Gases For The Masses

Via (well, I can't remember where I found it, now) a quite fascinating article about Johnathan Goodwin, the Pimp My Ride-ster of the ecomovement.

I'd read a little about Goodwin's work a couple years ago, but he's accomplished quite a bit since then. A 60 miles-per-gallon Hummer, which also has 600 horsepower? Well, okay, it's a bit much to expect jet turbines to be installed in every American car, but it is a strong reminder that, when it comes to fuel economy, there are lots of good options out there.

Look, my dad's Lexus is a big honkin' car. Huge. Probably literally 50% more car, in terms of mass, than my Mazda Protege. But , with an automatic transmission, it still gets about 26 mpg, about 85% of the 30-ish I get. And it's not because it has a tiny, four-banger engine. It accelerates appreciably better than my car, so probably has double my 120ish horsepower.

There is really good engine technology out there. As Gregg Easterbrook never tires of pointing out, if we simply took all the gains in engine efficiency over the last 30 years and put them into mileage increases instead of horsepower, we'd already be well north of the propsed 35-mpg CAFE standard that has Detroit howling at the moon.

This article is just another reminder that, while it will undoubtedly cost us something economically in the short run to upgrade our automotive fuel efficiency, it is eminently doable if the will can be located. Also, while I can't quite recommend the book due to its overwhelming length, Easterbrook's A Moment On The Earth is quite effective at driving home the point that every time efficiency gains are mandated for environmental purposes, industry intially cries about the destruction of the economy, then grudgingly gives in to government mandates, then discovers that, mirabile dictu, they actually save money by not uselessly burning up so much crap, and soon are far exceeding the government-mandated standards.

I can pretty much guarantee the same will be true of cars and mileage. The sooner Detroit gets on board the fuel efficiency train, whether that be with plug-in diesel/electric hybrids, fuel cells, jet turbines on pickups, or something that nobody's thought of yet, the sooner they will start reaping the rewards, both social and economic, of that decision.