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TRANSPORTATION OPTIONS
If you choose this category to investigate, you could explore the necessary information to make a sound decision on selecting the best vehicle for you (now or in the future) based on factors like the following::
fuel economy (and therefore impact on the environment via CO2 emissions)
safety (watch the "Physics of Car Crashes" video)
cost AND/OR other criteria that are especially important to you (need a truck for work, need a van for kids, need a hot-looking car so I look cool, etc.)
Your investigation should balance your personal values with information you can collect from the links below in the categories of: impact on the environment (based on fuel economy, CO2 emissions, etc.) and/or safety (based on crashworthiness, etc.), & cost/other criteria -- Since a vehicle choice is a very personal decision, feel free to include "other criteria" categories such as "performance," or even "dream-car quotient" -- if these are important to you. Use principles you've learned in class this semester to guide your decisions (e.g. laws of motion, greenhouse gas emissions, etc.) [NOTE: You don't have to choose a car/sedan -- you can choose a truck, motorcycle, bike, etc. as long as you set your criteria up to evaluate a choice for this type of vehicle and can find data to support it.]
DATA & INFORMATION COLLECTION
Spend some extended time scanning through the DATA COLLECTION LINKS below to see what kind of data and information are available on the web to help you decide which is the best vehicle for you.
LINKS for COLLECTING DATA TO CONNECT YOUR CAR & GLOBAL CHANGE
SELECTION OF THE BEST VEHICLE -- for YOU
Using information gleaned from the data collection links, prepare your rating table and rank several vehicles based on your criteria rating system. (You may select more than one if you find two or more that are suitable.) For some of you, safety may be more important, for others, fuel economy, for others, something else -- the point of this activity is not to dictate what kind of car is best for you, it's to help you become an informed consumer who can make choices based on a broad spectrum of data -- just as a scientist would.
OPTIONAL APPROACH: Focus on new fuel efficient technologies for automobiles (hydrogen fuel cells, etc.)
For this option, focus on the automobiles of the future and the new technologies that are being developed to produce more fuel efficient cars.
You'll have to do a bit of extra research to learn what alternative technologies there are out there (hydrogen fuel cells, future hybrid plans, solar(?) cars, etc) and you'll need to use a little creativity to compare these cars to the existing cars that are listed on the web sites.
For example, if there is no safety information provided, try to estimate how the new cars might do in "crashworthiness" tests, based on the type of platform they are built on or how closely they compare to existing vehicles that have been tested.
Focus your "BOTTOM LINE" recommendation or conclusion on the future of the automobile industry and whether or not you see these new technologies defining that future.
Also in your WRITE-UP you may want to address whether these new technologies will really reduce total energy consumption, or just shift the use of energy to some other form that might still contribute to enhanced greenhouse gas emissions.
BONUS POINT OPPORTUNITY: Do a bit of field work and visit one or two car dealerships. Check out a gas/electric hybrid or one of the new electric cars (Nissan Leaf or Chevy Volt) and compare it with a similar model based on standard emissions technology. Try to engage a car dealer in discussing fuel economy and safety issues and see if their answers agree with what you've already learned from your web searches.
Then document and explain what you did in a report, slide or video about what (if anything) you learned by visiting the dealership(s) and whether it helped to be a more informed consumer via the websites before you hit the car lot. [NOTE: this bonus activity may be done with one or more other students in the class. Each student needs to write up his/her OWN unique message and post it. If you worked with others, be sure you list their name(s).]
Car Mileage and Emissions-Related Sites
- U.S. Department of Energy's Fuel Economy Site -- includes info on the miles per gallon and equivalent annual greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions for all recent makes of cars, along with a "Fuel Economy Rating"
- The film you watched told the story of how they "killed" the EV1 -- but what's happening now with electric vehicles (EV's)? Learn all about EVs including the latest news and models at Plug In America: http://www.pluginamerica.org/
Car Safety Sites
- National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) -- Includes "crashworthiness" crash test ratings for vehicles and lots of other useful information about car safety.
- European New Car Assessment Programme -- includes crash test information for European models
- Insurance Institute for Highway Safety -- another good site for vehicle safety ratings and crashworthiness information (The "Understanding Car Crashes, It's Basic Physics" video came from this organization.)
- Speed Control -- short article on the role of speed and stopping distance in car crashes; contains some representative test data in figures and tables
General Information Car Sites
- Edmunds.com -- find out loads of information on any vehicle, new and used; includes a "Town Hall" forum where you can read up on what it's REALLY like to own a given model and what consumers are saying about their cars; also includes crash test ratings (under Safety Info)
- "Car Talk" (cartalk.com) -- great website chock full of both fun and intelligent information that accompanies the classic adnd hilarious radio show called "Car Talk" with Tom & Ray Magliozzi (aka "Click and Clack")-- Listen to classic clips of the show and search for topics on the stie such as "the Lousiest Cars of the Millennium," "The Ultimate Guy Cars and Chick Cars of All Time"
- ==> Also see Car Talk's Better Guide to Fuel Economy and . . .