Obama's New Fuel Sucking Limo
| Tue Jan. 20, 2009 5:02 PM PST
Back when he was a mere senator, Barack Obama declared that "When it becomes possible in the coming years, we should make sure that every government car is a plug-in hybrid." Now that he's leader of the free world, he's rolling a bit differently. The new presidential limo, which entered service this morning, is a fuel-sucking monster. The Cadillac, nicknamed "the Beast," is so loaded with armor and security features that it takes a medium-duty truck chassis to lug it all. And despite stories like this, it is most definitely not a hybrid. Its diesel engine gets somewhere between 5 and 10 mpg. Ouch.
So is Obama breaking his pledge to spend taxpayer money on hybrids whenever possible? There aren't any plug-in hybrid limos out there, but there are regular hybrid ones, though none as heavy as the Beast. But heavy doesn't rule out going hybrid. Peterbilt makes a hybrid medium-duty truck, and Treehugger notes that Obama once earmarked money to make hybrid Hummers. To be fair, the new presidential limo was probably on the drawing board way before Obama was elected. Yet it's not too early for the president to start leaning on the recently bailed-out General Motors to get working on the next generation of fuel-efficient presidential bunkers on wheels.
Not all energy-efficiency geeks are upset that Obama's carbon tireprint is getting even bigger. One poster on the message boards over at CleanMPG, the hypermiler hangout, is willing to cut the guzzler-in-chief some slack: "There are only two good reasons for personal FSP's. The Military and the President." In hypermiler lingo, FSP means fuel sucking pig. Still, a plug-in hybrid with 8-inch armor would still set a pretty cool example for those of us with less demanding security specs.
Photo courtesy US Secret Service
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Comments
This is classic 'image politics' that assumes that a) the greatest thing political leaders can do is set an example and b) that environmental changes can be dealt with if we all just choose to do x (change lightbulbs, drive hybrids ect.).
I believe both assumptions are false, ignoring the powerfull economic, social, cultural and stuctural issues that drive us to continue to live in an incredibly inefficient, and unsustainable manner.
Changing one specialty product (or even wasting time arguing for this) whos consumer audience is maybe a dozen worldwide is counterproductive in that it takes away from the real work of designing livable cities, vehicles, food and energy systems that will make real change.
Let's not forget that Bush lives in an energy efficient house which is climate controled by a geothermal system.
Policy matters.
Image politics is in the end a type of 'opiate of the people' denying the real change and work needed.
Word-- I don't care how inefficient it is. If it's reliable and loaded down with armor, firearms, grenade launchers, bioterror shields... gallons of gasoline in my neighbor's Hummer is a waste. Gallons of gasoline to transport the most important guy in the free world is fine with me! The man needs horsepower. If the ginormous Caddy is the best option for him, I say go for it!
Submitted by Misanthropic Scott (not verified) on Sat Jan. 24, 2009 1:46 PM PST.
I'm somewhat with Kim on this, though from a slightly different angle. I don't think the leader of the free world, if the U.S. president still qualifies as such after W, gets much say in matters of his/her own affairs.
I think that the secret service decides what is necessary to keep the president safe. The president, regardless of how morally repugnant that choice may be, must grin and bear it.
If the damn thing gets gallons per mile instead of miles per gallon to keep the president safe, and IF the president keeps his promises on the environment, then it will still be a huge win for the environment to have him in place, regardless of the inefficiency of the Cadillac or even the 747 as Air Force One (which, as an aside, I'm sure could reasonably be replaced by a Gulfstream and get far better fuel economy, thus making up for the Cadillac).
Submitted by Misanthropic Scott (not verified) on Mon Jan. 26, 2009 3:53 AM PST.
Maria,
I've been away so long I didn't expect anyone to remember me. Thanks.
I've been trekking a bit yes. That's not really why I've been away though. I just got tired of the number of trolls I was finding here.
I've also been active on some other blogs, on one of which I'm somewhat of a permanent guest moderator, if that makes any sense.
Recently, I decided to check back to see if the situation had improved. It mostly has, though a couple of the old trolls are still around. But, hey, every blog has a couple.
A POSSIBLE SOLUTION: BIODIESEL MADE WITH GARBAGE
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Mon Jun. 22, 2009 1:27 AM PDT.
A POSSIBLE SOLUTION: BIODIESEL MADE WITH GARBAGE “The Fuel Of The Future”
A group of Spanish developers working under the company name Ecofasa, headed by chief executive officer and inventor Francisco Angulo, has developed a biochemical process to turn urban solid waste into a fatty acid biodiesel feedstock.
Here is a translated description of the tecnology:
ECOFA is a new fuel, which due to its origin, its production, and its solution to the inherent problems in any kind of organic waste, specially the urban solid waste, it is called ‘eco.combustible’ adding FA (initials of Francisco Angulo) in honor of its discoverer.
Ecofa biofuel is a subgroup of biofuels that comes from fatty acids biosynthesized from microbes and to used it in current internal combustion engines and diesel
It is based on the metabolism’s bionatural principle, by mean of which all living organisms, including bacteria, produce fatty acids. The great contribution of Francisco Angulo’s patents, this is why its incalculable economic value, is exactly that this principle is used to the biofuel’s production and comes from the carbon of any organic waste.
The microorganisms that synthesize useful products for men represent, at most, a few hundred species among the more than 100,000 described in Nature. The few that have been useful for industry are valuated for procuding a substance that can not be achieved easily or cheaply by other methods. Next it is going to be explained the advantages that ECOFA has with regard current biodiesel:
* Almost the whole solution to the problem that exists in municipalities with the treatment and storage of domestic rubbish. Moreover, the process produces methane gas and it is also left a remain that could be used as organic fertilizer for fields.
* It would not be necessary to used specific fields of maize, wheat, barley, beets, etc.. which would remain for human consume without creating distortions or famines with unforeseeable consequences.
* So, it would be possible that farmers had to use less plowing , so the field could recover, in a natural way, the lost carbon ( agriculture’s conservation).
* The monocultures’s productions are always more favourable to pests, as it is not spread (because it is not only used to biodiesel ) the risk is lower
* Possibility for town halls of the autonomous processing in its own plants that will generate and will bring wealth to rural populations. The production would be mainly in consumption’s towns, so it would not be necessary pipelines, nor ships sailing with cargo that could be poured into the sea, since the producing plants are not very complex nor expensive and any town can install it without too much complications.
* According to the environment, the use of RSU (Solid Urban Waste) for energy production, is expected to present some added benefits of those that already exist in biofuels. Particularly with regard to smells, the improve of the landscapes and the reduction of pollution in the air, water and soil.
* Finally this microbial technique can be extended to other organic debris, plants or animals, such as those contained in the urban sewage. You can even experiment with other materials such as carbon sources, and this opens up a lot of possibilities; it is only necessary to find out the appropriate bacteria and make them work as a huge army of workers without pay, eating letfovers without stopping, as they reproduce by cloning and therefore bringing more and more quantity of ecocombustible.
CONCLUSION ABOUT ECOFA
ECOFA by their origins, already would represent a first relief to three problems that we suffer nowadays:
* urban solid waste, that would benefit mainly the town halls which have to suffer the logistical problems
* contribution of its share to the supply of the general fuel’s demand .
* and contribution of its share to the solution of climate change problem
But there are also other connotations as important:
* Its production does not cause famine, on the contrary it would generate wealth in the areas of production. Town halls would be again favoured
* As biotechnology takes part in it, and the yeasts and bacteria produce the process, it does not require the input of energy or heat, that others need, so it is also highly worthwhile in terms of its energy balance. Bacteria do not consume energy from others while they are working
* As the biotehconology is the responsible, bacteria and yeast, due to their metabolism, produce fatty acid from any carbon source, including all the organic waste, since it can be done at any stage with the appropiate bacterium: sewage, waste of slaughterhouses, remains and stubble of the field, paper, gauze and cotton (from hospitals, for example) and any other organic waste.
* It is not renewable but multirenewable, since (CO2) that comes from its combustion, leads to the growth of any kind of plants which they do not have to be used to produce biofuels, they might also come in useful for a food cycle and / or biological, leading to organic debris of any kind.
* It is also multisustainable. Obviously, this is due to the diverse origins of organic waste, the logistics of ECOFA’ s raw material , can come from any rubbish and from any place on the planet.
The origin is in some patent, whose owner is Francisco Angulo Lafuente, that support biotechnological processes in order to achieve a fuel from remains and organic waste.
Francisco Angulo
http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/article .jsp?article_id=3225
http://earthtoys.com/emagazine.php?issue _number=09.04.01&article=angu&id=
http://www.environmentalgraffiti.com/eco logy/how-to-turn-garbage-into-biofuel/40 67
If you had looked at the
Submitted by louis vuitton replica (not verified) on Mon Aug. 3, 2009 7:08 AM PDT.
If you had looked at the questions you would have seen that there were these questions on line, there were also a number of questions for him to show his birth certificate.. should he have addressed them also?? And what would your answer to him have been then, that he was belittling them also, or that he was pandering to the right wing nut jobs by bringing his birth certificate and showing it to them??
tiffany jewelry
He has to drive round in
Submitted by Limo Hire (not verified) on Sun Aug. 30, 2009 8:44 AM PDT.
He has to drive round in something why not a limousine
It is based on the
Submitted by party bus (not verified) on Fri Oct. 23, 2009 10:18 PM PDT.
It is based on the metabolism’s bionatural principle, by mean of which all living organisms, including bacteria, produce fatty acids. The great contribution of Francisco Angulo’s patents, this is why its incalculable economic value, is exactly that this principle is used to the biofuel’s production and comes from the carbon of any organic waste.
I believe both assumptions
Submitted by Najala on Fri Oct. 23, 2009 10:25 PM PDT.
I believe both assumptions are false, ignoring the powerful economic, social, cultural and structural issues that drive us to continue to live in an incredibly inefficient, and unsustainable manner.
NJ
party bus
