As gas prices continue to rise, we can only imagine that the trend towards vehicle downsizing will continue to pick up speed. And while swapping out large trucks and SUVs for more fuel efficient options, even hybrid powertrain vehicles, will save some money at the pump there’s an even simpler way for consumers to actively reduce the amount of carbon dioxide they put into the atmosphere.
Wired magazine points out in this month’s issue something that many of our readers have been advocating for a long time; that is the environmental benefits of purchasing a used vehicle instead of a new one. The magazine reports that it takes roughly 113 million BTUs of energy to make one Toyota Prius, the unchallenged poster child for the green vehicle movement. Figuring that there are about 113,000 BTUs in one gallon of gasoline, one can surmise that the Prius has used the equivalent of 1,000 gallons of gas before anyone even drives it. That means that the Toyota hybrid has incurred a sort of “carbon debt” that it won’t make up over a more conventional car until it has traveled around 46,000.
(Click through the jump to read on.)
On the other hand, when a used car is purchased that carbon debt has already been paid by the original owner. Wired points out for instance that the 1998 Toyota Tercel and its 27/35 mpg rating with no carbon investment would take a new Prius 100,000 miles to equal. The Tercel makes a good case against financial debt as well. Taking Wired’s math to the extreme; a 1994 Geo Metro XFi, which was rated at the same 46 mpg that the Prius gets, would have a lead in the carbon race that the Prius would never catch up with.
Of course there are even less people who want to drive Geo’s Metro anymore now than they did in 1994, and it’s clear that used cars aren’t a long-term answer to the problem, but the overarching point remains salient. There’s a complex and beautiful road out there for the future of motoring, and as many ways to drive it in a sensible way as there ever has been.
+ Wired: Go Green — Buy a Used Car. It’s Better Than a Hybrid
+ WINDING ROAD Modern Classic: 2000 Chevrolet Geo Metro