Many Happy Returns

Today will be our last full day in Minnesota. We are watching a growing Chicken of the Woods, one of the kind we found last year, with hopes to eat it tonight. It will not travel. My camera has died, or more specifically, it has finally been put down due to the E18 error -simply, dirt in the lens mechanism. Who should expect dirt in the lens mechanism? A blogging gardener.

Our trip is never long enough, so full of house repair, car repair, it is never all done. I drove the Ford 8N for the first time. Wow, me on a tractor. I get ideas. I'd like to go canoeing on one of the lakes before tomorrow, but that is seeming less and less likely -I should be doing that, not internetting at the coffee shop.  Tomorrow, am, we head out towards Iowa. Taking the scenic route, passing Laura Ingalls Wilder place, destination Seed Savers Exchange headquarters and farm. Camping on the Volga River, then a visit to the University where I will have an exhibit next winter. After that, we rocket home in our trusty minivan, which will turn 170,000 this return trip. Here's to reliability.

What will the gardens hold in store for us upon our return? Will do my best to find out before my return to work. Happy Fourth, but then, happy first too.

The Corner

One of the several late nights of the last week, I walked down our sidewalk to notice our neighbor standing outside after 2 am. I thought it was odd. As it turns out, the next morning I notice him out once again, with broom, and his chain-link mashed down. Betsy filled me in.

Maybe it's obvious, but for the telling, a car had plowed into the corner opposite my side yard garden. My neighbor plants vegetables and herbs there, and she had just finished bird-netting the whole thing to keep the neighborhood gang of cats out. But it wasn't enough to keep out a car. This scenario is one of our most talked about corner topics. The cars zoom down the one way street and never even notice the stop sign, just plow through the intersection with the other street, which has no stop sign. I see dozens of cars do the same thing. I imagine them swerving in my direction, hitting the light pole which will slam down on me like a falling tree. The other day I was crossing, a large black car was zooming down, and I stopped and put my hand out, in that traffic cop manner, yelling stop sign, and the guy begrudgingly stops mid-intersection, then rolls down his window and spits out "You got a suicide wish." It's time for the DOT and their crawling bureaucracy to get involved. Or maybe I'll paint STOP on the road one night.

Meanwhile in the side yard, a shady nook moment.

The repotted sage has decided to bloom for the first time, and I've decided to let it.

I Just Got My Car Greenwashed

I went to press day at the NY International Auto Show with my brother, who gets the passes as part of his business, which is cars. He stores classics, exotics, and just plain expensive at Bridgehampton Motoring Club and brokers these cars at SpecialtyCarSource. He and I have been arging about cars since we were boys sharing a room. I liked exotics, he liked muscle. Then we grew up. Now he likes all things expensive, sexy, powerful and I must admit to being more utilitarian in my car choices. The great thing about a show like this is, if you are looking to buy a car, you can sit in almost every make and model in one place. The sad thing about a show like this is that you can see in one swoop how our dedication to the over-powered, gas guzzling automobile has not changed at all.

I would say that there were two major themes at this year's presentation of the latest offerings by a world of automobile manufacturers: green lip service and nostalgia to the future.

I have to hand it to Chrysler (or whatever they are calling themselves since Fiat purchased the ailing company), they just put it right out there. Case in point is the Eco Style car -an ordinary Chrysler 300, but styled with cork, bamboo, and jute in natural colors! It still sports a 5.7 liter HEMI engine. We all know there's not much style in fuel efficiency. So top award goes to Chrysler for just calling it like it is -all style, no substance.

Put it on the plate baby.

You can see here the natural colors and, uh, cork trimmed door pocket.

I will give them props for their nostalgia car, the Dodge Challenger. Of the three American muscle cars, the Challenger seemed roomy, everyday drivable and I love the color -magenta sparkle.

Never before have I seen so many windmills, trees, flowers and blue sky backing up the image of the car manufacturers.

Nature has always been the backdrop of our automotive advertising: freedom, escape, the open road leads you to paradise and from the chaos of the wilderness. But this goes past that into greenwashing your psyche, boldly telling the customer that what they are buying is the clean, green future- not the same old gas burner on four wheels, but it really just is.

Almost every company was touting their hybrids, although most did not go as far as listing the mpg of their hybrid cars. That's because many of the new hybrids are designed to appeal to the conscience of the wealthy, not the average person's wallet or any sense of efficiency. Take the BMW 750i Active Hybrid, for example. Active is right at 455 hp, but nowhere is its fuel efficiency -the essence of a hybrid, listed.

I don't mean to single out BMW, because they all were doing it. In fact, when I did find mpg numbers for V8 powered cars, they were often higher than in previous years. This is because they are trying to raise their CAFE numbers, and why not up their averages by raising the low end. So we see Ford F150s getting 18/24 instead of 14/18 and large Mercedes getting the same.

The dash of a large Mercedes hybrid. Nostalgia to the Future -the classic look of 50's auto interior with the conscience clearing 'hybrid' applied front and center dash.

As for the little cars, they seem to be eking out all they can. I handily recall Honda CRXs getting 50 mpg in the late 80s, but there appears to be a new Civic hybrid coming that gets 42 mpg! Fiat had two new tiny cars that were plastered with eco this and that badges, but no mention of actual mpg anywhere. Not far away were the tiny two-seat SMART cars, getting what you won't believe -only 33/41! Criminy, I can get 37 highway in a four seat Corolla.

I think Toyota is right to call all this the "darker side of green." Although I could barely parse what this really meant in relation to their new Lexus hybrid, the CT300h.

They say it delivers extraordinary fuel efficiency, so why not tell us what that is? Nimble, yes.

Many of the car companies had 'zero emissions' concept cars, little more than husks of real cars that claim to run solely on batteries or with hydrogen fuel cells. They tend to look very similar to current small hatchbacks but with some futuristic looking touches to let us know that's where we're headed despite the overall bland package.

Nissan went as far as calling their concept 'Leaf,' as in turning over a new one, I suppose, because I cannot imagine that their car produces oxygen while consuming CO2 -now there's a concept.

I think this Mercedes summed up the Auto Show. Its 50% engine compartment, 25% passenger, 25% luggage. It has gullwing style doors like their mid-century models. It's sexy, cool, retro, and has little redeeming value.

I feel with some certainty that we have reached peak car design. Cars have essentially been the same for 20 years, with little design shifts this way or that. Some companies are looking back for their inspiration, but this just reinforces the sense that they do not know where to go, that the functionality of the personal automobile has not changed enough to allow the form to change in any significant way. Much of the efforts in car design over the last 20 years have been in increased horsepower and to some degree, safety from that same horsepower.

Millions, maybe billions of people depend on automobiles as an everyday tool to accomplish whatever needs to be accomplished. The image of the automobile has sunken so deep into our psyche that we barely notice its pure functionality, depending instead on its image to serve our ego. I, for one, am still waiting for the better designed tool for everyday use. I don't think I am alone in this.

What would an electric-powered, Apple car look like for city dwellers? The iCar. Couldn't VW make a small pick-up or van with a diesel-electric hybrid so that I could have a work vehicle that's using less instead of more? I think they could.

Winter Corn Harvest

The U.S. Congress recently passed a new energy bill. Its said to be historic, but dare I doubt some of its provisions. For one thing, 35 mpg by 2020 is not laudable. I would buy a car that gets 50-60 mpg on diesel fuel and this is nearly possible today. The ethanol provisions are more bothersome. Corn makes a less efficient fuel than gasoline. Think of all the fuel that goes into the process of growing corn, then figure the fuel going into making corn-based fuel, and then figure in the 30% drop in fuel efficiency of corn ethanol over gasoline. And in the end, we're still burning fuels. Bush says he will sign.

For about 10 years I had a 1977 Ford F250 with a 2 bbl, 400 c.i. big block engine. The bed was full size with a plastic liner. With 1500 pounds of steaming compost in the bed of that truck, I got 10 miles per gallon. I got 10 mpg even when it was empty.  

I loved that truck, but every passing year with it in NYC became more absurd and finally, I had to let it go. I sold to a young man moving to Vermont. They don't build them like that anymore, all steel inside and out. That truck had a lot less horsepower than most family cars do today.

The following letter about fuel efficient automobile technology is an open letter to the U.S. Congress from Tom and Ray Magliozzi -- of the National Public Radio show Car Talk.

Tom and Ray Magliozzi
Box 3500 Harvard Square
Cambridge MA 02238

Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming
United States House of Representatives
Washington DC 20515

October 25, 2007

To Chairman Ed Markey and Members of the Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming:

You are about to make a crucial decision that may be a turning point for our country. As you consider how high to raise our nation's CAFE standards, you are undoubtedly coming under a barrage of lobbying from various parties. Including us! The obvious question is, who do you believe?

On the one hand, you have people like Ed Markey, who's been trying to increase fuel economy for as long as we can remember. Admittedly, he's from Massachusetts. And yes, we've seen his haircut.

On the other hand, you have the automotive industry (i.e. car salesmen), whose ratings for honesty are below even those of Congress in public opinion surveys. Let's remember why:

In 1972, Ford President Lee Iacocca told you that if the "EPA does not suspend the catalytic converter rule, it will cause Ford to shut down." Hm. That wasn't exactly right on the money, was it?

A couple of years later, car makers were back in front of you guys, squealing over proposed new fuel economy standards. Chrysler Vice President of Engineering, Alan Loofborrow, predicted that imposing fuel economy standards might "outlaw a number of engine lines and car models including most full-size sedans and station wagons. It would restrict the industry to producing subcompact size cars-or even smaller ones-within five years." That thing got a Hemi, Alan?

As the industry triple-teamed Congress to keep America from improving fuel economy, a Ford Executive let fly this whopper: If CAFE became law, the move could result "in a Ford product line consisting either of all sub-Pinto sized vehicles..." Ask the man who drives an Expedition if that ever came to pass.

The onslaught of "we can't... it'll ruin us... you're denying Americans a choice of vehicles" begins every time we the people--through our elected representatives-try to bring the auto industry, kicking and screaming into the modern era. And every time, their predictions of motorized-skateboard futures have failed to materialize. Let us repeat that, because the historical record bears it out to a tee. Every single time they've resisted safety, environmental, or fuel economy regulations, auto industry predictions have turned out, in retrospect, to be fear-mongering bull-feathers.

Isn't it time we (you?) stop falling for this 50 year-long line of baloney?

The truth is, significantly higher average fuel economy can be achieved. In fact it's already being achieved. And if we don't push our own auto industry to set world class standards, they'll be beaten again by the Japanese, the Koreans, and, maybe even the Chinese, who will do it with or without U.S. Congressional action.

There are technologies aplenty that already exist that could be used to meet much higher CAFE standards.

* Hybrid-electric vehicles. Hybrids offer, in many cases, a 50% increase in mileage over gasoline versions of the same vehicles. GM just introduced a hybrid Chevy Tahoe, that reportedly gets better city mileage than a Toyota Camry.

* Clean diesel engines. With new, clean diesel fuel now mandated in America, expect a surge of clean diesel engines in the next three to five years that get 25% better fuel economy than their gasoline counterparts.

* Diesel-electric hybrids. Combine the advantages of hybrids with more efficient diesel engines.

* Turbo chargers and super chargers. These force additional air into cylinders to wring more power out of available fuel.

* Cylinder deactivation. Cylinders that are not needed at any given moment, are deactivated, and instantaneously reactivated as soon as the driver demands additional power. Widely available now.

* Plug-in, series hybrids. Now on the drawing boards, plug-in hybrids allow drivers to charge up overnight, when the electric grid is underused, and they'll handle most commutes without ever firing up their internal combustion engines.

* Automatic stop-start technology. At least one energy analyst we spoke to believes that this simple technology, in and of itself, could result in a 10% decrease in fuel use. It's already used in hybrid vehicles, foreign and domestic, and is on its way in more vehicles in the next couple of years.

* Higher voltage electrical systems. These save fuel by allowing energy draining systems, such as power steering, and air conditioning, to be run electrically, instead of by draining power from the engine and using fuel.

* Regenerative braking. Captures energy otherwise lost when the car slows down to give a further boost to on-board battery systems.

* Safe, lightweight materials. Lightweight steel, aluminum and carbon fiber panels reduce weight, allowing a smaller, more efficient engine to propel a car just as fast on less fuel.

* Better transmissions. Six speed automatic transmissions, widely available now from Ford and others, increase fuel economy by 5% and offer smoother acceleration. Mercedes has seven speeds. Lexus has eight. Nissan has CVTs Ð continuously variable transmissions. All of these improve mileage AND performance.

* Common rail fuel injection. Now standard on modern diesels, this same high pressure fuel delivery technology is beginning to be used to increase fuel economy in gasoline engines, too.

* All wheel drive systems that use electric motors at the non-driven wheels, like on the Lexus RX350 hybrid, eliminate heavy, gas-wasting differentials and drive train components on cars designed to go in the snow.

* More appropriately sized and weighted cars. When we're facing a future of global oil wars and economy-killing gasoline prices, perhaps having single commuters drive 5,000 pound SUVs is something we'll just have to learn to live without. And modern computer electronics, such as stability control, can now ameliorate any driving dynamic issues that result from lack of mass.

* More appropriately powered cars. In 1964, the most powerful, over-the-top Mustang muscle car you could buy came with an optional, four-barrel, 271 horsepower engine. Today, that's what comes standard on the highest rated minivans. 275 horsepower. To take your kid to nursery school? What does this say about our national priorities? Do we really want to send our kids to fight and die in the desert so that we can go 0-60 in eight seconds instead of ten seconds?

The truth is, we could achieve a CAFE standard of 35 miles per gallon in five years if we made it a priority. Every one of the above technologies is either available now or is well along in the pipeline. There's nothing "pie in the sky" here that hasn't been thought of or invented yet.

Look what American industry did in World War II. Look what we did with the space program. It's time to make energy independence just as high a priority. And it starts with you guys (and gals), our representatives. Don't buy the "can't do" bull this time.

Not only can it be done, but by increasing CAFE standards dramatically, you'll be helping the American automotive industry compete-by forcing them to synchronize their priorities with those of the American people, and the populations of other countries where they will be increasingly marketing their cars.

It's the job of private enterprise to design and sell products. But it's the job of Congress to set our national priorities. Trust us, the car companies won't go out of business because America insists that they build the world's best, most efficient cars. We urge you to set the bar high for American ingenuity. We have no doubt our car industry will make the grade-to the benefit of all Americans.

Sincerely,

Tom and Ray Magliozzi