Gloves, they are highly recommended for pumping gas!

What I want to know is why Matilda took 10.5 gallons of gas to fill
yesterday when I had only driven 116 miles since the last fill.  But then I
did 200 from DC to NJ on half a tank.  You go figure.

Okay, I virtuously held off on the gas price discussion until Friday, since
as correctly pointed out by many of you, it was definitely off topic.  But
now...

Bicycles, folks, that's the way to go.  Good for the health, good for the
environment, reduces demand for fuel, reduces traffic congestion.

And reducing consumption is the way to go, since obviously biking isn't
always a viable alternative.

There's no good technology on the horizon that will give us cost-free,
GHG-free, political-instability-free, Iraq-war-free, risk-free energy.  Fuel
cells sound cool, but until we figure out how to synthesize hydrogen, they
consume more energy and produce more pollution than they generate.  Ditto
for crop-based energy sources.  Gas or petroleum-fired power plants also
consume far more energy than they generate, by about 2:1.  Combined heat and
power reduces the waste, but still the plants consume more energy than the
resulting electricity.  Nuclear doesn't have that disadvantage, but it
obviously has many others.  Natural gas is less polluting than petroleum,
but we are running out, due to major increases in investment in gas-fired
power plants over the past decade or so.  Solar is good but EXPENSIVE!  Time
frame for the investment to pay off is very long.

Reducing energy consumption, and all consumption, seems to me like the best
way to go on this one.  Especially as Americans, since we consume far more
per capita than most of the rest of the world.  I don't know what the best
way is to do that, though I've mulled it over a lot.  (I won't bore you with
the details, if you're interested my musings have a look at my website.)
The places to start seems to me to be:

-   consuming as little housing and land as possible,
-   living densely so the distances required for everyday trips are small
(sprawl is evil, five-acre lots are terrible, McMansions are energy demons),
-   buying used things whenever you can so we aren't using up more materials
making new stuff while we throw out the old ones,
-   recycling,
-   buying organic,
-   taking the bus or the train instead of driving,
-   riding the bike instead of driving,
-   walking instead of driving,
-   and so on.

It's not a win-win solution - the alternatives to cars are time-consuming,
deciding to consume less can be hard, buying organic is expensive.  Deciding
to do it isn't easy or always fun.

But it's worth thinking about, especially since we're all driving these
gas-guzzling Vanagons.  I'm at least hoping that when on the road I'll be
able to plant Matilda someplace, and while staying in one place I can get
around on my bike.  We'll see if it works.  Actually, it's such a hassle to
pack up all my stuff and unpop the top so I can drive without objects flying
around, that I just might use my bike because cleaning up the inside of my
van is too much trouble!  :-)

Okay, enough raving for one Friday!

Joy

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Dr. Joy E. Hecht
Consultant on Environmental Policy and Information
jhecht@alum.mit.edu
1-202-494-1162
http://users.rcn.com/jhecht/gypsy
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]On Behalf
Of Kim Brennan
Sent: Friday, February 27, 2004 2:31 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Things that irk me on my vanagon

Okay, so I needed gas on one of my Syncros. I was in a hurry (of
course), but the gas guage was reading below empty.

I pull and start pumping. First cut off is 15.5 gallons. Well I know I
can almost always squeeze in another gallon after first cut off. So I
switch to trickle mode, despite the high cutting winds.

Did I mention I was in a hurry?

Second cut off is at 16.6 gallons. Yaah, but I had squeezed too hard
and was pumping gas too fast. So resumed trickle mode.

The wind was really cold and I wasn't wearing gloves. I really wanted
to go faster (being in a hurry and all), but last time I got gas I
overfilled (overflowed a little out the gas inlet.) So I had to take my
time.

A bit later on (hands frozen to gas pump) I'm past 17 gallons. Trickle
mode stays going. I glance under vehicle making sure I'm not leaking
from unknown holes in tank. You know I'm in a hurry here of course.

Trickle, trickle. Final (!) cut off is at 18.58 gallons. Hmm. On my
18.5 gallon syncro tank. Hmm. I think I drove to the gas station on
fumes. This is what you get from being in a hurry.

PS. My hand is still thawing out.