Silliness!

[steveb@newkla.kla.com (Steven Buchholz)]

In the San Francisco Bay Area of California we have had to deal with vapor 
recovery nozzles for quite a few years (~20?).  There has been some real 
improvement with the new coaxial hoses.  The liquid flows through the middle 
hose and the exhaust is returned using the outer hose.  The hoses are also 
much more flexible than the dual hose contraptions we used to have.  It 
makes them almost as easy to use as the old non-recovery hoses.  It is inter-
esting how one gets used to the reduction/elimination of the gasoline vapor 
smell ... it is very obvious when I fill up somewhere that doesn't have 
vapor recovery systems.  I do have a bit more of a problem filling the gas 
tank on the motorcycles.

You probably should ignore the rest of this post ... it is simply me 
venting my current frustration with the politicos who are gonna save 
our planet!  I hope my venting didn't affect the ozone layer!  Maybe 
NASA can send up a shuttle to make sure.  Is anyone out there aware of 
any organizations that are trying to stop the madness we seem to have 
gotten ourselves into (e.g. MTBE & Freon-12).  Oh yeah ... they gotta
drive quattros too!  :-)

I really have to wonder when I think about the hazardous chemicals that 
are being foisted upon us in the interest of the environment.  MTBE is 
now put in the gasoline here for more than half of the year.  How can 
there be a reduction in total emissions when you use more of it per mile 
driven?  We do have a good amount of experience with the current fuels, 
but still no causal relationship has been established with global warming, 
global cooling or reduction in the ozone layer.  The other one that warms 
my cockles is the mandated cessation of Freon in refrigeration systems.  
I recently bought a refrigerator, and while I was shopping I looked into 
the new refrigerants.  Some of the gasses being proposed as replacements 
are hazardous to humans, and I understand that they are finding that the 
compressors are failing after 5 years!  Freon based refrigerators last 
two to four times as long, and rarely lose refrigerant.  By ensuring that 
the Freon gets reclaimed when the refrigerator is destroyed almost none 
even gets to the environment.  I flew into the face of PC and bought a 
new Freon-12 based refrigerator (good thing I was in the market now and 
not a year from now).  Automotive air conditioners seem to be more of a 
problem since it seems that they need to be recharged regularly (implying 
that some of the refrigerant has been lost along the way).  I've never 
seen a discussion as to why there is more of a problem with the automo-
tive application.  It is true that there is a lot more vibration, but 
there should be a solution to that.  But that is no longer an option ... 
production of Freon will stop.  

And then there are the new changes in California related to the smog 
check program.  The predictions are that the increased maximum costs 
will cause even more people to simply not register their cars, and never 
attempt to reduce the emissions every two years as now occurs.  From what 
I understand the new rules are that even if the car meets the emission 
specifications if there is a part of the system that is determined to be 
non-functional (e.g. EGR valve), then you must pay to have it fixed.

Steve Buchholz