Think twice about 'green' transport, say scientists

AFP via Yahoo ^

[Slapshot68]

You worry a lot about the environment and do everything you can to reduce your carbon footprint -- the emissions of greenhouse gases that drive dangerous climate change.

So you always prefer to take the train or the bus rather than a plane, and avoid using a car whenever you can, faithful to the belief that this inflicts less harm to the planet.

Well, there could be a nasty surprise in store for you, for taking public transport may not be as green as you automatically think, says a new US study.

[Slapshot68]

You know where this is going, right? Horse and buggy.

[BlueNgold]

OMG No - that would mean methane emissions of the highest order!

[Tarpon]

The sun creates all energy energy on earth, there is no such thing as green. You can only image green in a small shrunken, shriveled up liberal brain.

[Thebaddog]

This article is more conjecture than studied fact, but it is interesting to read how greenies can tie themselves in knots.

I take five kids to school everyday in my Ford Explorer SUV. I had to straighten out my oldest about how green I really am because his teachers aren't doing their jobs according to this study.

[wbill]

for taking public transport may not be as green as you automatically think

File this under 'D' for 'Duh'.

Mass transit works well when the transportation is full. So, from 6am to 9am.....and from 4pm to 6pm..... its just as green as green can be.

The rest of the time, running a massive bus on a route at 1/10 capacity (or less) ....not so much.

Cars, in general, are more efficient because they're only used when needed. Think in terms of passenger-miles.

[edcoil]

I have found the “green” movement is more about moving perceived pollution from one place to another and simply trying to get rid of your green to them.

[Army Air Corps]

Ping.

[Lou L]

The Boeing 747 as the benchmark in long-haul air travel? Surely, the 767/777 is more efficient...why wouldn't they use that?

[jimt]

Mass transit works well when the transportation is full.

Which they virtually never are in Houston. The vast majority of buses have 4-5 riders, per my observation.

And we pay a 1 cent sales tax for this and other pubic transit boondoggles.

[xcamel]

FReepmail me to get on or off

Ping me if you find one I've missed.

---

[12Gauge687]

No, I think cows are even higher. Scientists say a change in feed away from soybeans and corn could reduce methane from cows by 20%. According to the same scientists, cows produce 18% of greenhouse gases worldwide.

Gee, no eco-terrorists protesting the heifers instead of Hummers. Where’s the all-knowing, all-seeing Goracle? This wasn’t mentioned in his movie. /sarc

[steelyourfaith]

 

Beam me to Planet Gore !

[BlueNgold]

Ron White actually has a bit about the cows and global warming ...

[dennisw]

You know where this is going, right? Horse and buggy.

The Obama-tron elite will be riding in jets and gas guzzler limousines. Henry Waxmans ride will have reinforced springs and axels

[kidd]

This is one of the first articles I’ve seen that acknowledges the seating capacity of a car. A greenie car that seats 2 people and get 35 mpg is not as efficient as a half-full SUV that gets 20 mpg, if you consider passenger-miles-per-gallon. And a full SUV is even more efficient.

[Buckeye McFrog]

they fail to take into the account all of the jet fuel, boat fuel and RV miles piled-up by Unionized transit workers when they retire with full pay and benes at age 55...

[wbill]

Same here in NC where I am.

I actually subsidize most of the riders with my property tax $$$. They're considered "low income", you see, and need only pay a part of the $1.50 fare.

During the gas crunch, the transit authority raised the fare to $2.00, and also wanted to raise the rate that the "low income" riders pay. The reduced rate went up from something like $0.35 to $0.40. That extra nickel was "sharing the pain", lol.

The newspapers excoriated the board. You couldn't turn on a radio or TV without hearing about how the poor and disadvantaged were going to take a beating on the issue. Trotted out all sorts of people, some handicapped, some jobless, some homeless...all with another sob story about how the extra ten cents (two rides) a day was going to be their financial ruin. Oh, they were going to mount SOMEBODY's head on a pike for this....

So, the city council held a special hearing on the matter. The only people who showed up were the news reporters. End of story.

I hate the "news".

[Old Professer]

Aside from all the clamor over a nearing tipping point the AGW discussion is now taking on a strange new turn; reexamination of the methodologies of previous benefits are now being seen as liabilities when we move away from the ideal.

It is now being posited that indeed we have waited too long and it is too late to stop the predicted warming from the GHGs already accumulated; paradoxically this realization astoundingly encourages the same protagonists to spur we sluggards to redouble our worthless efforts.

Rather than having to sink or learn to swim they want us to walk on the flooding water.