Lately I’ve been amazed at the leaps and bounds automotive manufacturers have been making the last few years in regards to fuel economy, at least in relation to engine power. A few examples? A 2010 Chevrolet Camaro V6 rated with 305 horsepower and 29 miles per gallon (highway), and a 2011 Ford Mustang V6 also with 305 horses, but 31 mpg highway. These are just the base models with automatics, and yet their performance would put just about any Ferrari from the 80s or 90s to shame — all while sucking half as much fuel.
In light of this, I’ve been reassessing just how efficient my 2001 Audi TT Roadster Quattro really is. Once considered almost state-of-the-art, the 1.8-liter turbocharged engine puts out just 225 hp — a pretty amazing 125 hp/liter, but just two-thirds the output of the new pony cars’ larger-displacement base engines. And an EPA rating of 26 mpg highway. Not so impressive.
However, it seems like with any manual-transmissioned car, I can easily beat the EPA numbers. My TT does have a stick, so I wondered just what gas mileage I could get if I “tried.” Continue reading »
One thing that frequently makes me cringe is the sheer amount of waste us humans — especially those in the western world — produce.
Most of the time, the reminders are subtle, but once in awhile they go beyond the threshold of the utterly absurd.
For example, there was the time I mail-ordered some valve seals (o-rings), two rubber grommets, a decal sticker, and an air injection manifold for the MGB, and ended up receiving a box the size of a microwave that contained mostly styrofoam and plastic. Or when I went into OfficeMax to purchase a copy of TurboTax (this was many years ago, before I started boycotting Intuit and began using TaxAct online), and came home with packaging the size of a cereal box containing acres of plastic encasing a single CD-ROM. Continue reading »
On Monday, the New York Times described Fort Collins as a deeply green city [confronting] its energy needs and nuclear worries..” It highlighted how Colorado — and Fort Collins in particular — is posed to be a hotbed of alternative energy research and development in upcoming years.
All this talk about energy made me do an audit of my own electricity needs. Continue reading »
Ten years ago, I had a roommate named Kathy. Kathy had previously majored in environmental studies at Stanford, and therefore was very conscientious about her impact on the environment. One of her habits that initially raised my eyebrows was walking to Andronico’s — sort of a higher-end, smaller version of Whole Foods — a couple blocks away from home with one or two canvas shopping bags. Continue reading »
