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Re: [PLUG] Survey: who drives a stick shift?
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On Thu, 4 Oct 2007, Art Alexion wrote:
> On Thursday 04 October 2007 16:13:40 Stephen Gran wrote:
> > On Thu, Oct 04, 2007 at 02:53:31PM -0400, Edward Smola said:
> >
> > Except that they sell 'petrol' in 'litres' over here, so you're doing
> > the conversion yourself, and you get to pick which gallon to convert to.
> > That being said, I do agree that I have gotten quite a lot better
> > mileage in all the rental cars here than I was used to in the States -
> > 40mpg is not unusual.
>
> I wonder how much of that has to do with emissions controls required in the
> US. I find current environmental science so flawed in that a
> supposed "green" solution causes unintended problems more severe than the
> original problem. So, we mandate emissions controls that result in greater
> fuel consumption. Net benefit?
>
The emissions control law was a fine example of lousy law written from
good intentions. The catalytic converter requires platinum. a rather
expensive metal, and I remember that someone said that it was unknown
if aging the thing would kick more toxins into the atmosphere.
Also, the exhaust system could not be modified under a penalty of
several thousand dollars even in a case like mine where the exhaust
mounts to the engine had given out. I had a MG Midget then. The
converter bolted directly to the engine.
This does connect to Linux discussion in that the free exchange of ideas
via the Internet and the use of software is frequently subject to limits
by bad laws even and especially those with actual good intentions.
Besides, I'm only now getting to catch up on half a week's e-mail.
bs
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