Dads and cars

My Dad knows a lot about cars.  He loves tinkering and he's mighty good at it.  One of his high school gigs was working at Bethurm's Auto Repair in Corona, CA.  He's always my first call when my car makes a funny noise, or, worse, stops running.  (well, I must admit, I don't have a car anymore since I don't need one in Norway.  And, I'm quite enjoying using public transport.  Old people speak to me in Norwegian all the time.  It's really cute.  I digress)  I remember as a girl I had seen a commercial for an 'Aspire' car and mentioned it to my Dad.  Dad didn't believe said model existed until we saw one not too long after in a parking lot.  I felt victorious.  I knew something about cars Dad didn't.  Ha!

Since then, I concede to his auto prowess and I'm very thankful for his skills.  He's the man.

But, I recently had another little 'Aspire' moment with my a, b, c's blog from a few posts back.  Dad found it hard to believe the Skoda Greenline could get 60+ miles to the gallon.  I pleaded my case noting our Danish friends had said they get 25 kilometers to the liter.  Being a good American living in Europe, I'm doing my best to learn the conversions (we couldn't all possibly work with the same measurement system could we?  oh and cooking has been a real treat too having to get used to milliliters and grams).  So it's approximately 4 liters to a gallon and approximately .62 miles to 1 kilometer.  Here we go with a little math....

25 kilometers/liter x 4 liters/gallon = 100 km/gallon
100km/gallon x .62miles/km = 62 miles to the gallon

And, of course, I double checked myself with a quick internet search on the Skoda before I posted.  I want to make sure this blog is accurate!

In true Dad fashion, he did some of his own research with a few added bonus nuggets about gas vs. diesel I wanted to share.  I believe he broke things down to nice and simple and I hope this is useful to you:

"Good morning Lisa,  

Dad did a little R&D on the Skoda Greenline and it does have some impressive numbers.  First, it is a Diesel and diesel fuel does have more energy content per gallon than does gasoline.  By this alone, it will get better mileage and that is why big trucks here in the US are Diesel.  Europeans drive many more diesel cars than we do here in the US.  Why?  Better fuel economy plus diesel is cheaper than gasoline – in Europe. 

Not so in the US.  Diesel here is more than gas so the attraction of diesel powered cars is less than Europe.  Why is gas cheaper here than in Europe?  Multiple reasons but primarily for two reasons: 

US refineries were designed and built to convert more of the crude oil into gas since this is what American drivers want (diesels in the old days were noisy and smelly and ones garage smelled terrible)

Diesels were heavy and had low performance (acceleration)

Diesels are more expensive to make

These differences have changed today: diesels are quiet now, they don’t emit “smoke” like they used to, and the car does not smell like a truck.  Plus, in Europe they’re “acceptable”.  Anyway, the Skoda (which is owned by VW) is impressive.  The Larsen's car probably has the 1.2 liter 3 cylinder turbo diesel.  With good aerodynamics and a few other tweaks, it’s mileage of 60 mpg+ is the real deal.

Can Americans learn to love such vehicles?

Love The Girl,

Dad, PhD (you can see I just love this stuff)"

Yes, I can see you love this stuff and I love that about you, Dad. And, here's the old car nut professor back in the day. Isn't he cute?!

I suppose this means I should post about my Mom on Father's Day? Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Now I am off for my last very serious week of studying for finals. It's been an intense few weeks but I continue to learn and find everything very interesting. There's sooooo much to learn!

hugs from the land of the midnight sun,

lisa liv

a, b, c's

Hello Hello!  So, i've decided.  It is time.  While it's fun to post about my trips and goings on, part of my intention for this blog is to share what I'm learning in my program.  There's so many exciting things going on and energy is of the utmost importance- starting now.  I'm really pleased with what I'm studying and feel it's important to help spread information.

I'm stating with some information presented by the head of micro-economic analysis of petroleum for Nordea Bank who presented on campus last week.  This is something we've been covering in class but it really hit me in her presentation.  Below is information from the EIA (U.S. Energy Information Administration) on the top 15 oil exporting nations from 2009 (generally the same today):

Don't worry about the barrels so much.  Take a good look down the list of countries.  I'd venture to say Norway and Canada are the only two really 'stable' countries on that list.  2 out of 15, hmmmmm.

And, guess who the biggest oil importer is?  You got it, the good old U.S of A.  I'm sure I will preach the need to reduce our use of fossil fuels somewhere along the way.  But, today, this post is to simply make the point, we are relying on unstable sources for the lifeblood of our daily functioning.  Does this concern anyone else?!  You might have heard the term 'energy security' being thrown around.  This is exactly what it means- having stable sources supplying our energy needs.

So, what do we do?  Do we drill more of our own domestic petroleum supply?  Well, let's be honest, it's all finite (ok, maybe not in our generation, but, come on, we are smart people, we can do this!).  Do we keep ourselves reliant on oil?  I believe it's time to start getting more aggressive about other options and I hope this blog will now start building a good case for why and how.

As for oil, EIA predicts gas prices will remain high through the summer months, around $3.71 a gallon (click here for article).  I know y'all don't like the sound of that (or maybe you do because you know high gas prices are the one thing to make people really start looking at the severity of the issue).  But, as some perspective, gas in Norway is typically over $9 a gallon.  Perhaps that would change car purchase decisions and driving decisions?  Just saying.

Mom and I were just visiting friends in Copenhagen and our friends just got a new Skoda 'GreenLine' car.  The car averages 68.9 miles per gallon... holy wow!  Ok, ok, it lacks a little pickup some people might want, but still- impressive!

this is not their Skoda but gives you the idea

I leave you with one last thing for today- the US Department of Energy Solar Decathlon.  This competition challenges 20 collegiate teams to design, build and operate solar-powered houses that are cost effective, energy efficient and attractive.  I love this!  Brilliant for the government to involve young smart minds in this way.  Here's an entertaining little piece about Ohio States team getting ready.  They came in 10th last year and are looking to win.  Oh the drama!

Off to do some reading about hydro as a good energy storage device especially when integrating more wind power into the electricity grid system.

energetically yours,
lisa liv