Do more for the planet by NOT going green with your car

Hi, my name is Brendan and I am an Eco Warrior. I drive a 2004 Subaru Forester 2.5 litre All-Wheel-Drive SUV, which has just on 200 000km on the clock and puts out about 250g per kilometre of carbon dioxide (CO2) from its exhaust pipe.

My wife drives a later model, with an upgraded 2.5 engine (with 126kW as opposed to the 112kW of the one driven by the “man of the house”) but which has an efficient CVT (Constantly Variable Transmission) automatic gearbox and puts out just 207g per km of CO2.

Together, we are saving the planet.

“What,” I hear you cry, “can you be doing with these CO2 belching monsters? Why are not you doing the Greta Thunberg thing and getting yourselves electric cars?”

We’d rather plant trees

Let’s start with the basics – and some facts that the tree huggers might not like to hear. First of all, believe it or not, our cars have long since paid for their CO2 emissions. What do I mean by that? Well, I have had my car since 2004 and have not replaced it. My wife has had her Forester since 2016.

Also Read: Volkswagen reaffirms future of R is electric

To replace both those cars with new electric-only vehicles would cost us around R2 million, give or take.

Both our Foresters, combined, cost less than R500 000. Now that sort of saving has enabled my wife to spend copious amounts (no, I don’t ask – happy wife, happy life) on planting things in our garden. Those things – plants – add to the already 20-odd trees on our 1 200m2 plot, and are the most efficient way of ridding the atmosphere of the dreaded carbon dioxide.

In other words, what we save on not buying a new electric vehicle has enabled us (thanks to said green-fingered wife) to be well on the way to carbon neutrality. Chateau Le Carbon Sink, I think we should call our home.

And, let us not forget that, even once you have bought yourselves an electric-only vehicle, you cannot simply put your smug eco-saint halo upon your head… not unless you have an industrial scale array of solar panels with which to charge the batteries of said car.

Modern electric vehicles have huge battery packs – which, while they give amazing range, require significant amounts of electrons to charge. A solar installation to accomplish that overnight would be bigger than most residential houses.

Even if you decided to recharge your beast from your Eskom supply, it would still take more than 24 hours from a normal household plug.

In reality, Household Seery is doing more to save the planet by NOT moving into the realms of EVs (Electric Vehicles).

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EV production takes a massive toll on the planet

While that sounds counter-intuitive, let me point out that it is estimated that the production of any car requires as much as 25 tons of CO2. That amount of CO2 in the production of a car is what our older cars would each require around 100 000km on travelling to generate.

So, not going electric – and not buying a new vehicle – actually is a sensible “eco choice”.

Additionally, when you look at the huge amount of CO2 required to keep up with the world’s demand for copper (mining, processing and shipping) required in the new “green” transportation system, then choosing to keep your current vehicle is much kinder to the planet in the long run.

That is not something that either the car companies or the “greenies” will want to hear.

Car companies need to keep on selling cars and some of the environmentalists need a cause to keep the donations rolling in.

As I watch the protesters flinging paint over buildings and dumping bags of coal outside fossil fuel company headquarters, protesting about the continuing use of fossil fuel, I think they are barking up the wrong tree.

Firstly, to produce electricity on the scale you’d need to reduce transport CO2 to nil, you’d have to move to technology like nuclear, which is its own can of worms.

Consumerism is the real problem

But, in any event, it is humankind’s unrelenting consumerism which is the big problem.

And nowhere will you see that consumerism more in evidence than in the automobile industry. Cars have to be restyled and updated regularly, to drive the demand.

People often view cars like fashion accessories and driving a three-year-old car means you are uncool, bro…

Fortunately, Subarus suit us because few people can accurately tell what year they are, and they’re a niche brand… so there is no pressure to “keep up with the Joneses”.

Also Read: EVs and third locally-made model key to Volkswagen’s future

The real debate shouldn’t be about electric cars, which are just an expensive sideshow, if you ask me. We should be discussing how to improve public transport – electrifying buses and trains is far more efficient in terms of passenger capacity per kilowatt-hour than any car.

And, more than anything, we should be reducing the number of cars on the road by holding on to our cars for longer.

Maybe I should go out and respray my Forester in ecogreen…