by ballistic 23 Replies latest jw friends
Simon:
the very selfish self-interest groups of farmers and hauliers - both of which seem to exist just to get in the damn way on what should be decent roads.
I can't think of any groups that need to be on the road more - or where exactly do you think all the food in your supermarket comes from?
From what I know reducing the amount of oil used in Europe won't help much if China and India continue developing at the current rate. All we can do is stagnate our economies and give them an additional advantage. Of course "the West" has been using huge amounts of oil so far without giving a rat's ass about it.
It's like the situation with rain forests with coutries which have already destroyed them exerting pressure on the developing countries to start thinking about the global ecosystem and using their own resources wisely. LOL.
Pole
I've started changing my driving habits too.... easy on the pedal, trying to squeeze whatever 'extra' mileage I can.
Me too... I'm going easy on the gas pedal and I'm keeping it at or below 60 MPH using the cruse control. No more zooming around at 80 for me!
I read an article that suggested these things...
http://money.cnn.com/2005/09/01/Autos/tipsandadvice/gas_saving_test/
I can't think of any groups that need to be on the road more - or where exactly do you think all the food in your supermarket comes from?
I think most major freight should be moved by rail with local hops on the road. If they insist on going by road then they should go at night, not at peak times when people are trying to go to work.
Same with farmers - they drive tractors on bloody dual carriageways and splatter the road with mud - they are a MENACE.
Cruise control makes a big difference to economy (as long as it's not set to 95MPH!). Maybe I'm getting old but I tend to watch the MPG needle more than the MPH needle lately.
That article is good, esp the bit about accelerating. My thinking is that if you need to brake then you have wasted the fuel you spent getting up to that speed. Unless you *really* need to get in front of something then getting back up to speed quickly is also a waste.
The route I take to work has quite a few long / fast stretches with the odd roundabout as well. If the roads are quiet then I will try decelerating without braking and judging it so I can ideally just come to a stop on the line. Managed it once (not bad when you start slowing down from 70MPH and have to start quite a way ahead).
Most modern cars dont use fuel under engine-braking such as when slowing down in-gear or going downhill (this is whil constant speed cruise control is more efficient than speeding up going downhill and slowing down going up)
Simon... you have a car has an indicator that tells you how many miles you have left?
Yeah, it's very handy. Gives me MPG and average MPH as well ... it helps pass the long milage by trying to break the previous "record".
My very first card had no (or a broken) fuel gauge which was, erm ... "challenging"
think most major freight should be moved by rail with local hops on the road. If they insist on going by road then they should go at night, not at peak times when people are trying to go to work.
Simon... it does. Tons of stuff moves by rail...daily. Do you know what locomotives run on? OIL! Diesel fuel powers the generators that power the electric traction motors. Steam was out of business back in the 40's for the most part.
I will give up my farm equipment... go back to 40 acres and work it with horses. YOU, best pal, get to decide who can eat. I will...it's my food until I sell it to market. The rest of you folks dont have that luxury.
OIL prices move the bottom line of everything we consume.
~Hill
I will give up my farm equipment... go back to 40 acres and work it with horses. YOU, best pal, get to decide who can eat. I will...it's my food until I sell it to market. The rest of you folks dont have that luxury.
I think farming in the UK is *very* different to farming in the US, esp. the equipment and how it's transported. Unless you have followed a tractor round little country lanes for 40 minutes while it refuses to pull over to let some traffic past, you really don't know how annoying they can be.
I have no objection to produce being moved by rail or road, I just hate when people are inconsiderate when they drive (such as one semi taking 5 miles to gradually overtake another and hold everyone else up).
I think farming in the UK is *very* different to farming in the US, esp. the equipment and how it's transported. Unless you have followed a tractor round little country lanes for 40 minutes while it refuses to pull over to let some traffic past, you really don't know how annoying they can be.
No..not really. The row crop equipment we used to export to the UK and the stuff we all import now days is very similar. For the last 30 years just about all tillage equipment is big enough to block a lane in transist.
FYI much of the farming done in the US and Canada is done pretty close to nice sized towns... even some good sized 'metro' areas have big farms within 20 km. It's called being close to market...keeps those nasty shipping prices down.
Simon...one of my most perverse pleasures is driving a combine down a 2 lane road in the middle of the day.
For the taxes I pay on my land it's a naughty fetish I hope I wont have to give up.
~Hill
Maybe it's our roads that are too different?
I know I have been behind farm machinery in the US/Canada and it is *not* the same as when you are behind it on little country lanes (ie. no stright bits so you can't safely overtake).
Oh, and I was brought up on a farm driving tractors in case you wondered !
