Some scooters pollute more per mile than SUVs
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on Thursday, August 10th, 2006 at 9:49 pm and is filed under general foofiness.
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August 10th, 2006 at 10:52 pm
You know, I was getting ready to argue that the conclusion of the article was wrong. The numbers it lists aren’t apples-to-apples. You have to adjust for the fact that the SUV exhales a much higher _volume_ of exhaust gas, since the numbers given are all in percentages.
However, if you take a really rough guess at the ratio of exhaust gas volume as being the ratio of displacements between the engines (3000cc for the Subaru, 150cc for the scooters), that 20:1 still doesn’t make up for the unburned hydrocabons being spewed by 2 of the scooters (though it _does_ make the CO2 numbers make a lot more sense).
The moral of the story: 2-cycle engines are dirty little beasts. …which makes sense, given that the lubricating oil for the engine is mixed with (and thus burned along with) the gasoline.
By the way, most motorcycles use 4-cycle engines. Not quite as many miles per gallon as the scooters, perhaps, but almost certainly light years better on the hydrocarbon emissions.
August 11th, 2006 at 9:39 pm
Heh, I thought of something similar, but I didn’t do any actual math. I reasoned that most efficient operating speed for each vehicle was different, and that the SUV was likely faster. If they both travelled the same number of miles at their most optimal speed, the SUV would take less time to arrive at the destination, so the scooter motor would be running for a longer period of time, spewing away the hydrocarbons.
What got me though is the people who didn’t want their scooters tested! Wouldn’t it be better to know the truth about their scooters and face up to it?