Sierra Club tells you how much you would save if CAFE was updated
The Sierra Club has set up a mileage calculator on their website that purports to tell users how much their mileage would improve if fuel economy requirements were updated and carmakers put all the technology that's currently available on their cars. While this seems like a good idea for showing people how much they would save under the new rules the reality is somewhat flawed.
When a user goes to the site and selects the car or truck they have and the annual miles they drive the calculator displays the current mileage and what could be achieved with current technology. It then displays how much money you would save. The problem is that much of the data in the calculator is incorrect. For example selecting the Ford Escape hybrid shows a current mileage of 33mpg and a potential of 62mpg which seems highly unlikely. Choosing the Prius or Civic hybrid brings a response that the vehicle is already achieving maximum fuel economy. If an Escape Hybrid could almost double it's mileage why not these two?
If you select a Toyota Yaris it reports the current mileage as 22.7 mpg and potential of 39.7mpg. I suspect most Yaris drivers would be very surprised and suspect something is wrong if they got mileage that low. The same result comes up if you select a Honda Fit or numerous other cars. According to the site the current numbers are based on EPA ratings but clearly they have entered a lot of erroneous data. The idea is a good one, but if the results are so wrong it can be counterproductive and damaging to the club's credibility. They should really take the calculator off line until they correct the errors.
Update: Someone from the Sierra Club posted in the comments that they are aware of some errors and are updating their database.
[Source: Sierra Club via Green Options]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Kent Beuchert 8:20AM (5/29/2007)
The Sierra Club might want to look at the enormous amount of greenhouse gases that they have been instrumental in causing by their silly opposition to nuclear power over the past 30 years. We wouldn't have a global warming problem if nuclear had simply maintained its relative position. I note that Virgina went from producing 55% of its electricity from nuclear down to 35% today. That is the only clean power in the state. That's merely one of the many idiotic positions this group of amateur and incompetent environmentalists have taken over the years. It doesn't surprise me that they have produced another phoney packet of false information. That's par for the course.
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Caferacer 11:44AM (5/29/2007)
Funny how they have left my TDI off of their options! So it returns "Your Volkswagen Jetta gets 25.0 mpg. But if automakers put current technology to work, you could get 39.3 mpg." Ironic since my TDI already gets 48 mpg and runs on Biodiesel. Subtle manipulation.....
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adrian cotter 4:10PM (5/29/2007)
Hey Sam,
The bad data you saw was due to my technical incompetence... The latest models had made it into the dropdowns, but the database itself hadn't copied over to our production website. The Yaris and the FIT weren't in our previous database, so it was defaulting to a set number.
As to the hybrid error, there are a lot of new hybrids out there since last we posted this, and they hadn't been properly marked in the database. They are now.
Please let us know if you see anything else awry. webmaster@sierraclub.org
Sorry caferacer, that your TDI was not listed. Do they make it anymore, perhaps? We grab the data from the latest list, I edit out some repeats (since we don't offer options on auto/manual, etc). Cool that you're getting 48 mpg though!
As to us being wholly reponsible for stopping nuclear power, Kent -- I could only wish that we had so much power! The organization is indeed still officially opposed to nuclear power, but then so are insurance companies...
It is shifting ground in the environmental community, at least... so you could always join the organization and help change us, and try to change minds internally.
Blaming us for the past, however, is not a very good way forward. Just my personal opinion...
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