Horse Power

From time-to-time I wonder about the need for high powered personal vehicles.

A recent write-up on the new Jaguar cars got me thinking whether we needed 510HP in a car to go 280km/h rather than only the pedestrian speed of 240km/hr. Similarly, North American motor journalists tell us we need monster bikes of more then 1000cc to move us.

I think it is understood that oil is a finite source of energy, we will deplete it. The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) in their Vision 2050, suggest that with business as usual we will require every last resource on Earth, and another Earth, and a third more. "That's obviously a huge issue" says Dr. Mohammad Zaidi, executive VP and chief technical officer at ALCOA.

Vision 2050 suggests we better start acting now, changing from the current exploitation model to a sustainable model. Maybe we should look at the horse power issue on our vehicles?

In 2008 Canada generated 734Mt of greenhouse gases; emissions from cars, SUVs and motor cycles accounted for 85.664Mt equal to 11.67% of the total. I wonder how much the emissions from personal vehicles could be reduced by scaling back on engine power in our cars and bikes. My guess is that we'd be just as mobile with less than half the current average engine power. The reason I say this is that in North America we tend to drive European cars with larger engines than are common in Europe.

Vision 2050 suggests we are exceeding now Earth's capacity. If we look for sustainability to 2050 I suggest we heed WBCSD's call for action now; maybe reducing the engine power in our personal transportation is a good start?