a gas engine would be. For example, sunlight and wind are both plentiful in Nevada, so driving an electric car could make sense there. However, as I’ve noted in previous posts, solar and wind power both rely heavily on special materials, the mining of which actually produces a serious amount of pollution. The studies available right now also assume that the manufacturing processes for the supposedly green cars are actually no worse than the older technology they replace.
However, in reality, it is crucial to remember that there is always an element of chemical risk at each stage of production of a car regardless of whether the resulting vehicle is gas or electric powered. It is no secret that the manufacturing processes involved in producing engines, plastics, and various other elements of a car require the use of hazardous chemicals such as adhesives, acids, bases, and cleaning chemicals. Furthermore, the majority of these products are corrosives or irritants and most of these chemicals are handled in laboratories.
Put simply, whether a car is powered by gas or electric, there is thus a constant risk of projection and chemical spill during the manufacturing process. With all of this in mind, it is vital that car manufacturers make use of chemical storage solutions to prevent chemical spillages or leaks. To address this issue, most car manufacturers use bunded storage. Essentially, a bund is a secondary containment area in a tank or a drum that can collect any spilled liquid if the initial storage container is inadequate. Due to the diversity of chemicals used throughout the manufacturing industry, there are several unique bunded storage containment options available for industrial users. You can discover the benefits of these bunded storage and containment solutions by taking a look at this useful guide on the Storemasta website.
Consequently, even though it might appear that your electric car is a win, it may not be right now. There are many defectives that both non-green and green cars have in common. For instance, you may find that a green or electric car might not hold the same charge capacity. There are a few cars that have been reported to develop defects that may not appear in a brand new car, so if you decide to get an electric second hand, you may find you are dealing with a lemon. Luckily, if you find yourself in that situation, you can always make a lemon claim for a used car.
A problem with all the entities making the promises and telling you just how good they are at fulfilling them is that they lie. Sometimes they even get caught. For example, the EPA finally caught VW in the act of lying about its emission test results. The only problem is that those cars are still out there producing millions of tons of lung killing smog. In fact, it’s hard to tell whether any of those green technologies actually do anything at all, except make you pay a lot more when buying the vehicle, and to run and maintain it later. Add to this the fact that some people are now saying that the solar industry is dying (and would already be dead were it not for government subsidies) and you have to wonder just how long these green cars will even maintain the appearance of being green.
Some people are saying that we should simply get rid of cars, which is obviously not going to happen. Systems like adas are only growing as people have more and more need of a car in their life. If people really wanted to use mass transit, it would have happened already. In addition, there isn’t any evidence that mass transit actually reduces pollution either. The vehicles are often poorly maintained and spew a horrid amount of pollution out of their exhaust (as evidenced by the stench when you drive behind a bus). In addition, mass transit only works when you live in or around a major city, which won’t work for those of us who live in the country.
The best way to create a green car is not to drive it any more than necessary. I’ve taken to planning out my trips so that I drive the fewest possible miles. Because I’m self-employed, I don’t even start my car five days a week (getting everything done in just two days). Not only does my strategy save time, but I’ve reduced by gas bill by half in the last two years. Green often equates to not using a resource such as gas. Using the resource will inevitably produce some sort of pollution. Through careful planning, you can significantly reduce the number of miles you drive and you can drive more of them at once (a warm engine normally works more efficiently and produces fewer emissions). You also want to reduce gas waste by starting up slowly, stopping over a longer distance, and keeping your engine from idling. In fact, there are a wealth of tips you can find online for making your car more efficient (such as removing all that junk from the trunk).
You can make the world a cleaner place and still keep your car. All it really takes is planning and careful maintenance. This can be done better using websites like https://www.czokbrand.com to give guidance on proper car maintenance. Unfortunately, there is no magic that will just make the problems with pollution go away. Driving that electric car or paying more for a vehicle with dubious emissions extras isn’t going to do much. What it really takes is a bit of self control. Let me know your thoughts about green cars at [email protected].
