Paul questions Bernanke, the dollar, and fuel savings tips
Yesterday the dollar hit an all time low compared to the euro (about 1 euro to $1.50). The price of oil per barrel also hit an all time high getting to over $101. We all want lower fuel prices but are we really willing to change our ways to make this happen? Are other people willing to give up their fuel sucking SUV's for something else?
I'll give some tips on how to extend your fuel mileage right now, without having to do anything under the hood of your vehicle, without putting anything into your fuel tank, and even without anything drastic on your part.
1) This is obvious, minimize your driving. If you can walk somewhere, do it. If you want to go pick up a burger on the corner, maybe stay in and cook something at home or walk.
2) Car pool. Sometimes I count how many individuals I see driving a SUV alone. It doesn't take long for me to top 100 and quit.
3) Accelerate gently from a traffic light or stop sign. I have personally extended the mileage I get out of a tank of fuel by 50-70 miles just by doing this.
4) Be wary of your brakes. If a traffic light has changed up ahead, coast to a stop. Don't stay on the accelerator up to the light.
5) If you go to a fast food restaurant, go inside to order. You can save a good bit of fuel by going inside and restarting your engine.
6) Consider public transportation. Unfortunately, Mobile does not have the best public transportation, but other cities do and can be used to decongest the roads and save fuel.
7) Recycle. In 2006, Americans spent nearly $11 billion on over 8 billion gallons of bottled water, then tossed 22 billion empty plastic bottles into the trash. In bottle production alone, more than 70 million bottles of water consumed each day in the US uses 1.5 million barrels of oil over the course of one year.
Every ton of aluminum that is recycled saves about 37 barrels of oil. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to power a 100 watt light bulb for 20 hours. Recycling one ton of glass saves 9 gallons of fuel (oil). Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, 7,000 gallons of water and 4,100 kilowatt hours of electricity - enough energy to power the average American home for 5 months. Recycling 1 ton of newspaper saves 15 mature trees. Every day, Americans buy 62 million newspapers and throw out 44 million. That's the equivalent of dumping 500,000 trees into a landfill every week. One ton of high-grade recyclable paper can substitute for approximately 3 tons of wood in making new paper products. Every year more than 900 million trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills. Recycling 1 ton of plastic can save 1-2 thousand gallons of gas. 1 ton of recycled steel saves the energy equivalent of 3.6 barrels of oil, and 1.49 tons of iron ore over the production of new steel.
New research shows that drinking a bottle of water has the same impact on the environment as driving a car for a kilometer. The production of a bottle of water generates up to 600 times more CO2 than a liter of tap water.
Water aside, the plastic used in both single-use and reusable bottles can pose more of a contamination threat than the water. A safe plastic if used only once, #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) is the most common resin used in disposable bottles. However, as #1 bottles are reused, which they commonly are, they can leach chemicals such as DEHA, a known carcinogen, and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential hormone disrupter. According to the January 2006 Journal of Environmental Monitoring, some PET bottled-water containers were found to leach antimony, an elemental metal that is an eye, skin, and lung irritant at high doses. Also, because the plastic is porous you'll likely get a swill of harmful bacteria with each gulp if you reuse #1 plastic bottles.
I know this is all idealistic, but maybe one day it will begin to become mainstream thought.
Anyway, here is the video of Paul questioning Bernanke on CNBC 2008-02-27:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yybFGh1sUcQ
Some links where research was pulled:
http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/121/bottle
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/02/17/eawater117.xml
I'll give some tips on how to extend your fuel mileage right now, without having to do anything under the hood of your vehicle, without putting anything into your fuel tank, and even without anything drastic on your part.
1) This is obvious, minimize your driving. If you can walk somewhere, do it. If you want to go pick up a burger on the corner, maybe stay in and cook something at home or walk.
2) Car pool. Sometimes I count how many individuals I see driving a SUV alone. It doesn't take long for me to top 100 and quit.
3) Accelerate gently from a traffic light or stop sign. I have personally extended the mileage I get out of a tank of fuel by 50-70 miles just by doing this.
4) Be wary of your brakes. If a traffic light has changed up ahead, coast to a stop. Don't stay on the accelerator up to the light.
5) If you go to a fast food restaurant, go inside to order. You can save a good bit of fuel by going inside and restarting your engine.
6) Consider public transportation. Unfortunately, Mobile does not have the best public transportation, but other cities do and can be used to decongest the roads and save fuel.
7) Recycle. In 2006, Americans spent nearly $11 billion on over 8 billion gallons of bottled water, then tossed 22 billion empty plastic bottles into the trash. In bottle production alone, more than 70 million bottles of water consumed each day in the US uses 1.5 million barrels of oil over the course of one year.
Every ton of aluminum that is recycled saves about 37 barrels of oil. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to power a 100 watt light bulb for 20 hours. Recycling one ton of glass saves 9 gallons of fuel (oil). Recycling one ton of paper saves 17 trees, 3 cubic yards of landfill space, 2 barrels of oil, 7,000 gallons of water and 4,100 kilowatt hours of electricity - enough energy to power the average American home for 5 months. Recycling 1 ton of newspaper saves 15 mature trees. Every day, Americans buy 62 million newspapers and throw out 44 million. That's the equivalent of dumping 500,000 trees into a landfill every week. One ton of high-grade recyclable paper can substitute for approximately 3 tons of wood in making new paper products. Every year more than 900 million trees are cut down to provide raw materials for American paper and pulp mills. Recycling 1 ton of plastic can save 1-2 thousand gallons of gas. 1 ton of recycled steel saves the energy equivalent of 3.6 barrels of oil, and 1.49 tons of iron ore over the production of new steel.
New research shows that drinking a bottle of water has the same impact on the environment as driving a car for a kilometer. The production of a bottle of water generates up to 600 times more CO2 than a liter of tap water.
Water aside, the plastic used in both single-use and reusable bottles can pose more of a contamination threat than the water. A safe plastic if used only once, #1 polyethylene terephthalate (PET or PETE) is the most common resin used in disposable bottles. However, as #1 bottles are reused, which they commonly are, they can leach chemicals such as DEHA, a known carcinogen, and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential hormone disrupter. According to the January 2006 Journal of Environmental Monitoring, some PET bottled-water containers were found to leach antimony, an elemental metal that is an eye, skin, and lung irritant at high doses. Also, because the plastic is porous you'll likely get a swill of harmful bacteria with each gulp if you reuse #1 plastic bottles.
I know this is all idealistic, but maybe one day it will begin to become mainstream thought.
Anyway, here is the video of Paul questioning Bernanke on CNBC 2008-02-27:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yybFGh1sUcQ
Some links where research was pulled:
http://www.thegreenguide.com/doc/121/bottle
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/earth/main.jhtml?xml=/earth/2008/02/17/eawater117.xml
Labels: Government, Rant
posted by Brian Wright at 11:59 PM
2 comments
