The greening of Jay Leno
The LA Times just ran a piece about how car collector extraordinaire and The Tonight Show host Jay Leno is seeing green these days. Not envious in the least, Jay in fact has several warehouses around Burbank that house hundreds of incredible vehicles that would incite lust in just about anyone with a car-loving bone in their bodies. No, the green here is the environmental push that is seemingly sweeping the world over. It seems that after spending more time with fellow celebs and enviro-warriors like Ed Begley, Jr., Jay has become enlightened to the needs of Mother Earth.
It should be pointed out that Jay has always had alternative vehicles in his collection. Most of those are early steam cars, but still, last year at SEMA he introduced the EcoJet powered by biodiesel and this year he rolled out the E85 Corvette C6RS by Pratt & Miller. People see high performance and the green movement as two diametrically opposed concepts, but Leno is one of those people who understands you can have both. Making a high performance vehicle doesn't have to come at the expense of the planet if you choose your motivation carefully. Cars like those mentioned above and Audi's diesel-powered R10 Le Mans racers come to mind. And the greening of Jay extends beyond the vehicles themselves.
Leno is investing in ideas like solar panels, wind turbines and grease-eating microbes, according to the article. He's also gradually making over his Big Dog Garage to incorporate self-generated power, energy-efficient heating and nontoxic cleaners. The article is a pretty good read, so check it out for yourself. The funniest bit in the story is Jay's half-serious, half-joking rationale for getting into the green thing:
"My thing with the green situation is: Even if you don't believe in global warming, don't you want to screw the oil company or gas company or utility company?"
Priceless.
Thanks for the tip Jay!
[Source: LA Times]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
HotRodzNKustoms 7:01PM (11/08/2007)
Jay is a bright spot for us power guys in this world of Global Warming by Al Gore. Hopefully projects like this will lead to accessible alternative fueled (E85 or otherwise) with similar or even superior performance to the wonderful gas powered products we have today.
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FrankTheCrank 10:25AM (11/09/2007)
2009 can't come soon enough, two turds will be out of the spotlight...the first, George W. Bush, the second, Jay Leno.
GO AWAY you TURDS!!
Sam 7:14PM (11/08/2007)
so does that mean he's going to sell all his gas guzzlers and really become green? or is he just gonna keep shouting lame bull monkey to make the media say "oo" and "ahh"
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Tony 7:29PM (11/08/2007)
Ooh! to have a moneybag or three.
I wonder if they can build the C6RS with a Diesel engine. I just found out that any Diesel engine can run on biodiesel, that's sweet! Talk about a real green C6RS.
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simianspeedster 8:05PM (11/08/2007)
Hollywood's version of being green consists of the following:
1)ADDING a hybrid or alternative fuel car to your stable and being seen driving it to major events prefaced by a press release
(or at least a tipoff) pre-announcing your arrival, of course.
2) Making a small donation to some organization that sounds/looks green (and maybe really is, but the sounds/looks part matters most). Perception, baby!
3) Travelling, usually by private jet, to parts of the world allegedly impacted by global warming. Photo-op, then back on the plane.
4) Maybe investing in "green" companies, so long as the investment is lucrative.
5) Otherwise conducting the remaining 95% of their lives as wastefully and excessively as possible. Multiple mansions, private jet travel, etc.
Ahhh, if only *I* could be soe green. Oh, the sacrifices!
-SimianSpeedster
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jegjrfan 8:46PM (11/08/2007)
Simian must not have seen the various episodes of My Classic Car with Dennis Gage that Jay has appeared on. Yes, the suped-up Toronado and other muscle has been shown, but there has also been Stanley Steamer's and other alternative fueled vehicles from Jay's collection.
http://www.myclassiccar.com/ is a great place to find episodes with Jay and when they will run. Also available are season DVD packages to see other episodes.
Matt 8:10PM (11/08/2007)
Jay's not the only one who thinks green + performance = true:
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/120/motorhead-messiah.html
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aesthari 1:59AM (11/09/2007)
"My thing with the green situation is: Even if you don't believe in global warming, don't you want to screw the oil company or gas company or utility company?"
Priceless.
Really.
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strongbadinator 8:43PM (11/08/2007)
I am so sick of Leno calling E85 green. It is NOT. It is a FARCE. E85 uses federally subsidized NATURAL GAS to produce E85 from corn and other plants, which use a crapload of oil and fuel to till, plant, and harvest in the first place! Plus the land is covered in chemicals! E85 is NOT green. It uses MORE energy to produce E85 than burning E85 makes, and it's production is subsidized by YOUR tax dollars since it requires NATURAL GAS to produce. Wonder why your heating bills are so high? E85 is one of the reasons. They use an incredible amount of natural gas in order to create this crap, and here we have Leno talking how 'green' it is. Bull-f*cking-sh*t, Jay! Cut the crap!
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why not the LS2/LS7? 12:24AM (11/09/2007)
I bet the natural gas used in making E85 is peanuts compared to the natural gas used by California to generate electricity. Blaming your home heating prices on E85 is probably inaccurate.
strongbadinator 8:44PM (11/08/2007)
Only if by 'amazing' you mean believeing in fairytales.
I am so sick of Leno calling E85 green. It is NOT. It is a FARCE. E85 uses federally subsidized NATURAL GAS to produce E85 from corn and other plants, which use a crapload of oil and fuel to till, plant, and harvest in the first place! Plus the land is covered in chemicals! E85 is NOT green. It uses MORE energy to produce E85 than burning E85 makes, and it's production is subsidized by YOUR tax dollars since it requires NATURAL GAS to produce. Wonder why your heating bills are so high? E85 is one of the reasons. They use an incredible amount of natural gas in order to create this crap, and here we have Leno talking how 'green' it is. Bull-f*cking-sh*t, Jay! Cut the crap!
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psarhjinian 9:47PM (11/08/2007)
I'm getting really tired of the greenwashing diesel gets by the enthusiast community. Green is emissions, not fuel economy.
Diesel isn't green. By both per-mass and per-unit-of-crude-to-produce, diesel is not much more (if at all more) efficient than gasoline, while at the same time having poorer emissions.
Diesel gives you good fuel economy by the standard volume-used-by-distance. In the more accurate mass-used-by-distance, it doesn't look so good.
If you want a greener fuel, you want low-input-energy biofuels like cane or waste ethanol. You do not want diesel.
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rgseidl 9:16AM (11/09/2007)
1. Green = emissions used to be true in the US and Japan. Europe has always considered fuel efficiency part of the whole equation. At close to $100/barrel, fuel consumption is now a significant economic issue for US consumers as well - in addition to the strictly environmental aspects of toxic emissions and global warming. The definition of "green transportation" is changing.
2. Diesels really are more efficient than spark ignition engines in part load because they can run very lean, i.e. unthrottled. This alone improves average fuel economy by 10-20% relative to the standard stoichiometric SI engines with three-way catalysts when based on fuel *mass* flow. CO2 emissions per mile are also 10-20% lower.
3. The higher density of diesel adds another ~10% when based on fuel *volume* flow. However, the argument that diesel has higher density is mostly academic since both crude oil and refined fuels are traded by volume rather than mass. Besides, every barrel of crude oil yields a large fraction of middle distillate, i.e. diesel / heating oil. US refineries have to expend significant amounts of energy to hydrocrack much of this fraction so they can get close to satisfying gasoline demand. Even so, 1 in 7 gallons of gasoline consumed in the US is imported as finished product from Europe and elsewhere.
4. It is true that diesels will never deliver lower emissions than the cleanest available spark ignition technology. However, T2B5 / LEV II is considered "clean enough" in all 50 states right now.
5. What matters to the vehicle owner is total cost of ownership per mile. Because diesel engines are more expensive to produce and, the US has chosen not to skew fuel taxes in favor of diesel, the option will make financial sense only for larger vehicles and/or those who put a lot of miles on their vehicle.
Russell 1:30PM (11/09/2007)
You're right strongbadinator, E85 is not green its yellow Duh...
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Russell 1:38PM (11/09/2007)
If you think greenies will ever be satisfied until we all ride bicycles and hug trees, you are mistaken Jay.
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