What is the perfect SCUBA car?

[Charlie99]

A Civic puts out ~5.5 tons, the same as a Jetta or Corolla.

A Prius puts out about 3.4 tons per year.

If you're going to seriously tell me that all of those numbers are really about the same, then we're going to have some words

I wonder how many tons of CO2 are emitted in processing the materials and building the Prius compared to making a Civic/Jetta/Corolla. I'm betting it's quite a few more additional tons of CO2, and that it will take quite a few years for the sum total of CO2 emitted by the Prius to be less than that of the Civic. Does anybody have some good estimates?

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I don't have the link handy, but I've read an interesting comparison of actual energy consumption and generation and CO2 emissions of various types of electrical generators over their entire life cycle. Photoelectic cells came out very badly --- so bad in fact, that one would be better off just sucking coal generated power off the grid rather than trying to power up your house with photoelectrics --- both in terms of cost and also in terms of total CO2 emissions. In other words, the manufacture of photovoltaic generators generates more CO2 emissions than they eliminate over their entire 15 or 20 years of operation.

IIRC, wind powered systems had the highest net energy payback over their life cycle A good wind powered generator will deliver about 40 times more energy than was used to build it. Nuclear power plants only generated about 12 times as much energy as would be needed for the fabrication, operation, and decomissioning

 

[Sledge]

http://www.autobloggreen.com/2006/10/05/oh-so-a-hummer-is-not-greener-a-prius/

The CNW study states that hybrids require more lifetime energy than even large SUVs. Toyota's internal analysis does conclude that there is more energy required in the materials production stage for a hybrid, but that this is overwhelmingly made up for in the driving stage (the 80-85% stage), causing the hybrid to have a significantly lower lifetime energy use.

http://www.nrel.gov/ncpv/energy_payback.html

PV systems can repay their energy investment in about 2 years. During its 28 remaining years of assumed operation, a PV system that meets half of an average household's electrical use would eliminate half a ton of sulfur dioxide and one-third of a ton of nitrogen-oxides pollution. The carbon-dioxide emissions avoided would offset the operation of two cars for those 28 years.

 

[battles2a5]

I have a Nissan Froniter Crew Cab Nismo. Tons of power, can seat 5 adults, not as big as a full-size, and it has the non-slip sprayed-in bed liner and utilitrack. You can configure tie-down cleats or other tools on the side, head, and floor rails in order to tie down all your stuff. You can stack tanks on the floor of the bed and tie them down securely. I love it.

 

[BKP]

Love the Nissan, too... GREAT all around utility truck!

 

[shellim123]

My baby is my Avalanche!!!

 

[Charlie99]

http://www.nrel.gov/ncpv/energy_payback.html

Cool. Thanks for the correction. I was under the impression that the energy payback point was more like 20 years rather than the 2 years shown by that article.

Now if the economic payback times can be gotten down to two years, the use of PV systems will skyrocket.

 

[Jorbar1551]

i think im gonna stick with my wagon for now and buy a street bike. maybe later on when i have enough money that ill go with an avalanche or a larger truck.

 

[Nemrod]

I also vote for the old VW Thing and the 69 VW Bus. I had a bus and it was a great dive car. Modern versions of these with a small diesel would be great.

N, Burning fossil hydrocarbons for a brighter and warmer future, what you don't burn, I will make up for it.

 

[Marvel]

Doesn't seem as if anyone has mentioned the Dodge Magnum. From what little I've seen of it, it looks as if it would make a GREAT dive car!

 

[greg454]

“How you like the Honda?”

---It’s ok, well maintained. , I get good mileage, about 21 to 25 per gallon. It’s a little scary on bad weather, doesn’t provide the feeling of safety a big car gives you. I’d rather be in a Mercury Mountaineer or one of those SUV’s. You can barely feel the potholes with those. I also hear Arnold Schwarzenegger drives a hydrogen Hummer, I wouldn’t mind doing that.





“Let's see, dictionary definitions of environmentalists include "A person who places high values on the environment", "someone who works to protect the environment from destruction or pollution", and "advocate for the preservation, restoration, or enhancement of the natural environment.". If you don't believe in any of these concepts, you sure picked the wrong sport/hobby in scuba diving”

---First of all, dictionaries can have biases, and there’s a difference between being an ecologist and an environmentalist. Environmentalists consider humans to be inferior to animals, many of them don’t even enjoy having fun in the environment and yet want to ban logging, fishing, oil exploration, and anything that might improve human lives. Alaska is a great example, most Alaskans know all about their environment and support oil drilling, but a minority of people who’ve never even visited the state don’t want that to happen.


What you describe as environmentalist sounds more like an ecologist to me. The fact is that we humans are part of the food chain. In New Jersey they had to start allowing people to hunt bear again because bear attacks have been increasing alarmingly. In Michigan, they have a dear season for the same reason.

There’s no question that some species are over hunted and over fished. But the demands environmentalists make are extreme.



But I refuse to believe that to be a scuba diver you have to be a tree hugger as well. If you’ve been reading this thread, most people here either own an SUV or have great respect for them, and that’s not going to change until you find an alternative that is cheaper, viable, and better.