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Photo by bsheasby/iStock |
Going 70 mph on I-85 in east Alabama, my wife Judy and I are listening to radio news – talk by a woman promoting the Biden administration's new infrastructure plan, including dealing with climate change. She says "We have our priorities set now!" She doesn't go into much detail as to what those priorities actually are. But I've recently heard that Biden will now open US coastal waters to wind farms. Well, over their entire lifecycle they would probably cause lower emissions than the fossils. But most of their environmental cost is up front, in the mining, manufacturing and installation. Further, apparently most new solar and wind power has been just added to the grid, not replacing fossil power. When we need to actually reduce emissions NOW.
So, turning the radio off, I say to Judy, who is driving, "Just lowering the interstate speed limit to 55 would help a great deal."
She thinks about that and says "Are you saying I should slow down to 55?"
Well, yes!
Let's all slow down. Why should we wait for the government to tell us to do something we know we should be doing? But let's start a nationwide movement to get others on board, and at the same time to get the government to enact sensible speed limit laws. So pass the word, send this post link to others, talk it up!
For those of you too young to remember, the US has passed speed limit laws twice to save fuel (and emissions) in an emergency. The World War II "Victory speed limit" was 35 mph. During the oil crisis of the 70s we adopted a nationwide 55 mph limit, which stayed in effect until 1995.
Of course slowing down is only a small step in the right direction. We need to think seriously about whether we really need to be on the road at all. Or whether we need to buy any of that stuff that all those trucks are delivering.
None of the big environmental and climate change activist groups seem to have included speed limits in their programs. One of the few my google searchings turned up was the Sierra Club, just a response to a member who asked in March of 2019, "What is the most fuel-efficient speed to drive?" The response:
About 55 miles per hour is the optimum speed for most cars. Kick it up to 65 mph and you are 8 percent less efficient; at 80 mph you are 28 percent less efficient. Slowing down can also mean reducing your carbon footprint. In 2008, The New York Times estimated that when the 55-miles-per-hour speed limit was in effect, we were saving about 2.56 billion gallons of gasoline a year. Gas consumption has increased by 16.9 percent since 1995, when the limit was abolished, so if we reinstated the 55 mph rule, we could be saving about 3 billion gallons today, or more than 2 percent of the gasoline burned in motor vehicles. We’ve had an almost 17 percent hike in motor vehicle fuel consumption since 1995, thanks to the fact that we have added more than 70 million more vehicles to the fleet, while improving gas mileage a paltry 3.5 mpg.
Want a bumpersticker? Check out Cafepress.com, https://www.cafepress.com/mf/18886246/drive-55stop-global-warming_bumper-sticker?productId=284129812
One word of caution: If you find yourself on a busy multi-lane expressway with big trucks and cars going 70 to 80 mph, you might consider going with the flow. In heavy traffic of that kind, unequal speeds lead to a higher accident rate.
