Will you know them by the cars they drive?

By Richard Kauffman

For a little over a year now my wife Suzanne and I have been driving a Toyota Prius. We’re getting around 46 miles per gallon, less than that during the winter.

According to reports I’ve read, people who drive a Prius are making a statement. “Look at me,” they’re saying. “I’m not as dependent on oil as you are. I’m doing something for the environment, since my car not only uses less gas but also spews less CO2 into the environment per gallon of gas.” According to one source, at 12,000 miles a year, Prius produces 2.6 tons of global warming pollution compared to 6.4 tons for the average sedan.

What kind of a statement am I making? I’ll be honest, my main reason for buying the Prius was self-interest. I was tired of paying over $50 to fill up the mini-van we were previously driving; and since our grandchildren live 400 miles away, I don’t want to ever say I can’t visit them because the cost of gas is too high.

But I had other reasons too. I’m tired of my country going to war, ostensibly over oil; and I think that each one of us needs to think about ways to reduce our carbon footprint.

We Christians should be having serious conversations about what kind of cars we drive. It’s a conversation that has just begun in my congregation where on any given Sunday about 10 percent of the cars in the parking lot are Priuses. Of course some of my acquaintances think that question is not radical enough, that we shouldn’t even drive cars at all, but walking, biking or using only public transportation.

In any case, you have to pay a premium price for a hybrid, and some people can’t afford it. And hybrids are clearly a stop-gap measure, as they still rely on carbon-burning fuel (our Prius still pumps about 2.6 tons of pollutants into the environment each year, Lord have mercy). Besides, I kept the minivan, which I use sometimes as a second car or to haul items too large for the Prius. So automotive purity is not my virtue.

Still, as I’m filling up the Prius, I need divine aid to keep me from praying, “God, I thank you that I am not like those other people who drive gas-guzzling, CO2-spewing automobiles.”

Comments

[Suzy]

We've talked about getting a hybrid, but we can't make the resource math work out. Our old car still runs well, gets 28 mpg, and we don't drive much. Is it responsible, then, to consume all the resources required to buy a new hybrid to gain 20 mpg for the 20 miles we drive each week — mainly so people don't look down their noses at us at the gas pumps? ;)

[Carla]

Oh, for the black and white, tell me what to do kind of answers. Theological reflection appropriate for the concerns of our culture is always a good thing. But as you indicated in the post, a decision is never altogether justified. I am led to remember Jesus' "looking in the eye" question to Peter in the gospel of John. "Do you love me Peter? Then feed my sheep". How we can best feed the sheep is not accomplished in only one way that is altogether perfect. "Feed my sheep" is a shifting, relative and yes, confusing command. Prius or not we are to feed the sheep.

[Will]

Thanks for your reflections on this subject.

For those who can't afford a Prius, like me... There are, in fact, many other ways to reduce our impact on the earth. Rent the movie An Inconvenient Truth, or go to the website, and you'll find helpful info there. In the end however, with regards to our earth, I'm not sure we can afford NOT to orient our resources in a way that values the planet.

[~c.]

I walk.

[Douglasah]

I think "Suzy" and "Will" hit the nail on the head. It uses more resources - and causes more polution to build a new car than is used in keeping an existing car operating. Yes, even a hybrid.
No one mentioned public transit, car pooling, or electrifying an existing car (removing the engine and replacing it with an electric motor and batteries) or any other alternative. Wondering what kind of car to buy to show how socially evolved one is, is like me (an overweight person) asking a thin person "What do you eat to stay slim?".

[bobbalouie]

Those batteries that power the Prius in slow driving are very toxic. The life of the battery is limited. Where do you suppose those things will accumulate and eventually deteriorate in way too short a time span?

[Suzy]

If you figure out that last question, please post the answer prominently, Douglasah.

Our ministries are all different. I'm laughing at the public-transportation suggestion, because it won't come to this area in my lifetime, and car-pooling out here means hitchhiking. We walk a lot, but Sunday morning the temperature was 15F and the wind was howling, so I have quite a lot of compassion for those who decided to drive to church. The congregation is far-flung, and the needs are diverse. Good stewardship of energy resources might dictate that I minister mostly over the phone, but that doesn't seem like the whole answer either (or even, frankly, much of one at all). We don't keep our missionaries home because it's a long way to Africa.

In every choice we make in our lives and our ministries, we have to balance a multitude of factors. A legion, even. ;) Sometimes the "right" answer is relatively obvious, but not always. All the choices have costs, and some of the good choices have pretty steep costs.

Is all that rationalization? Perhaps, and some of it definitely, but I truly don't know how to do the ministry to which I'm convinced God has called me without using some of those resources. Sometimes I have empathy for my more "conservative" brothers and sisters who believe God put those resources there for our use.

[Suzy]

My post crossed with bobbalouie's, and I wanted to make clear that my irreverent first paragraph was in reference to Douglasah's about what one should eat to lose weight.

[Douglasah]

Suzy, public transportation is about 20 miles away from me, as well. And bobbalouie's post(s) has merit. Not very far from me the Amish and Mennonites solve the issue by using horse-powered wagons. One thing I've done (mostly because I'm cheap) is buy used cars. The money stays local, and the car costs less. (Will you spend the $20,000 difference in price on gas during the five years you make payments on a new car?)
My suggestion is that we might think about other options - the way to not polute doesn't seem to be to me to buy something else that polutes (and polutes more in manufacture than in operation) a little less.
To echo your refference to "Conservatives", yes, we DO have dominion over the earth - but dominion implies there will be something there to have dominion over. We still must take care of it in order to continue to have dominion over it.

[Richard A. Kauffman]

Thanks for all the feedback. Several things: I do not think a hybrid is for everyone. Indeed, I see a hybrid only as a stopgap measure for the next decade or so. What will emerge longer term is not yet clear. Since the use of ethanol made from corn drives up the cost of foodstuffs, I'm sure that's not the answer. Meanwile, I use public transportation to work, and I'm trying to run errands around home on my bike. Second, without my knowledge, a line was dropped from my original post as submitted. The penultimate paragraph began thus: "In any case, I don’t want to be self-righteous about my choice of car." That was a serious pledge I made to my spouse when we decided to purchase the Prius. It's especially important for me to inject this note here in light of my conclusion to the whole piece, which was intended in jest. Third, since I wrote this piece a friend told me that the Chevron gas company owns the patent to some aspect of the Prius hybrid technology, and they granted Toyota the right to it with the understanding that the gas engine would kick in at 35 miles an hour. If this is true, it is just one more example of the hold corporations have on our everyday lives. Some techies at my church have purchased used Priuses and have engineered them so that they run on the electric motor alone around town, and they're getting close to 100 mpg. Unfortunately, it not only voids the warranty, but the Toyotoa dealer won't even touch these cars once they've been tampered with. I'm not a techie, so I can't do this.

[Norm]

Someone questioned the resource math behind hybrid vehicles. If we factor in the damage to the environment, and the costs of the war in Iraq, the price of gasoline would be dramatically higher than it is, perhaps well over $10/gallon.

For a number of reasons I personally believe we should be driving as if gasoline were more like $20/gallon. This would change the math in a number of ways.

[Suzy]

Norm, just as a matter of clarification, the math to which I was referring in my post was comparing the resources used in continuing to drive an existing car with the resources required to manufacture a new one, not the costs to my personal bank account. I agree about the real cost of a gallon of gasoline; that's a whole 'nother column and perhaps even a Web site of its own, especially as it relates to resource inequities.

I attended an architect's reception last week for the proposed remodel of a community center, and he made a point of saying that the most sustainable building is one that already exists. I found that comforting, because I cannot afford a new house to replace the 90-year-old one any better than I can afford a new Prius to replace the 15-year-old Jeep. (Nor have I replaced the old husband.) While I recognize the limits within which that statement would be true, I also believe that our throw-away culture bears a great deal of responsibility for the mess in which we now find ourselves. "Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without" also has obvious limits, but it's still a useful paradigm to consider in a world of finite resources. Our use of currency and credit, and our dependence on over-the-horizon economies, sometimes blind us to the real costs of our various options.

[Jean]

I loved this piece. It was a perfect example for Sunday's reading: the politically correct pastor driving the "right car" with his parishoners following in his lead. I have included this story in my sermon as a modern day example of the politically correct Pharisee. I took it for what it was: a good joke! Thanks.

[jfreeham]

Recently I needed to purchase a vechicle. I thought about a new Prius (try to find a used one). I thought about a used Subaru. I didn't know how to do the calculus, and the automakers wouldn't give me the figures, but I decided that I would, in the end, consume fewer of the earth's resources in the purchase of a used car than in the purchase of a new car, even if it be a Prius. I purchased the used Subaru.

[Chris]

The theological issue is the impact that energy use (oil) has on both others in the world and to God's creation (and even the impact that has on others around the world.) Oil is causing not only environmental issues (global warming, smog, oil spills, water depletion, toxic byproducts), but health issues (e.x. The 50% higher cancer rates around many oil refineries or the link discovered just recently between car exhaust and heart disease in women, asthma, contaminated water, etc), humanitarian issues (the 3rd world debt crisis that plunged literally billions of people further into poverty and continues to do so today was caused by the oil crisis in the 1970's when oil prices were as high as they are today), wars & future wars, economic issues (we are importing far more oil than we are exporting in goods leading to a trade deficit which isn't sustainable, much of that is going to fund the Islamic world who are anti-Christian), and national security issues. This is all in addition to fairness of distributed resources and in addition to the fact that oil is a finite resource that there isn't enough to go around for everyone and that we will run out of soon.

The discussion we need to be having as Christians is how can we drastically and quickly reduce oil consumption (or otherwise solve all of the above issues)? Public transportation is more efficient due to having a higher people ratio, but it still depends almost completely on oil at this point (except for electric trains.) Hybrids are still completely dependent on oil as they get 100% of their energy from oil, they are just more efficient gas cars, so as Richard pointed out, they are a stop gap measure. Plug-in hybrids, which aren't commercially available yet, but are capable of 100-200mpg for normal driving (see: www.calcars.org) have a lot of potential for an immediate impact. They use either oil or electric from the wall for energy (and use the gasoline only as a backup and for long distance driving.)

As for buying a used car vs. a new car in terms of total energy consumption. First, there are used hybrids and fuel-efficient cars on the market, so if the debate is new vs. used, get a used hybrid or a used efficient car. But, assuming that cars get worn out, buying a used car, requires someone else to first buy that car new. When you sell a car, someone else is going to buy it and drive it unless its in really bad shape. So the difference in terms of energy saved from the manufacturing process is all in the amount that you would drive the car past the point where someone else would drive the car (but you have to subtract the energy that you could have saved by buying a more efficient car against the saved amount of buying a new, more efficient car.) If you turn around and get rid of the car at the same point that someone else would have, it hasn't made a difference. It only makes a difference if you drive the car past the point where someone else will drive it. When you are done with the car, it is recycled which saves energy in the manufacturing of the next car. I'm not at all advocating against buying used cars, but I'm arguing if someone else is going to drive the car the same amount, its not a factor in the decision for which car to get to start with.

Second, assuming that nobody else would drive the car beyond the point that you would, look at the numbers for energy used to manufacture the cars vs. the amount saved. The energy required to make a new car depends mostly on the metals in the car (which would include battery.) Based on Argonne National Lab's GREET software (http://www.transportation.anl.gov/software/GREET/), an average 3,000lbs car takes roughly 100mmBTU of energy to manufacture. By that same report, a Prius requires 113mmBTU to manufacture. Gasoline contains 0.1134 mmBTU per gallon, so thats 996 gallons of gasoline (equiv.) to manufacture a Prius (or 882 gallons for an average car.) That seems like a lot, but an older gas-only car getting a real 20mpg, driven 12,000 miles/year, burns 600 gallons per year (or 7,500 gallons over 150,000 miles.) A 48mpg Prius (using the more realistic, real-world mileage number) burns only 250 gallons / year (or 3,125 gallons over 150,000 miles @ 48mpg.) That means, that if you buy a new Prius, that required 996 gallons to create vs. a car which gets 20mpg, the energy saved completely covers the energy to manufacture a new Prius in 2.84 years, and that new car will then continue to save energy for the remaining 8+ year lifespan of the car. That might not be the case if the difference in MPG is smaller, but its not true that its always better energy wise to drive used car vs. a new car. The energy consumed in manufacturing a used car is a sunk cost – you can't get it back no matter what you do. All the more reason we need to stop manufacturing in-efficient cars.

[Norm]

I agree totally with you, Suzy. We've remodeled a 100+ year old house to make it more energy efficient, etc., rather than tear it down and rebuild as one contractor recommended. Among other things we insulated the house very well and we also installed an under-ground 'water recapture system,' effectively a cistern, which significantly reduces our demand for water from our utility, water we use for laundry, watering our flowers, and flushing toilets.

More and more analysts are suggesting that the era of cheap oil is past, and that we're quickly moving to a post-peak oil situation. Predictions of $100/ barrel oil soon, $200/ barrel by 2012 are not as far fetched as they seemed even earlier this year.

For an interesting take on what such a post-peak oil world might look like, take a look at a posting this morning at: http://www.theoildrum.com/node/3140#more

[sue]

Oh how I need this gentle nudge away from self-righteousness! I drive a used Prius, so am holier than most! :) Sometimes I need the reminder that we are still saved by grace alone. :)

[Richard]

All: One solution is very simple, at least as a help towards a greener world: slow down. Drive at OR below the posted speed limit. Remember Drive 55? Even 60 (or 65!) helps.

This is something everyone can do. The savings are tremendous. (Sorry I don't have the math here at my desk but it is easily Googled.)
And everyone will be able to see what you are doing (bearing witness). They will all be passing you. The only downside of this, so I have discovered, is that the practice does not foster love of neighbor, neither they to me nor me to them.

Richard

[danschrock]

I'm most grateful to you, Richard, and to the other commentators, for this timely discussion. I'm a pastor, and the question of what kind of vehicles we drive has long vexed me. If I decide to speak about this from the pulpit, what do I say and how do I say it? This discussion helps me quite a bit to think through the issues.

[Ray]

Which car to buy and drive? I had (have) the good fortune of marring a very practical woman. Yes, her name is "Martha". We purchased our first new car in 1964. We financed it with the Credit Union. At the end of three years, we made the last payment.
It is at this point in our history that my wife makes this suggestion:"Why don't we continue making the same monthly payments to the credit union that we have been making as a car payment for the past three years?" Actually, that made good sense to me, and so I responded: "Of Course". Then she added: "Let's see how long we can drive this car and continue making those same payments to the Credit Union!" Well, we drove that same car for another nine years, making it a total of twelve years. Now, this story has a very happy and "profitable" ending. First, we had more money in our saving account at the end of those nine years than we had ever saved in our entire marriage, up to that point in time. Second, we never had to borrow money or to finance a car payment ever again. We used our own money, and we always paid "ourselves" back. Factor in the interest saved in car loans and the interest saved from the saving account, and you begin to get the idea. Our car today is a 2006 Camry, and we get 34 miles to the gallon. Because we drive our cars until they die of fatigue, which is usually 12-13 years,i.e., zero resale value, we totally place out of commission one auto every 12-13 years. Our next car (2016) will probably be a plug-in electric, giving us the 75-100 miles per gallon that we all dream about today. Martha would call that Christian Stewardship, and I would also agree.