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What are the carbon costs of this service? Is less carbon burned into the atmosphere because of this service? Or, more? Is there a public analysis that we can

What are the carbon costs of this service? Is less carbon burned into the atmosphere because of this service? Or, more? Is there a public analysis that we can view? Edit: Really? Buried to the bottom for environmental concern questions? Is this another case of YCombinator being unable to adequately respond to critical questions?

astrodust 10y ago
I'm not even sure what you're saying.
- jsprogrammer 10y ago
  Carbon being released into the atmosphere is believed to be one of the main contributors to rapid climate change. Gasoline is a liquid of hydrogen and carbon. When it is burned, the carbon and hydrogens are broken apart and the carbon joins with oxygen and is then typically allowed to escape in to the atmosphere. This service is hauling around, presumably large amounts of, gasoline, likely using a hydro-carbon burning engine. Usually this gasoline is taken straight to large tanks where many vehicles may come to refill. With this service, much work must be done to move around the gasoline to the vehicles, wherever they might be. I want to know how much carbon is released into the atmosphere by this service over (or under) the current alternative.
  - ams6110 10y ago
    Not enough to worry about, in the context of the total number of cars on the road.
    - jsprogrammer 10y ago
      This service will not expand to all cars?
      - ams6110 10y ago
        No. It won't. A small minority of people will find a service like this valuable. Most people will continue to buy gas the way they do today, until and unless EVs really become practical.
        astrodust 10y ago
        Then they'll pivot to running around charging cars.
  - astrodust 10y ago
    > I want to know ... I want a pony. These numbers don't exist. Nobody computes them. If you want to try, knock yourself out. Now remember that a car doesn't magically get gas from a gas station, it has to drive there, it has to drive back. If this service uses some algorithm to actually drive less to deliver gas than people would independently doing the same thing it could be carbon positive. You'd have to run the numbers to find out.
rdl 10y ago
Probably close to neutral; maybe better, if their truck is diesel, and it keeps people from driving out of their way to find the cheapest gas in stop and go traffic. It's a pretty insignificant concern, though, relative to the positives (time savings, convenience) and negatives (safety).
- jsprogrammer 10y ago
  I don't see how hauling the gasoline to vehicles could possibly be better unless the tanker was acting as a mobile, stationary (until the tank is emptied) station and came directly from the same place current tankers do (no intermediate storage). In such a scenario, it's possible that there might be a slight improvement. However, from what I can tell this service seems to go wherever someone has parked; meaning lots of traveling and one-off trips for the tankers. >It's a pretty insignificant concern, though, relative to the positives (time savings, convenience) and negatives (safety). It seems pretty convenient that the only beneficiary is the person responsible for the negatives (which we will all suffer from).

astrodust 10y ago

I'm not even sure what you're saying.

jsprogrammer 10y ago
Carbon being released into the atmosphere is believed to be one of the main contributors to rapid climate change. Gasoline is a liquid of hydrogen and carbon. When it is burned, the carbon and hydrogens are broken apart and the carbon joins with oxygen and is then typically allowed to escape in to the atmosphere. This service is hauling around, presumably large amounts of, gasoline, likely using a hydro-carbon burning engine. Usually this gasoline is taken straight to large tanks where many vehicles may come to refill. With this service, much work must be done to move around the gasoline to the vehicles, wherever they might be. I want to know how much carbon is released into the atmosphere by this service over (or under) the current alternative.
- ams6110 10y ago
  Not enough to worry about, in the context of the total number of cars on the road.
  - jsprogrammer 10y ago
    This service will not expand to all cars?
    - ams6110 10y ago
      No. It won't. A small minority of people will find a service like this valuable. Most people will continue to buy gas the way they do today, until and unless EVs really become practical.
      - astrodust 10y ago
        Then they'll pivot to running around charging cars.
- astrodust 10y ago
  > I want to know ... I want a pony. These numbers don't exist. Nobody computes them. If you want to try, knock yourself out. Now remember that a car doesn't magically get gas from a gas station, it has to drive there, it has to drive back. If this service uses some algorithm to actually drive less to deliver gas than people would independently doing the same thing it could be carbon positive. You'd have to run the numbers to find out.

rdl 10y ago

Probably close to neutral; maybe better, if their truck is diesel, and it keeps people from driving out of their way to find the cheapest gas in stop and go traffic. It's a pretty insignificant concern, though, relative to the positives (time savings, convenience) and negatives (safety).

jsprogrammer 10y ago
I don't see how hauling the gasoline to vehicles could possibly be better unless the tanker was acting as a mobile, stationary (until the tank is emptied) station and came directly from the same place current tankers do (no intermediate storage). In such a scenario, it's possible that there might be a slight improvement. However, from what I can tell this service seems to go wherever someone has parked; meaning lots of traveling and one-off trips for the tankers. >It's a pretty insignificant concern, though, relative to the positives (time savings, convenience) and negatives (safety). It seems pretty convenient that the only beneficiary is the person responsible for the negatives (which we will all suffer from).