Coming back after a short break and then catching up with work I am applying my mind to issues of the day and something caught my eye.
Saving the planet with a Hummer, is this total madness? Well maybe not entirely. The instant reaction must be that my short break has destroyed my judgement. To be frank I am not seriously advocating buying gas guzzlers to reduce carbon emissions, nor am I embarking on a crusade to save an iconic brand much favoured by footballers and Arnold Schwarzenegger. What prompted the thought was an article I recently read about biofuels.
The thing about Hummers and similar vehicles is that they use a lot of petrol or diesel and chug away throwing out lots of CO2 so are understandably the target of much criticism, although perhaps not quite so much as a result of the snow in December and January where they were literally life savers. Biofuels on the other hand are believed to be environmentally friendly but this is where our judgement of things in isolation may get the final answer wrong.
I have long criticised the opinions held about 4x4 cars with large engines. My main point is these vehicles, by the very nature of the way they are built, usually have a long life. Just think about all those very old Land Rovers you see still going strong. The correct measure should take account of manufacture and life expectancy not just fuel consumption. Doing this gives a somewhat different result.
Back to biofuels. In isolation fuel made from sustainable resources is a good idea and to produce such fuels as an alternative to and replacement of fossil fuels is on the surface welcome. OK so far. There is however a big but and it is this. To clear forest for oil palm plantations entails burning a lot of trees releasing carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. The loss of the trees means a valuable resource for carbon absorption is gone. The result is a negative impact on the environment which could take many hundreds of years to balance out through carbon savings resulting from the biofuels produced.
Do not despair unless you own forest you wish to cut down to plant oil palms. If you have land that is otherwise available the production of suitable feedstock for the production of biofuels is to be welcomed and can be a good business proposition.
Meanwhile there will be no more humming as GM has failed to sell Hummer or have they…….