Bike commuters CO2 production

I heard recently someone declare, on CBC radios 'crosscountry checkup' (mp3 of that program on the proposed carbon tax), that a meat eating bicycle commuter produces more carbon emissions than a vegetarian SUV commuter. Turns out its not quite true according to this calculation investigating the exact same claim. However it is quite shocking how energy intensive a omnivorous diet actually is in this day of industrialized agriculture. Basically a full vegan diet saves about 1.5 tonnes of carbon emissions, while an SUV can produce over 3 tonnes of carbon emissions. So it's actually close enough that it depends on how long your commute actually is. I guess this leaves the question, could you do both? Probably not since vegetarians are so notoriously physically weak. I have yet to see one on UFC.
BTW check out how great a site New Zealand has for consumer information about choosing a good vehicle with safety, fuel economy and emissions as criteria. Compare this to the only equivalent Canadian site I could find.

It's not easy being green

A proposed City of Ottawa bylaw prohibiting excessive idling of vehicles is about to be sent to committee for review. If the law is adopted, anybody who leaves thier car idling for longer than 3 minutes (with certain exceptions) could face heavy fines beginning in September. Current city anti-idling law falls under noise bylaws. Opponents of the proposal argue money is better spent on planting trees and other green initiatives than a difficult to enforce law. The new bylaw hopes to curb emissions, but for the average person there's more than just the environment to think about, but also your pocketbook as the cost of fuel wasted while stopped at the curbside can easily exceed $100 annually (not much, but enough to cover at least one ticket under the new bylaw). Of course if you drive a hybrid car, you don't have much to worry, unless you live in Georgia.

Prius owners in Georgia are discovering that their cars aren't road worthy, at least by letter of the law. Part of the emissions test used collects exhaust samples from an idling vehicle, since the combustion engine in a hybrid shuts off when idling, the Prius registers an aborted test and fails. Owners still have to pay the $25 testing fee. This strikes me as another case of the law (or in this case the test) failing to keep up with new, green tech.

The sting for hybrid car adopters doesn't end there. As mentioned at the recent recording of Bayblab Podcast Episode 8 (in press), governments are offering financial incentives to 'go green' in the form of tax rebates. Prospective buyers shouldn't get too excited about that just yet. The credit is on the taxes paid, so trade-ins and leases can expect to see far less than the advertised rebate amount. It's a similar scenario in the US where a non-refundable tax credit is offered, meaning that if your tax liability is less than the advertised rebate after applying all other credits, that's all you get (discussion forum).

Finally, it should be noted that not all hybrid vehicles are created equal. There are a number of hybrid technologies out there. Some, like Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive, are full hybrid drivetrains can run on just the combustion engine, just the batteries or both. Other cars advertised as hybrid may be so-called 'mild hybrids', which can't drive in a full electric mode but rather just shut off the engine when stopping or coasting resulting in a 10-20% improvement in fuel efficiency. These are otherwise essentially conventional vehicles, but still bear the hybrid mark.

This Just In: The Earth is Getting Wamer

Maybe it's the fact that winter just doesn't seem to be happening this year (what, no tobagganing??!!), or maybe its the impact of Al Gore's movie An Inconvenient Truth. Whatever the reason, it seems that even the most skeptical of the powers-that-be are finally coming to grips with the fact the global waming is really happening as it becomes an increasingly important issue in public opinion. Despite the obvious reality of global waming I've found some recent happenings pleasantly shocking and maybe even historical (if a little too late):

• Just today, multinational oil mogul Exxon has announced a reversal of its longtime denial stance, cutting its funding to the "global waming's not happening" think tanks (such as the Competitive Enterprise Institute, which only last year was running those infamous "carbon dioxide is life" ads), and joining greenhouse gas reduction talks being sponsored by Resources for the Future. This may well be in response to recent moves by the now democrat-controlled US congress to introduce anti-greenhouse legislation.

• Likewise, global warming has been taking centre stage in Canadian politics. It seems like a serious committment to climate change will be a cornerstone of newly elected Liberal leader Stephan Dion's platform in the next federal election, and more recently even the Conservatives have been getting proactive. After last week's cabinet shuffle, new Environment Minister John Baird's first move has been to publicly accept global warming and the need to act on climate change. This is pretty much an about face from the "scrap/sabotage Kyoto" message the government was getting out under the gong show that was previous minister Rona Ambrose.

• Of course, now that everyone seems to be getting on the same page, it may already be too late to change the course of global warming. But not to worry, our government is working to make sure the Canadian economy capitalizes. Talk is reviving these days about opening up an Arctic shipping route operating from Russia and China to Churchill, Manitoba on the Hudson Bay. This idea has been around for a while, as the northern route is shorter but blocked by ice through most of the year. However the Russians are now saying they have the icebreaking technology to get through, plus, as some point out, global warming will solve the ice problem soon enough anyway. Like it or not, the port of Churchill is likely to open up for international business as "The Gateway to North America" eventually, leading to a huge shift in the demographic, economic and environmental landscape of Canada. Currently, Churchill consists of 1, 100 people and at least as many polar bears.