Car comercial question.

[Starbuck_Jones]

On the way to work there was a radio ad that stated: Trying to get that extra inch out of your fuel economy? Tire pressure, wheel alignment, and worn breaks can all reduce your fuel economy. Bla bla bla rest of comercial where its gonna cost you a kidney to get 0.1 more MPG if that.

My question is, I cant find a logical connection to how worn breaks can reduce my fuel economy in a normal gas car?

[pewshamanper]

Well fission Cause the tires to produce a flare that will increase the mph by .2 saving 1.2 Yellow dinosaurs per year from extinction. so adding new Brakes will Cause the economic pressure of the seller to decrease, helping stimulate his happiness and producing a child in the near future!

[moosejaw]

I imagine they mean worn brake caliper guides which can cause brake dragging. Also, as caliper piston seals age they become too flexible and don't retract the piston enough and leave the pads in contact with the rotor. Yes the piston seal design helps to retract it when the brake pressure is released. So I suppose they simply shorten that down to "worn brakes". ^^

But to the greater topic of those commercials, changing driving style can do more to save fuel than keeping your tires at +/- 1 psi of recommended. I remember in the late 70's we had the same type of commercials on TV and radio.

[keyclone]

if the point is to save energy... then here are a few ideas:

o stop using massive tankers to ship underwear (textiles) around the world. just produce them in the destination country
o turn off television
o stop producing newspapers and use 100% recycled pixels instead
o insulate your house to better conserve the internal environment

and of course... just like the person complaining they don't have enough money, so they start budgeting to spend less, completely forgetting the other side of the equation:

o make more energy

here are some of my favorites so far:

• Mini nuclear plants to power 20,000 homes (The Hyperion Power Module ) (reliable distributed energy for $20/mon)
• Stirling energy systems (solar thermal; renewable, distributed, relies on the sun)
• eSolar(centralized, renewable, relies on the sun)

i prefer distributed systems, as they scale better

[Taliesin]

Also, energy efficiency/conservation upgrades to a home are tax deductable (in the U.S.). However, that usually isn't enough to offset the otherwise high costs of making the energy improvements in the first place. I had looked into a variety of changes to the house, like solar panels to at least partially generate my own electricity. The basic costs along were enough to make me quickly walk away from that idea. Better off looking at adding more insulation or upgrading your windows to a zenon filled double-pane model.

As for the car breaks, I would argue that using your breaks to point that they are gone reduces energy consumption greatly. Eventually, you'll probably crash, and despite the initial energy cost to clean up the car and recycle it, there's at least one less person in the world consuming energy for half a lifetime. Plus, if you use pewshamanper's example, the money you didn't pay the manufacturer leads to less kids, which also equates to less energy consumption in the future. Save the world, crash into a tree!

[moosejaw]

<= Former US Navy Nuke. I want more nuclear power in this country regardless of the packaging. :thumbsup: