Living Like Ed by Ed Jr. (whitelam books .txt) 📗

clean up the problems with PM 2.5 in biodiesel? No question. And they should right away, because that’s something you can address with a particulate trap—an existing technology.

You can use biodiesel in its pure form, 100 percent biodiesel, also called B100. But few people do. The people who manufacture biodiesel usually blend it with petroleum diesel. The most common blends are B2 (2 percent biodiesel), B5, and B20.

Most vehicle manufacturers do not recommend using blends greater than 5 percent. In fact, using a higher blend will void some engine warranties. Car companies generally do say that B2 and B5 can be used safely in most diesel engines.

Ethanol Blends

Ethanol is a type of alcohol, like methanol. It’s made by fermenting and distilling starch crops, like corn—or what’s known as cellulosic biomass, like trees and grasses—so it’s similar to biodiesel in terms of what it’s made of, and it too is made domestically. It burns very clean—reducing greenhouse gas emissions—and because you’re using that much less fossil fuel, you’re again reducing dependence on foreign oil.

But while biodiesel can be used only in a diesel engine, some ethanol can be used in any gasoline engine—and there are far more gasoline-engine vehicles on the road today than there are diesels, especially in the United States. All of the car companies have approved the use of E10—also called gasohol— in their cars and trucks. E10 is a blend made of 10 percent ethanol and 90 percent gasoline, so running E10 will not affect your vehicle’s warranty. It’s okay to use it in any gas-powered car or truck. That alone makes ethanol a desirable alternative fuel, since it’s usable, at least to a degree, in so many vehicles.

Many vehicles on the road right now are also designed to run on a blend called E85, which is 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Most of these vehicles are flex-fuel vehicles, so you can run them on E85, on gasoline, or on any combination of the two.

The only real drawback to these flex-fuel vehicles is that their engine management computers haven’t been programmed to run exclusively on E85. That means your gas mileage could drop as much as 25 percent when you run E85 instead of gas, because ethanol has a lower energy content than gasoline.

On the plus side, E85 is cheaper than gasoline, especially in the Midwest. And because it has a higher octane content, you may experience more power from your engine by running E85. (If your car has a problem with pinging, or detonation, it may also benefit by running some ethanol.) Unfortunately, it’s not the easiest fuel to find, but there are several hundred filling stations selling E85 across the country. It’s the chicken-and-the-egg thing. The reason they are not making great quantities of the fuel and not many stations sell it is because they figure, “There’s not many cars that run on it. We’re not gonna put up any stations.” Now that several automakers, including GM, are making flex-fuel vehicles that run on E85, I’m sure we’ll start to see more stations that sell E85.

To Fly or Not to Fly

At the very bottom of my transportation hierarchy—and with good reason—is air travel. Simply put, I’d rather not fly. It’s not that I’m afraid. Statistically, it’s safer in the sky than it is on a highway. I just don’t like to fly at 31,000 feet burning kerosene.

That’s right, that’s what jet fuel is: kerosene with a mold retardant. When it’s burned, it emits all these pollutants:

• carbon dioxide (CO2), which is a leading cause of global warming

• oxides of nitrogen

• sulfur dioxide

• soot

• water vapor

Emitting all that CO2 is bad enough, but experts say the cock-tail created by those other emissions may double airplanes’ total impact on climate change.

And unlike pollution created at street level, there are no trees up in the stratosphere to mitigate that CO2, that pollution. What happens to it? How does it affect global climate change? Some studies suggest it could be quite damaging.

Mile for mile, driving a very clean hybrid—with its low tailpipe emissions—just plain creates less pollutants in the air than your share of that plane ride will.

The mileage is not bad when you fly, if you’re in one of the more efficient planes, and if you take off and land without a lot of circling. You can get 50-some-odd miles per gallon. But you’re burning kerosene. And you’ve seen jets. When you’re behind a jet, the exhaust smells a little different from what comes out of a hybrid car.

Sure, there are a lot of people on an airplane. But compare it to a Greyhound bus. A Greyhound bus runs on diesel fuel, usually, and when you average it out, it gets about 400 mpg, because there are usually seventy-some-odd people on it. You’re getting really good mileage, given the relatively light weight of a Greyhound bus and the relatively small amount of fuel it consumes per passenger. Jet engines burn through a lot more fuel, so even when they’re full, their mileage is nowhere near as good—just 50 to 60 mpg. And again, they’re burning kerosene.

So I only fly when I must. If at all possible I’d much rather drive the hybrid than fly.

                  The most challenging part of living with Ed has been adjusting to his transportation issues. It’s gotten better, since we have hybrids and better electric cars and better cars in general—even the gasoline-burning cars are much cleaner.

But someone gave Ed grief once while he was waiting to board a plane: “Oh, some environmentalist you are. Flying in an airplane,” and now there’s no flying anymore. We got invited to these elaborate four-day weekend trips to Venice with all of Hollywood, all expenses paid. The invitations alone were so beautiful you wanted to frame them. But no, can’t go. And inside I was thinking, “Oh, I hate you so much. I just hate you.”

Another time, we got invited to Alaska, and Ed was going