Earth Hour and An Old Mercedes Worth Mentioning About

A month has come and gone. We had Earth Hour recently. We had Earth Day also recently (which I think made absolutely no impact on saving the planet whatsoever). We had a change of Prime Ministers recently (good riddance to the previous, hope for the best in the new one!), and we had 3 by-elections for us coffeeshop political analysts to sit around and have their unofficial post mortems to chat about. As for yours truly, yes, I did my part during earth hour. My family and I were at my wife’s family home in Petaling Jaya where we basically sat in the dark and gossiped about family matters. Now how many of you actually turned off their lights during Earth Hour? Remember, its turning off the lights, not life support machines for the elderly or incubators for premature babies. Imagine if people did just that.

Now as brutal and uncaring I may seem, I was coerced to do my part for the hour. But let me tell you the real facts of such a ‘token gesture’. Earth Hour doesn’t actually save the planet from burning up tons of carbon and polluting the atmosphere. This program is about asking households and businesses to turn off their non-essential lights and other electrical appliances for one hour to raise awareness towards the need to take action on climate change. It is however a token gesture with no real savings. Why do I say so? It’s simple.

It seems that the following was saved as an example:

“The Philippines was able to save 611 MWh of electricity during the time period, and is said to be equivalent to shutting down a dozen coal-fired power plants for an hour.”

However, that didn’t take into account the paraffin candles burnt, battery operated torchlights used, and bonfires created as well as other forms of light that use some sort of energy that isn’t solar or hydro electrically operated. These sorts of lights also use carbon based fuel, which is basically the same as what’s used in most power generation stations. Not to mention, we have to note that power generation by any nation’s power plants flows through a grid that does not have a storage capability of any excess power generated. Imagine having a battery the size of Mount Kinabalu. Even then it wouldn’t be enough to store excess electricity generated by all the power producers in the country.

The only actual savings are each and every participant’s electricity bill but not the nation’s power producing bill. No one actually knows if the power producers actually scaled back production of power during that period, and I do not think 1 hour is actually a long enough time for the managers of Tenaga Nasional Berhad (TNB) to say “Gee, Earth Hour’s approaching….let’s cut the power producing by 15% for the next hour.” It’s actually not possible. It may be easier to ask them to produce facial hair then ask them to draw out a production plan for 1 measly hour, being a government linked body. So Earth Hour is for individuals. To educate them on how to save some money, and some power consumption in their area and not much more. It would be beneficial if this Earth Hour was a daily event whereby everyone cuts their consumption of electricity by 10% throughout the day. When that happens, the production planners at TNB would realize that power consumption is lower and they will then adjust overall production accordingly. Then actual carbon savings would exist. So, 1 hour per year does diddly squat actually. But hey, sometimes any event celebrated globally is actually an excuse to party together and nothing else.

On the point of something motoring yet GREEN, I have to state that hybrid cars like the Honda Civic Hybrid sold here isn’t all that green. Have you ever thought of the lifespan of that car? Car manufacturers would like that you change your car every 5 years or so basically to keep them in business. But the fact is that if you change your car every 5 years or so, it’s uneconomical in the environmental sort of way as you haven’t taken into account the amount of energy that goes into producing a car. In order to produce a car we have to take into account the raw material transported to the factory, the energy needed to mould and stamp metal body parts, to mould and stamp plastic parts, rubber and to make tempered glass isn’t all that energy free. If you use a car and change it every 5 years or so, you’re causing even more waste of energy.

On another note, do you think your Honda Hybrid’s battery would still be efficient after 4 years or so of use in this hot and humid climate? I’d bet that by the 5th year you’d need new batteries. New batteries for a Hybrid may cost you RM10,000.00 as they are not cheap. Now have you thought of disposing those batteries? They’re gonna be a pain to dispose of in an environmentally friendly way in this country as we haven’t the rules and regulation in place for that.

You want to be environmentally friendly yet drive a decent car? Buy any car with a catalytic converter (and keep the converter in place) and use it for at least 9-10 years. That’s the right thing to do when it comes to cars. And trust me, cars nowadays aren’t as faulty as cars from the 1970s. They are basically bulletproof in some ways and with some maintenance and car they will last longer than 15 years.

Another way to safe the environment is to buy a second hand car. This basically means that you’re buying something that is already around for a while and that doesn’t cost any more energy to produce (brand new). I’d suggest the Mercedes Benz W124 series. These cars were produced from the mid-80s till the mid 90s. These cars were built like vaults and have already reached a kind of motoring icon status due to its reliability, solidity and durability. We’ve seen shows like 5th Gear trashing a W124 (wagon) to bits and it still performed admirably. We are still seeing them ply the streets of Kuala Lumpur and Putra Jaya and on the North-South Highway. Some of thse cars have 300,000-500,000 km mileage and they are still going strong. Heck, I’ve seen a few of these still plying the streets of Singapore, where nearly everything is less than 5 years old! I suppose it doesn’t look that dated. Integrated bumpers, flush fit doors, very conservative yet uncluttered design does that.

I’ve driven a few of these cars over the years and while they are slightly dull to drive, I’ve always felt that if I was in the market for a dependable luxury cruiser, albeit cheap to purchase and maintain yet comfortable enough to make long highway cruises, I’ve buy one in an instant. What makes them dull to drive is the slow recirculating ball type steering wheel and that funny two stage throttle pedal. The thing with the steering is that it has no feel whatsoever. Some feedback from the road is actually good, but in this car, you basically use it to turn and there’s no connection whatsoever. Which may be a good thing if you just want to waft through someplace stress free. The throttle pedal however is something which you’d get used to I suppose. An trait that we have to get used to, like the stupid gearshift in the Alfa 147 I drove, the handbrake in my old 1982 Civic or like hitting some switches on the Millennium Falcon to get Hyperspace drive.

But, I have to say that if you bought a 6 cylinder W124 series Mercedes, things are actually quite happening. I’ve driven the 200E, 230CE, 260E and the 300E. The latter two are actually quite fantastic to drive. You would notice that the W124 is actually pretty nimble with a 2.6liter or a 3.0liter 6 cylinder engine. There’s more than ample torque to get it moving, the 4 speed automatic box pretty smooth and eager. Progress through any highway would be faster than brisk. You’d be able to cruise at 200km/h in one of these 15 + year old cars. You would be surprised that once you get over that dead steering wheel you’d notice that this tall, squarish sedan can actually hustle. Grip is abundant and you have to realize, it was designed and (mostly) made in Germany; the place of high speed cruising. Ride comfort is pretty decent. Firm and solid but pliant enough for most. If you have one of those Honda Civics, Proton Gen2s on sports springs, the W124 would still feel like a luxury sedan. Even Perdana owners would be surprised that it’s as comfortable as one and it may be actually be cheaper to maintain that one!

Go buy one, change the bushings, get new shocks and it’ll allow you to have decent motoring at a fraction of the price of a brand new Mercedes. If you have a bit more, buy the 2 door CE version. It has a slight shorter wheelbase and a sportier design from the A pillar backwards. Everything else feels the same and maintenance would be the same too.

So save the planet, buy an older 6 cylinder car (lots of power here which is a good thing) that could last you through the next 2 decades. You buy a car that lasts longer and is already built, you don’t’ contribute to mass production that partly contributes to the planet’s decay. Either that or you could buy yourself your dream car, but use it for about 10 over years. That’s actual savings.