Fuel price fallout

Here at Flow, we’re as aware as anyone that fuel prices drive much more than the cost of fuelling up your car. We’ve mentioned these rising prices again, and again, and again, in noting that, simply: as fuel prices continue to rise (and rise, and rise), something else happens as a result.

The bottom line is that rising fuel prices have spillover consequences across the board, from increased prices for consumer goods to reduced demand for gas-guzzling vehicles. But while some of these rising costs are intuitive, others are either more subtle or, at least, more unexpected. Here, then, are three consequences of rising gas prices that you might not have considered.

(As for the rest, we’ll keep you posted. After all, in a world fuelled by, well, fuel, there’s never any shortage of energy news.)

Fewer fatalities
According to researchers at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, “For every 10 per cent rise in gas prices, fatalities are reduced by 2.3 percent.” And as if those numbers weren’t impressive enough, reductions are even higher among teen drivers.

With the report’s authors, Drs. Michael Morrisey David Grabowski, tracing the lowered fatalities to lower vehicle use and speed (a measure that’s long been known to both improve engine efficiency), the findings prove that there’s something to be said for drivers being forced to use their dangerous vehicles less. And while drivers aren’t likely to cheer higher prices for the fuel they use, it’s difficult to argue with results.

More online visitors
One of the tips often supplied as a counter to the emission-producing problem of international travel is carbon offsetting, but a more basic method is simply avoiding travel altogether. With improved telecommunications technologies, most would-be travelers can simply videoconference their way into a face-to-face meeting, or gather all the information they need online.

For students, as cited in the linked New York Times article above, online classes have long been a way to avoid any number of unpleasant physical realities like overcrowded classrooms and that troublesome Delta House. Delta House!!

In Canada, online schools like Athabasca University boast benefits like flexible schedules and space (i.e, wherever you’d like to be). And with fuel prices making a drive to school prohibitive, the attraction of those benefits is bound to draw more students from brick and mortar to bandwidth and mouse.

Fewer suburbanites

Urban sprawl continues to shuttle millions of Canadians back and forth between their suburban homes and downtown workplaces , resulting in homes being directly responsible for increasing vehicle use. But as that vehicle use becomes more and more costly, the real value of those homes begins to decline even more precipitously than it already is.

For some critics , this is just one of the many secondary benefits of increasing fuel prices — increasing the real costs of things whose cost was otherwise hidden. Now suburbanites, in addition to finding a home with the requisite square footage and master-bedroom-accessible-bathroom, have to consider the cost of their daily commute as well.

Feeling gassy?

You’ve heard this: We are all hothouse tomatoes, trapped under invisible, gaseous glass and if we don’t stay green we’re going to go overripe faster than you can say ketchup. What’s more, you’re probably aware that the invisible gases fuelling our environmental woes are being tackled with emissions standards, cap-and-trade carbon credits and carbon taxes.

So, since you know all of that, a few simple questions: Do you really know what a greenhouse gas is?

Can you name one? Two? Six? Do you know when and where you produce them?

Well, if you can’t, have no fear; Flow is here to give you the basic whats and wheres of greenhouse gases. After all, they’re as tricky as substances can be. For one, they’re all invisible.

According to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the four primary greenhouse gases under the Kyoto Protocol are carbon dioxide, nitrous oxide, methane, and ozone (144KB PDF), with each of them assigned a numeric “Global Warming Potential” (GWT) value. The remaining three, all man-made, are sulfur hexafluoride, hydrofluorocarbons and perfluorocarbons.

Below are a few examples of where your actions may have produced some of these tomato-shriveling gases.

Carbon dioxide (CO2)
Where: Your soda
Car exhaust, feedlots, industrial pollution, fossil fuels. Carbon dioxide is the dominant greenhouse gas for a reason—it’s in almost everything we burn, and it’s what we exhale. It’s so common, and because it’s impractical to suggest we all stop breathing, for now let’s concentrate on the C02 that makes those little fizzing bubbles in our Mountain Dew.

Nitrous oxide (N2O)
Where: Your steak
Before your sirloin was medium-rare, it was so rare that it walked, mooed and produced nitrogen-rich manure. Vegetarians aren’t off the hook either, especially if the plants they eat were grown with nitrous fertilizers. If there’s a plus side to animal waste, though, it’s that it doesn’t need to be wasted.

Methane (CH4)
Where: Your trash
Along with CO2, methane is one of the two gases found in “landfill gas”, which smells as appetizing as it sounds. But new energy techniques are trapping this noxious gas and turning it into viable fuel that, when burned, leaves only CO2.

Ozone (O3)
Where: Your car
In fairness to your car, ozone pollution isn’t all its fault. But when its exhaust comes in contact with so-called “volatile organic compounds” in the air, ground-level ozone is created. And while Canadians may be committed to stopping the depletion of the ozone layer, those added ozone gases aren’t helping.

Sulfur hexafluoride (SF6)
Where: Your magic
As far as direct contributions, you’re probably safe here. Short of the electrical industry, which uses the gas to insulate high voltage circuit breakers, the closest you’re likely to come to releasing sulfur hexafluoride is when you decide to wow your friends with your incredibly low voice and magical powers. But while you might not be a burgeoning magician, you certainly do use the magic of electricity every day.

Hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs)
Where: Your cold air
What would summer be without the comforting cold of an air conditioner? Well, for starters, it would see a lot fewer HFCs, which are used in air conditioning units. And before you rush off for your backup popsicle, just remember that your freezer is chock full of HFCs too.

Perfluorocarbons (PFCs)
Where: Your foil
If you’re a fencer and read “foil” with horror, relax: This is the kind of foil that wraps up leftovers, not competitions. PFCs are released during the process of turning alumina into aluminum, a metal you’ve used if you’ve ever had brisket left over to wrap up or used virtually any other modern metal convenience.

Seven greenhouse gases and seven familiar ways we generate them in our daily lives. Their effects are varied, but in addition to their eponymous greenhouse effect, they’re also known to increase the acidity of our oceans. And since the gases clearly aren’t just generated in the limited fields of soda, magic or food wrappings, it’s important to understand exactly how and where they are produced, and how the industries responsible for generating greenhouse gases are dealing with them.

It’s always better to understand the ways your energy use affects the world you live, because even if you’re behind on your reading there’s always time to “ketchup”.

Hot air and emission-free cars

When Honda announced the launch of its prototype hydrogen car, the FCX Clarity, the revving noise of Internet traffic was practically deafening.

Short of an auto section’s front page, a product launch isn’t necessarily the kind of story that grabs much attention (unless, for example, someone leaks your release schedule for the next five years). But with the added green sheen of an alternative power source, suddenly the launch of another car is news worth reading.

And to richen the pot, Honda also attached a trend even more tried-and-true than environmentalism: celebrity obsession.

Though the $100,000 vehicles aren’t technically for sale, Honda’s first five lessees include film producer Ron Yerxa, actress Jamie Lee Curtis and her husband, mockumentarian Christopher Guest. Shelling out $600 a month for the privilege, these celebrities are hardly the first to attach themselves publicly to a vehicle, joining luminaries like Mr. Universe cum Mr. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In fact, as a recent article in the Los Angeles Times shows, low or zero-emission cars are already de rigueur fashion symbols for LA’s celebrity set, with stars clamouring for the chance to own hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles. But the same article showcases one of the pitfalls of placing image-driven celebs at the forefront of green technologies: the addictive allure of the bright and shiny.

Paul Haggis, for example, is noted to have four Toyota Priuses. While this means that the writer/director of Crash owns four fuel efficient and low-emission vehicles, it also means that he has quadrupled his contribution to the construction process, which isn’t emission free, to say nothing of his desire for still more vehicles.

Honda itself acknowledges that future lessees won’t all be celebrities, with some contracts available to the common folk. Which is good, because if the rich and famous can have as many motorized fashion accessories as they could take who knows how many would have been left?

Get on the bus, Gus’

As the summer travel season gears up, Canada’s motor coach companies (“buses,” for those of us who aren’t up on current four-wheel lingo) want to remind you that buses are as cheap and environmentally friendly as splitting a sundae with Elizabeth May. (It isn’t their chosen metaphor, but May definitely does make those glasses work for her, doesn’t she?)

Noting that a long-distance bus ride uses about one quarter as much fuel as the same trip alone in a car, Motor Coach Canada may be making a sales pitch with a bit of green gloss but there’s no denying that when it comes to fuel efficiency it’s the more the merrier. And it doesn’t take a trip to from Sooke to Cape Breton to reap the benefits of economy either.

According to Resource Canada, “a single city bus can take 40 vehicles off the road, save 10,646 litres of fuel, and reduce annual greenhouse gas emissions by 25 tonnes.” What’s more, Calgary has already bolstered the existing economy of their transit fleets with green power for their rail transit. But wind power or no, transit remains a common sense environmental pitch that bears repeating: ride with a friend.

Elizabeth, call me.

Word on the street – scooters are “in”

Let’s face it – fuel prices are driving us up the wall! At an average price of $1.27/litre or so, it’s no surprise that Canadians are looking for a new, more fuel-efficient, way to get around.

That’s where scooters come in. More than just an easy way for seniors to get to the post office – these gas-saving, guzzle-free two-wheelers are the hot eco-friendly, moneysaving way to get around town. Forget about those husky, heavy SUVs. According to Ideal Bite, eco-friendly scooters not only consume gasoline at a dramatically lower rate, they also produce up to 80 per cent less C02 than their four-wheel counterparts.

But before you scoot to commute, beware – some scooters are more eco-friendly then others. If that scooter you’re diggin’ has a two-stroke instead of a four-stroke engine, it will likely produce more emissions, consume more gas and oil and be harder to care for. Also be wary of zero-emission or electric scooters. Although they don’t produce emissions directly, don’t forget it takes energy to power the scooters.

So if you’re looking to ditch the high gas bills, look into a scooter. It’s a vehicle alternative that’s fashionable, fun and fuel-efficient.

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