Hopedance

by William L. Seavey
William Seavey reports on all the cool things that are happening to the greening of the car movement: hybrids, electric cars, plug-ins, the various forms of fuel, flex fuel vehicles and the one that is already sitting in your driveway.

In the perfect, sustainable world many of us dream about, the private passenger vehicle has been pretty much banished from everyday utility--replaced by carpooling, busing, training, walking, or bicycling.

NOT! We know THAT ain’t happening anytime soon, even in the so-called “green” tri-counties of San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura.

There are plenty of reasons why we’d be better off not depending so much on our cars. For one thing, says biologist George Monbiot, author of a recent book called “Heat,” transportation in general is proving to be THE biggest challenge in reducing global warming, everyone’s latest Big Threat to Humanity and the Planet.

Ninety-seven percent of us drive private autos, mostly alone. Our greenhouse gas emissions caused by burning fuel in transportation represent 32% of the whole (an additional 42% are produced by electricity generation). Most of us already know that Americans are responsible for nearly 25% of all C02 emissions globally, and that we have more cars on the road than any other country contributing to these emissions. Driving cars is a HUGE problem any way you slice it, and just about everybody is complicit--unless you are among the only 3% who ride bicycles, or less than 1% who ride buses.

Monbiot suggests that the only answer to the global warming crisis is severely lessening individual shopping trips--the number, length and speed of the journeys we make. But try to sell this to America’s shopaholics! A UK transportation study reveals that we really need to rely more on delivery vehicles, which could eventually reduce traffic by 70% or more. But is anyone listening?

Then there is, of course, the well understood problem of unhealthy petroleum dependency on foreign sources, chiefly those in the Middle East, Africa, Russia and South America--and the hidden agenda of our (and others’) wars. It might not be so bad if our vehicles averaged well over 25 mpg--which, incredibly, is what Henry Ford’s Model A got 80 years ago! But fuel economy (CAFE) standards have hardly changed in ten years or more. And when we begin to run short of oil, the debate about transportation’s effects on global warming may even become moot as our petroleum powered cars will have long since been sidelined to the junk heap--when gasoline skyrockets to $15-$20 gallon. THEN we won’t be able to afford to burn ANY petroleum--and its use will shift to industrial/chemical processes, where it can be reprocessed/recycled, ideally.

But for now in our very imperfect, consume-till-doom world, a vast majority do still drive gas guzzlers, and exalt the place of cars in their personal universes. (Though a new study is showing that for the first time the bloom is off the rose in Americans’ love affair with their coupes--due to the high gas cost, guilt over supporting Osama etc.) Unfortunately it may well be that the highly destructive, incompatible-with-nature industrial society many of us would like to see implode will persevere just to keep us smugly rolling down the highways in our expensive potential tin crematoriums (contrary to the more optimistic above scenario). Can anyone imagine a Honda or Toyota not continuing to be a vital part of the corporate landscape for years to come? I certainly can’t.

In any case, at this juncture you do still have choices, and I believe they boil down to the following five: (1) don’t drive regularly or at all, and be inconvenienced a lot; (2) drive a beater or guzzler, because it is all you can afford (these are typically castoffs to poorer people); (3) pay for and drive a luxury class auto or SUV-- political and environmental correctness be damned; (4) get on the hybrid or high tech EV bandwagon, however expensive the price of admission turns out to be; or (5) make, modify or buy your own reasonably priced “eco” car that uses no gas and contributes much less to global warming and pollution-- basically made with spare parts and ingenuity.

Now, consider the benefits of (5), the least well known and understood option--alive and well along the Central California Coast, by the way.

It’s a choice made quite palatable (and possible) by the fact that 80% of all auto trips are 30 miles or less--”eco” cars, by and large, give up some distance and possibly speed but fulfill the short trip criterion of transportation responsibility very admirably. They make excellent second cars, or primary cars for people whose transportation radii extend from, say, Los Osos to San Luis, or Goleta to Santa Barbara. There are a few that can maintain highway speeds; others that travel surface streets at 25 mph (like the Gemcar) are known as NEV’s (or Neighborhood Electric Vehicles).

Option 5 is perhaps the ultimate green Road Warrior approach, compatible with a forthcoming possible industrial/technological End Times scenario when only those who have the technical know-how, resourcefulness and stubbornness will be able to solo drive what’s left of the road network. This scenario is not necessarily a pretty picture, but it’s one I can truly imagine if the big car companies eventually give up the ghost.

Hey, forgive me if I haven’t joined this group of maverick eccentrics myself, having elected, like a lot of other enviro elites still with money, to go route No. 4 (hybrid/high tech). I bought a Honda hybrid, but if I had been patient enough I might even have been able to get a plug-in Prius, or a Tesla li-ion powered roadster, or GM’s new concept EV--revealed at the last Detroit Auto Show--the Chevy Volt--all certainly very exciting new developments, though rather pricy.

But think of it, you don’t have to wait, or shell out the big bucks if you want your eco car today--one that, granted, doesn’t generally grace the pages of the trendy Green Car Journal (published locally in SLO, incidentally). A do-it-yourself (DIY) eco car is green (as in environmentally responsible, to the extent that ANY car can be) but NOT green (as in costing upwards of $25,000-$100,000, like the Tesla, or the Tango, or my muscle Honda hybrid).

Perhaps the demise of the EV1 has given impetus to this guerrilla movement to make or modify our own already-existing cars. This reaction is similar to what happened with solar electric power enthusiasts, when the utilities refused to allow grid interties and net metering some years ago and opportunistic techies just wired up their own DIY systems--corporate blood suckers be damned. So too it may be with eco car retrofitters and remodelers who are 2lst century Da Vinci’s from the New Detroit (a case could be made for THAT being California!) experimenting with biodiesel or WVO (waste vegetable oil) powered cars, home or work chargeable EV’s (electric vehicles), natural gas or propane powered buggies, DIY basic solar/hydrogen fueled rigs etc.

Where do you find them? One such nexus is the Central Coast Clean Cities Coalition (5C’s), whose members officially want to control pollution and help San Luis Obispo maintain its designation as one of 80 pristine towns around the nation. (Among other things they keep track of nearly 60 EV’s running around SLO county, maintain a list of alternative fuel sources available locally, get grants for educational outreach programs, and stage events where alt fuel vehicles are on display). And scratch a little deeper and you’ll realize that there are some real radicals among them who have little patience for automotive business-as-usual. They want you to know that you can take any gasoline powered compact car and strip out the offending parts (such components as water pump, oil pump, gas tank, radiator and even automatic transmission!) and run on much-less-polluting (in California) natural gas or nuclear power generated electricity (better: wind or solar generated power). Or they promote the other big options--running a diesel powered car on biodiesel, or a flex fuel vehicle on a biofuel like ethanol/alcohol. Or even a gasoline powered car on--can you believe it--propane?

Within and without the group are such independent tinkerers as Francis Howard of Nipomo, with his 1981 “Volts”wagen pick-up, and Gary Dove of SLO, with his all electric 1976 Fiat X. These are people who just beam knowing they have THE solution to pollution-- and all the rest. Or Jerome Law, with a 1981 300D Mercedes running on biodiesel (who would like to establish some kind of public showroom on all these alternatives). Or Mark Hutchings of Cambria, who is going to spend as little as $3000 buying an already converted 60’s era VW bug from a conversion outfit called Wilderness EV in Utah. And then there is Alex Bugrov, a mechanical engineer on staff at the SLO Air Pollution District, who officially toes the line on what local consumers can legally do to incorporate “alternate” technologies into their cars, and who has himself converted a 1968 Volvo to run on propane (but remains skeptical about the viability of some fuels, like hydrogen). Most Americans don’t believe you can run a car on anything other than gasoline or diesel--well, maybe they now know about ethanol (soon to come to a pump near you, they say). But very few Americans have any idea that it makes perfect sense to recycle old gas powered cars into EVs, or into CNG powered vehicles--or transform old diesels into biodiesels. And why not? Most cars could last dozens of years if properly taken care of--ask the Cubans, who are FORCED to keep old cars going indefinitely! It should be no secret that any car, much like a human (!), can stay active and vital with preventive maintenance, TLC and an occasional “organ” transplant --it’s a lot cheaper than buying new (or cloning)! But we get discouraged with the repair bills on replacement clutches, alternators and transmissions--or body work--and become convinced that ALL NEW EVERYTHING is the ultimate solution. And that’s pure poppycock. (I own a 1991 Honda Accord that shows NO sign of giving out.) Remember when we thought a car should be replaced every eight years? We should know by now that automotive advertisers spend more money to get us to buy NEW than any other industry! (Yeah, they even beat out Big Pharma...)

And guess what? An EV has a lot fewer parts to replace/repair or “transplant.” (And resale value is terrific). A biodiesel powered diesel gets much better mpg than a petroleum powered car--and the engine lasts far longer. Your flex fuel vehicle, if you have one (65,000 Californians do) can utilize 85% alcohol/ethanol fuel (or maybe even 95%!), and while there is a tradeoff in range of about 33%, the engine burns cleaner and may go 500,000 miles over its life!

The truth is, gasoline has so many disadvantages as a fuel it’s a wonder it ever became so prevalent--it’s hard to refine, it’s dangerous to store, and it’s difficult to transport. (The corporations like Standard Oil knew that--we wouldn’t ever be able to produce, or long term store, such fuels in our own garages). But up until recently, gasoline was as cheap as bottled water (crude oil’s Energy Returned on Energy Invested--EROEI--was once an incredible 100 to 1!), and taken just about as much for granted. But no more.

This may yet be the Golden Age of DIY in America, but who’s really doing it? Well, quite a few. My basic solar power book sells in the thousands, to every state and Canadian province. Customizing your car has its many aficionados, to judge by the dozens of car magazines lining the magazine racks. (Home Power Magazine covers both subjects extremely well.) But, but... most Americans are just too busy Working for the Man (or Woman) to even adequately maintain their increasingly sophisticated, and unwork-on-able, petroleum monstrosities, much less take an active interest in “conversions.” We have become convinced that car technology is complicated and proprietary. (And even many professional mechanics are falling behind in their technical education over the latest electronic control mechanisms). Pretty soon a Second Mortgage won’t be taken out on just houses, it will describe the OTHER mortgage we have--on our overly expensive and complicated cars! [25% of family’s annual income is dedicated to transportation.]

Yet an internal combustion engine-to-EV car conversion is, well, relatively simple to do, as long as you don’t make unrealistic demands on the end result--like having 250 horses under the hood, or insistence on semi truck swagger. (With an EV you can sneak up on everyone--no motor noise!) A diesel used Mercedes can start burning french fry smelling WVO (often free from restaurants) with a $700 device that even still allows you to go to the petroleum diesel pump in a pinch. (And the engine is so much better). Burning CNG or propane even allows you to continue HAVING a gas engine, you just replace the gas tank with a small propane size tank similar to the one attached to your barbecue. And wait until you find out how you can set up a still to make your own ethanol/alcohol fuel. (You can even get a Federal permit to do so!) No one’s doing it locally that I have been able to discover, but that’s not to suggest it ISN’T being done.

It could be a Brave New Automotive World, based on the old. Yes, the green car of the future could already be in your driveway, you just didn’t know it! (Sorry, SUV’s and Hummers excepted). We need to think much differently about our cars, as inconceivable it may even seem to suggest it. Face it, most car manufacturers have gone off the deep end trying to provide us with multiple choices and models, and have even insulted our innate intelligence in thinking that the gas shortages of the 70’s wouldn’t ever happen again. It’s time for consumers to realize that they need to take more control over personal transportation, long after (100 years) Henry Ford designed a really affordable standard car (with a standard color--black) that really made sense at the time, and may very well still (especially if powered by ethanol).

50 years ago Ralph Nader wrote a muckraking book on the auto industry, Unsafe at Any Speed. Yet today the title should be Ungreen at Any Price, really--UNLESS you do what a few farsighted individuals are doing-- in effect starting their own one owner eco car companies. It’s a (small) revolution in the making, but one worth paying attention to. I remain convinced we will continue to drive private cars, unless absolutely forced not to. But just maybe we just won’t ever have to give them up, if we can make them as benign as possible...It won’t be easy, but there are some leading the way.


William L. Seavey is author of Power Your Car WITHOUT Gasoline! and the People’s Guide to Basic Solar Power. He is also creator of the Garage Filling Station concept. He has presented these ideas through Hopedance venues and the Osher Institute for Lifelong Learning affiliated with Cal Poly. His website is PowerFromSun.com