In a desperate effort to reduce the cost of commuting without selling their trucks or giving up the comfort of their SUVs some people have decided to think in terms of people-miles-per-gallon instead of mpg. Is it a green solution? Will it work?
What is people-miles-per-gallon
Even before the sudden rise of oil prices in the United States there were many talks about how to reduce cars’ CO2 emissions in order to protect the planet.Starting with the mid 1970s one of the suggested solutions was carpooling. The shared use of a personal vehicle would mean less cars on the road, therefore less pollution, a lighter traffic and enough parking spots for everybody.
With oil prices getting through the roof more and more people are concerned about the cost of commuting. Some have decided to buy smaller, fuel-efficient cars while others have decided to move closer to their workplaces. Some have started riding their bicycles while others suggested that car-sharing is the solution and that by calculating in people-miles-per-gallon (by multiplying the car’s actual mpg with the number of persons in the car) you could get a better mpg than you ever dreamed of even with a large vehicle like a truck or SUV.
Is it green?
A car with 6 people is more environmentally friendly than 6 cars with 6 people in them. A big car with 4 persons in it that does 20mpg is greener than 4 small cars with 4 drivers that get 50 mpg (and there aren’t that many cars that can do 50 mpg). Just imagine how green is a car that gets 50 mpg with 4 people in it! Plus, it can’t get more cost-effective than that.
Why it won’t work
Humans are selfish. Car owners are even more selfish than those who don’t have cars. Nobody bought a car to share it with his neighbour or coworker. Nobody bought a car to keep it parked in front of the house and drive it once a week when it’s his turn to take his coworkers to their workplace. Nobody thought about how environmentally friendly is his truck or SUV.
We’ve got cars because we love to drive. We have cars because we want to feel free to go anywhere anytime. We have big, powerful cars to show our neighbours we’re a lot better than them. We have cars because we’re too lazy to walk to the nearest bus station or ride our bicycle. We have cars because although lately we are concerned about fuel efficiency and CO2 emissions we (think we) deserve to have cars and drive alone.
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