Sorry, these tiny 'improvements' (3.8%!!!) in the design of cars and other machines are a joke in relation to the changes we are going to need to adopt to make a real difference. Even the most eco aware and caring industries (except the makers of solar panels) tend to introduce these pointless modifications simply to make a statement - it's good PR.
Even if every auto manufacturer on the planet was to convert to Hybrid high efficiency technology overnight, it is too late. Remember just how much energy is being consumed to make our machines.
Just as society as a whole needs a radical 're-boot', so heavy industry needs to change radically. Else we're toast, or if we trigger an ice age, bread.
The key is near-organic technology that far closer emulates nature.
Dude, We all have to start somewhere. Even if its a 3.8% increase, its better than no increase at all. I applaud them at least trying to make improvements in efficiency.
"Dude, We all have to start somewhere. Even if its a 3.8% increase, its better than no increase at all. I applaud them at least trying to make improvements in efficiency."
In reality it's more of a marketing ploy than anything else. They can now say in their commercials that they're the only car company with 'Thermal Dynamic Recapturerers' that improve efficiency or whatever catch phrase they choose.
Mark Global Warming CAUSES Global Cooling. Not in the time frame that you saw in alarmist tripe like Day After Tomorrow, but it does happen. Its all about the oceans. That is what is going to fuck us long term.
Some of the responses are a bit harsh for no real reason. Honda has done quite a bit of research in hydrogen extraction, handling, and usage; this is just another engineering exercise to see if there's something worth re-capturing. Many times, just mapping something out on paper and punching in the numbers just isn't as good as actually building and developing the model. I can't even point out how many times we've tested and deployed systems only to find differences in the reality of the system that taught us a lot. Marketing exercise? Hardly.
All-electric would be great, but if you wanted to produce a product (especially one so dependent on volume to reduce cost) you would want to make sure that as many locations as possible can support it. I bet there's quite a bit of concern with loading up the power grids all over the place with thousands of these things at this time. But, with gas engines and regenerative braking providing the juice, they can get some real mileage under the batteries, motors, controllers, and other subsystems that would be shared with all-electric brethren. Now, is that all bad?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Wonderkid @ Feb 19th 2008 7:42PM
Sorry, these tiny 'improvements' (3.8%!!!) in the design of cars and other machines are a joke in relation to the changes we are going to need to adopt to make a real difference. Even the most eco aware and caring industries (except the makers of solar panels) tend to introduce these pointless modifications simply to make a statement - it's good PR.
Even if every auto manufacturer on the planet was to convert to Hybrid high efficiency technology overnight, it is too late. Remember just how much energy is being consumed to make our machines.
Just as society as a whole needs a radical 're-boot', so heavy industry needs to change radically. Else we're toast, or if we trigger an ice age, bread.
The key is near-organic technology that far closer emulates nature.
Mark @ Feb 19th 2008 8:13PM
Global cooling is so 1970's, get with the program: the popular phenomenon is now global warming.
Tech Guy @ Feb 19th 2008 9:25PM
Dude, We all have to start somewhere. Even if its a 3.8% increase, its better than no increase at all. I applaud them at least trying to make improvements in efficiency.
Reader @ Feb 19th 2008 10:42PM
"Dude, We all have to start somewhere. Even if its a 3.8% increase, its better than no increase at all. I applaud them at least trying to make improvements in efficiency."
In reality it's more of a marketing ploy than anything else. They can now say in their commercials that they're the only car company with 'Thermal Dynamic Recapturerers' that improve efficiency or whatever catch phrase they choose.
Jon Doe. @ Feb 19th 2008 11:20PM
Mark Global Warming CAUSES Global Cooling. Not in the time frame that you saw in alarmist tripe like Day After Tomorrow, but it does happen. Its all about the oceans. That is what is going to fuck us long term.
Student Driver @ Feb 20th 2008 12:39AM
Some of the responses are a bit harsh for no real reason. Honda has done quite a bit of research in hydrogen extraction, handling, and usage; this is just another engineering exercise to see if there's something worth re-capturing. Many times, just mapping something out on paper and punching in the numbers just isn't as good as actually building and developing the model. I can't even point out how many times we've tested and deployed systems only to find differences in the reality of the system that taught us a lot. Marketing exercise? Hardly.
All-electric would be great, but if you wanted to produce a product (especially one so dependent on volume to reduce cost) you would want to make sure that as many locations as possible can support it. I bet there's quite a bit of concern with loading up the power grids all over the place with thousands of these things at this time. But, with gas engines and regenerative braking providing the juice, they can get some real mileage under the batteries, motors, controllers, and other subsystems that would be shared with all-electric brethren. Now, is that all bad?