Myth of the Little SUV Debunked

Hey Mr. Green,
I was very disappointed in your answer to the recent question about whether cars get lower gas mileage because of safety or antipollution devices. Your answer was these devices do not add weight to cars or reduce mileage. What are you talking about? At least admit that pollution-control devices like the catalytic converter impair good mileage.

I had a '90s Subaru Loyale that got more than 35 miles to the gallon, even after it was eight years old! My new Honda CRV, which I admit is a little bigger, can hardly get 22 miles per gallon, and I consider myself a good driver! –Carl in Bannockburn, United Kingdom

Hey Carl,
Your comparison actually proves my point about auto companies' stupid, inefficient giantism. Your Honda is more than a "little bigger" than the Subaru: It's a whopping one-third bigger. The Honda CRV weighs a half ton more and has at least 50 more horsepower. The CRV has a curb weight of about 3,500 pounds and a horsepower of 166, whereas the old Loyale wagon had a curb weight of around 2,400 and a horsepower of 90 or 115, depending on the type of engine. The difference in gas mileage is a result of that extra heft and oomph.

(Note: I call giantism "stupid" because Detroit is now in the same mess it was in 35 years ago. That's when car sales plunged because it had no efficient vehicles to offer during the gas crunch. You'd think that the old boys who run GM and Ford would have some recollection of this disastrous event.)

Why Even Small Carbon Footprints Matter

Hey Mr. Green,
I've heard that humans account for only 3 percent of global carbon emissions, with the rest coming from volcanoes, forest fires, and plant decay. Is this true, and if so, how can reducing our carbon footprint make an appreciable difference to the global situation? –Cary in Atlanta, Georgia

Hey Cary,
Three percent may not sound like much, but if that small percent isn't reabsorbed each year, it keeps accumulating until you have a much bigger percent and a real problem. Think of it this way: If you only gain 3 percent in weight a year, it's not much. But if you never shed that weight, you'll balloon from a 135-pound lightweight-boxer to a full-size heavyweight (albeit a rather flabby one) in 20 years.

The natural world is estimated to emit a grand total of 770.3 billion tons of CO₂ annually. Millions of life forms on land, from bacteria to elephants, pump out 440 billion tons of CO₂, while the oceans release another 330 billion tons, and volcanoes add 300 million each year. Human activity, primarily from burning fossil fuel, but also from agriculture and forest burning and clearing, accounts for "only" 32.3 billion tons, New Scientist reports.

When to Replace Lightbulbs

Hey Mr. Green,
I know fluorescent lightbulbs are more efficient than incandescents. In terms of overall resource use, however, is it better to replace a functioning incandescent bulb now or wait until it burns out? --Tom (submitted by e-mail)

I salute you for wondering about what goes into industrial processes. Some people chirp about a "postindustrial" era as if their toys were birthed by an invisible techno-god--rather than a polluting, energy-burning, all-too-earthly system.

Anyway, replace incandescents now. The resources used to produce either kind of lightbulb represent a fraction (as little as one percent, according to researchers at the Technical University of Denmark) of the bulb's overall toll on the environment. Powering the bulb in your home uses far more energy.

Parts Per Million vs. Price Per Gallon

Hey Mr. Green,
How shall we endure headlines about fuel costs at the expense of headlines about increasing atmospheric CO2? Does the public recognize "385 ppm of carbon dioxide" as well as it recognizes "$4 per gallon"? --Marvin in Glencoe, Maine

Most of us relate more easily to a $60 bill at the gas pump than parts per million, or ppm, of global-warming gases. Just look at history: Driving habits have changed largely in response to pain at the pump--not because of the growing body of knowledge about problems from tailpipe emissions. In the late 1970s and '80s, when gas prices represented an all-time high percentage of household income, gasoline consumption plummeted 12 percent. But in the following decade, as gas costs became a smaller percentage of household income, even the doubling of cars' fuel economy didn't keep demand from rising year after year.

While vehicle miles traveled and gas consumption have declined in recent years, Americans still burn 50 billion gallons more motor fuel per year, have 100 million more vehicles on the road, and drive them an average of 3,000 miles farther annually than we did three decades ago.

Podcast: Electric Cars

"Hey Mr. Green: Is there a practical electric car a person of moderate means can buy and operate?"

Click here to listen to the answer! You can also subscribe to Mr. Green's podcast.

Podcast: Freezer temperature

"Hey Mr. Green: What is the correct temperature for my refrigerator and freezer?"

Click here to listen to the answer! You can also subscribe to Mr. Green's podcast.

Yikes! He Wants to Chain Us All to Bikes

My comments on electric vehicles, or EVs, and why we should drive less provoked some deliciously combative and insulting responses. Mike said, "Gee, what a great idea. Everybody ride bicycles. I wonder what an 18-wheel semitruck bicycle looks like? The Sierra Club at its best."

Kerry commented, "I have to laugh listening to the nonsensical claim that automobiles are destroying the environment. I suggest that Mr. Green, who obviously objects to the only clean energy source we have (nuclear), is instead responsible for global warming by blocking nuclear power development, leading to coal fired plants that have placed our planet in such peril. The solution is to provide clean energy, not to simply use less of the dirty variety. There is no possible way that enforced conservation can provide any kind of a solution--doing without is neither acceptable nor necessary nor logical. Mr. Sierra is simply an authoritarian-minded fellow with very muddled ideas that seem more at home in a more technologically primitive era."

Podcast: Dishwasher or hand-wash?

"Hey Mr. Green: I'm trying to convince my husband that using the dishwasher is more efficient than washing each dish separately. Is that true?"

Click here to listen to the answer! You can also subscribe to Mr. Green's podcast.

Podcast: Scavenging Firewood

"Hey Mr. Green: If I scavenge firewood instead of buying it, is it better to heat my house by burning wood in my fireplace, or by using electricity from traditional sources?"

Click here to listen to the answer! You can also subscribe to Mr. Green's podcast.

Gassing Up and Down: How to Improve Your Mileage

Hey Mr. Green,
In your latest column about cars' failure to get better gas mileage, you didn’t answer the mileage question directly. I have a 1986 Toyota Corolla that gets a consistent 39 to 41 miles per gallon on the highway. My friends with new Corollas rarely get 34 mpg on the highway. I don't think their driving habits differ substantially from mine. With supposed "better" technologies, it seems their cars should be doing better than mine. Any thoughts? --Byron in Portland, Oregon

Hey Byron,
Despite "better" technologies, the actual mpg of many cars has improved precious little. Your 1986 Corolla with a manual transmission is rated by the EPA at 34 mpg on the highway. The 2008 model is rated at 37. Slightly improved technology has been partly offset by increased weight, with the newer models about 500 pounds heavier than your old car.

Not that the technology is much better anyhow. Thanks to the political influence of oil and auto industries, we were stuck with the same fuel-economy requirements for more than 30 years, until last December when our solons finally approved a modest increase from 27.5 mpg to just 35 mpg by 2020. The best that some folks can hope for is that the hearse hauling them to their final resting place gets marginally better mileage than today's models. As the great Janis Joplin might have sung if she'd survived to this point in history:

"Ain't got no fam'ly,
ain't got no nurse,
Oh Lord, won't ya buy me
an eee-lec-tric hearse."

But the difference between your mileage and that of your friends may also result from the fact that they don't know how to drive or maintain a car. How a person operates a vehicle has a huge impact on its gas mileage. Don't assume your buddies drive as smart as you until you conduct a bit more research into their behavior. The EPA lowered its mpg ratings to reflect "real world" driving conditions, which include faster speeds and other dumb behavior. Your old Corolla was originally rated at 37 mpg on the highway, but the new rating drops it to 34 to reflect the real world and its incompetence. Big loss of mileage can result not only from high speeds, but also from senseless idling, excess weight, jackrabbit starts, and lousy maintenance.