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Old 11-20-2009, 11:02 PM   #24 (permalink)
Christ
Moderate your Moderation.
 
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Regarding counting the emissions from shipping of new cars -

You also have to count the [substantially higher] emissions from producing and shipping the old car back in the day.

The caveat with new vs. old is that the old car has to be disposed of, versus the new car.

Often, it is more "green" to keep a car with similar ratings on the ground, as long as it passes current emissions standards, than to have all those emissions happen again to make a new car.

If you weren't counting the already placed emissions versus the new car's potential creation of emissions, the new car wins, hands down.

I still prefer older cars because it's more fiscally responsible and feasible to put a few thousand into fixing up an older car "good as new" than to spend $20-$40k on a new one. Frankly, I don't know too many people (in the current economy, especially) that can comfortably "swing" that.
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