zerowaste

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Discussing ways to reduce waste and build community!

Celebrate thrift as a virtue, talk about creative ways to make do, or show off how you reused something!

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What to do with fuel-burning cars -- convert them? (self.zerowaste)

submitted 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago) by activistPnk to c/zerowaste

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The avg. age of a car bought in Africa at the time of purchase is 21 years old. All these people buying EVs think they are taking a gas-burner off the road. But in fact cars do not get thrown away. They get shipped to Africa where they live on and continue to emit GHG for decades longer.

So what’s the answer? Destroying the car is a non-starter, as no one would throw away value. It would be like asking people to set some of their cash on fire.

Why not remove the engine and repurpose it as a backup power generator for power outtages? Then convert the rest of the car into an EV.

Conversions are being done. There are some companies offering to do the work. But these are very small scale operations that are rarely spoken of. I have to wonder why (what seems like) the best solution is being overlooked.

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[–] 4shtonButcher@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

You have heard the thing that Ethiopia is banning import of all ICEs? https://electrek.co/2024/02/02/it-begins-ethiopia-set-to-become-first-country-to-ban-internal-combustion-cars/

[–] activistPnk 2 points 2 weeks ago

That’s interesting.. I thought a Scandinavian country was known for banning ICE cars. Though apparently Ethiopia is getting credit for the first to enact the policy.

Though in principle it would make sense to have an exception so that someone in Ethiopia could to do ICE→EV conversions if they wanted.