Fuel economy in automobiles Essay Example for Free

Fuel economy in automobiles Essay Driving one of the new high-tech hybrids — cars that combine the power of a gas engine with an electric motor to reduce fuel consumption and emissions — may seem like something only an environmentalist or an engineer could get revved up about. The fact is, however, that a new generation of hybrid cars and trucks due to go on sale within the next 12 months offer a number of very practical advantages for families, from saving money to helping save the planet. Many experts are predicting 2004 will be the year that hybrids turn the corner from eco-friendly novelty to mainstream transportation. Theres never been a better time to consider a switch to one of these green, clean, gas-saving machines. Here, eight reasons a hybrid may be perfect for your family. 1. Theyre as comfortable to drive as conventional cars. Theres no difference between a hybrid and the gas-powered car parked in your garage — it can accelerate just as quickly and cruise just as fast on the highway, and it handles just as smoothly. Most important, hybrids are just as safe to drive. Well, there is one difference: Hybrids are super-quiet — sometimes you cant tell whether the engine is running or not! When power is not needed — at a red light, say, or in bumper-to-bumper traffic — the engine completely shuts down and revs up again when you press on the accelerator, meaning you dont waste gas or emit toxins. Hybrids run on a rechargeable battery and gasoline rather than gas alone, but the power shift between the gas engine and electric motor is so seamless that youre likely to forget about all the advanced technology moving you down the road. And theres no need to plug them in as you would with an all-electric car; the electric motor also acts as a generator during deceleration and braking to continually recharge the batteries as you drive. 2. Youre sure to find a model that fits your familys lifestyle. Currently, there are three popular hybrids on the market: Hondas compact two-seat Insight coupe, along with the midsize Toyota Prius four-door hatchback and the Honda Civic hybrid sedan, both of which seat five. But with half a dozen new hybrid models on their way, larger families will soon have more good choices. Look for everything from midsize family cars like the Honda Accord hybrid to hybrid versions of midsize sport-utility vehicles, like the Ford Escape, Toyota Highlander, and Lexus RX 400h, to full-size pickup trucks from Chevrolet, GMC, and Dodge to turn up in your local dealers showrooms within the next year. 3. Youll save money on gas. With gas prices soaring to more than two bucks a gallon in many parts of the country, theres no smarter reason to switch to a hybrid than fuel efficiency. Just compare the miles per gallon youre getting now with, for example, a Toyota Priuss 60 mpg in the city and 51 mpg on the highway. In fact, hybrid cars can go for more than 600 miles between fill-ups, meaning you should be able to cut visits to your neighborhood gas station in half, saving you time as well as money. If you drive 1,000 miles a month and your current car averages 20 miles per gallon, driving a hybrid could save $700 or more a year at the pump. 4. Youll be doing your part to help protect the environment. Not only do gasoline-electric hybrids get much better mileage than many standard cars, but most also produce about 90 percent fewer smog-forming tailpipe emissions compared with the average new car, according to Dave Hermance, head of Environmental Engineering for Toyota. 5. Youll set a good example for your kids. If you like the notion of leaving the world a better place for your children, driving a hybrid is one good way to transform that lofty ideal into a concrete move. Our actions as parents speak louder than our words, even with seemingly simple decisions. Owning an eco-friendly car does more to impart environmental values to your children than countless talks about saving the planet. 6. Youll get cash back from Uncle Sam. Federal tax credit up to $3,400! More financial incentive to buy a hybrid: The IRSs Clean Fuel Vehicle Tax Deduction allows you to take $1,500 off your 2004 federal tax bill (the deduction decreases by $500 a year until its phased out in 2007). You may also qualify for additional financial incentives offered by state and local agencies; log on to the U. S. Department of Energys Clean Cities Website (www.ccities. doe. gov/vbg/progs/laws. cgi) to learn more. 7. Theyre not all super-expensive. Hybrids tend to cost $1,500 to $2,400 more than mainstream cars (dont forget about that tax break and major gas savings). But they are becoming extremely popular: Many dealerships have a several-month waiting period for a new one. And it is perhaps this growing demand for hybrids that has sent a message to American automakers — whove been slower than their Japanese rivals to adopt this new technology — to build cleaner, more socially responsible cars. 8. Youll boost your coolness quotient. You cant put a price on this aspect of hybrid ownership, but suffice it to say, driving a hybrid car is a surefire conversation starter among coworkers, fellow parents, neighbors, and even total strangers. Just ask Hollywood hipsters Jennifer Aniston, Brad Pitt, Cameron Diaz, Larry David, and Leonardo DiCaprio — all happening hybrid owners. Reality Check Although hybrids offer some significant benefits, there are a couple of points to consider before you sign on the dotted line. * Energy efficiency All hybrids get better mileage than conventional cars, but there are two different approaches to the powering mechanism, in both current and upcoming models. Some, for example, get better fuel mileage in stop-and-go traffic, while others do better on the highway. Before you settle on a particular model, keep in mind how youll use the car — as a neighborhood shuttle service or a long-distance commuter-mobile. * Fuel emissions. If your goal is to drive the car or truck with the least possible environmental impact, youll want to spend some time researching your options. Different engine and even transmission choices can have a significant effect on a cars emissions profile. For example, a Honda Insight with a manual transmission gets better fuel economy than the automatic version, but the automatic version emits fewer pollutants. Essentially, some hybrids are cleaner than others — and conventionally powered cars with low emissions can be cleaner than certain hybrids. veraging 8. 5 million barrels/day.

Juveniles and Drug Abuse in America :: Substance Abuse Essays

Juveniles and Drug Abuse in America A drug is a substance that modifies one or more of the body’s functions when it is consumed. Therefore, many common foods qualify as drugs. According to this definition, some of our most cherished beverages such as tea, coffee, and cola are drugs. However this paper focuses on drugs that are abused by teenagers. Surveys show that cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and inhalants are the most commonly used drugs among teenagers age thirteen through eighteen. One of the most startling findings from recent data is the degree to which to which teenagers are now involved in drug use. This drug abuse problem has gotten worse. Perhaps our society must hit â€Å"rock bottom† before changes can occur. According to the Michigan Institute for Social research, reported the results of their 1992 and 1993 national survey of nearly fifty thousand American high school students across the country ages thirteen through eighteen. Studies show that a gradual decrease in the use of most illicit drugs by younger people. The peak year for illicit drug use by high school seniors was in 1980. The 1992 and 1993 surveys reported an alarming shift, a modest but statistically significant increase in the use of several drugs such as cocaine, marijuana, heroin, and inhalants. This survey attributes the increase in drug use to students’ perceived risk or danger in using a particular drug. In 1992, thirteen year-olds were less likely to see cocaine, crack and marijuana as dangerous. But in 1993, there was a significant increase in marijuana use by seventeen and eighteen year olds and a significant increase in marijuana use by thirteen year-old students. Cocaine use by seventeen and eighteen year o lds declined in 1992. However there was a significant increase in cocaine use by thirteen year-old students between 1991 and 1992. In 1993, cocaine use increased for all ages thirteen through eighteen. Every teenager has used drugs at least once in their life. The literature review confirmed that teenagers engage in drugs on a daily basis. According to the National Survey on Drug Abuse conducted in 1997 and 1998, more than one-fourth (28.2 perecent) of the youth aged thirteen to eighteen report that marijuana experiences, and about four percent used cocaine, 1.1 percent admits to using heroin, and nine percent used inhalants. These statistics are about the same as the statistics in 1992 and 1993. Youngsters take drugs for many different reasons.

Racism In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird Essay

Racism is about control.   In southern literature this control is very prevalent.   In this essay the focus of racism in southern literature will be scrutinized, dissected, and analyzed.   Since racism is about control, the unfettering of such belligerence becomes didactic in the making of a novel.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird racism is ubiquitous with the young culture in the town.   Just as Atticus is a lawyer in the book, Scout the narrator and child depicts the scene of racism thusly, â€Å"My fists were clenched I was ready to make fly. Cecil Jacobs had announced the day before that Scout Finch’s daddy defended niggers.† Though Scout continually defends Atticus on the playground and in other parts of town, the racism remarks do not stop.   Even Scout’s cousin Francis is overwhelmingly supplied with racist remarks, â€Å"At a safe distance her called, `He’s nothin’ but a nigger-lover’.†Ã‚   It is in racism, and the reality of that prejudice that the entire town’s lives are changed, and the political arena of the courtroom shows itself as discriminatory.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell the story is thriving with racism.   Of course the novel takes place during the Civil War and this was the apex of the struggle for slave freedom.   In the novel it almost seems as though slavery is glorified because of the way they are depicted: as subservient, and loyal. Scarlett herself, in the novel, is ebullient with her way of life, she loves to be pampered and catered to by both men, and servants.   Slavery for her is ideal because she does not have to do anything for herself.   The analysis then, is that in order for her to become a dynamic and more than a flat character she must give up her antebellum Southern ways, and accept that in a free world her type of egoism is no longer warranted.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   Due to the novel taking place during the Civil War it is to be expected that slavery is a crux by which the author writes.   Slavery in the South has always been an issue.   There lies deep-seeded resentfulness towards the history yet racism is still alive today.   The reason that southern literature still focuses its story line after such prejudice is to make readers aware of the sentiments in southern culture.   Just because the history of slavery is over with, doesn’t mean that racism isn’t a stigma still exercised in the South today.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   In the novel, Fried Green Tomatoes by Fanny Flagg, the issues of bi-racial marriage and racism tear the town asunder while at once building an umbrage by which the main characters form a support for each other, and defend each other against such prejudices.   What racism in southern literature ultimately teaches is that even though decades have transpired, the issues of racism that were current during the Civil War and prior are still in societal conceptions.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   It is through language use, and the continual torturing of blacks in each novel, and the prejudices that they suffer and their friends are exposed to that the authors of southern literature want their audience to realize happened, and is still happening.   In To Kill A Mockingbird Lee wants to represent how racism filters in through all facets of society. In Southern Literature it is not about how racism affects only the black population but how it affects the entire community, how demonic a person can become because they seek power and control over another person, and how that persuasion can emphasis the evil in humanity.   Southern black literature represents how racism destroys a person, how in each novel, characters either succumb to the power or it depicts how protagonists rise with subjective humanity and try to scotch the brutality that is racism. Racism is such a strong theme in each of these books because the characters in the books fight against a juggernaut force, and against odds, hopefully overcome the misconceptions that thrive in racism.   Southern black literature and especially in the aforementioned novels, needs to present racism in order for racism to be stopped, for only after the causes are found can the entire prejudice cease, that is the purpose of the novels. Bibliography Harper, L.   (1988).   To Kill a Mockingbird.   Grand Central Publishing, New York.

Different Ways And Ideas About Their Sexuality Essay

Through-out America adolescents are exposed do many different ways and ideas about their sexuality. Looking back over the past many years, the views on sex have changed drastically. Those many years ago, sex was a private experience for married couples. This was an act of love between the married man and woman. This act of love they shared would then start their family. They gift of a small, sweet, lovable baby is what they had always dreamed of. They would paint a picture of how love was to be, one day at a time. The love they had for each other would build their lives together for worse or for better, through the good and the bad. This is a story my grandmother shared with me as I grew up. However as the years have passed, the act of love my grandmother spoke of, turned into something vastly different. In today’s generation, sex is openly accepted for both married people as well as the younger and older single adolescence. Social influence through generations of parental gu idelines has changed the way in which parents teach their adolescence about sexual conduct. The approach many of our parents had and/or have towards their children’s sexual experiences is just one of the many. The adolescence’s parents have changed their views of the act of sex. Many of the parents were brought up in the time where â€Å"save yourself of marriage† was the going trend. They were to follow in their parents footsteps and marry as virgins, but now many of their views have changed to â€Å"be safe†Show MoreRelated`` The Company Of Wolves And Dracula 928 Words   |  4 PagesSociety has set rules in place that are constricting of new ideas and behaviours. If history has taught us anything, it is that we as a society need to be more open minded, specifically with sexuality. 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