Why Arrest the Guy ?

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
FBI Arrests Volkswagen Executive in Emissions Scandal
VW executive Oliver Schmidt is suspected of participating in a conspiracy to defraud the U.S. in connection with the emissions-cheating scandal


A Volkswagen AG executive was arrested and charged as part of a U.S. investigation into the German auto giant’s emissions-cheating scandal, with a federal complaint detailing how the company’s top management conspired to hide the cheating from regulators.

Oliver Schmidt, who was once in charge of ensuring that Volkswagen vehicles complied with U.S. emissions, was arrested by Federal Bureau of Investigation agents on Saturday at Miami International Airport as he prepared to fly home to Germany. He is suspected of conspiring to defraud the U.S. government and U.S. consumers to sell Volkswagen diesel vehicles.



VW is already paying 16 Billion in fines, having to buy back cars at market value, what justice is served putting this guy in JAIL :shrug:


The charges, unsealed Monday, come as Volkswagen seeks to settle criminal allegations stemming from its admission in 2015 that it rigged nearly 600,000 diesel-powered cars sold in the U.S. to cheat on emissions tests. Volkswagen has agreed to pay up to $17.5 billion in the U.S. to settle claims with regulators, consumers, dealers and state attorneys general and could face another multibillion-dollar penalty in the expected criminal case.

Mr. Schmidt appears to have become a central figure in the U.S. government’s investigation as someone who allegedly played a key role in the company’s efforts to conceal its use of illegal software, a so-called defeat device, in diesel vehicles sold in the U.S.
 

Merlin99

Visualize whirled peas
PREMO Member
VW is already paying 16 Billion in fines, having to buy back cars at market value, what justice is served putting this guy in JAIL :shrug:

You commit a criminal act, you get stuck in the legal system. Step 1 of the criminal system is getting arrested.
 

Larry Gude

Strung Out
Ok, someone smarter than me; how is it that burning a gallon of gas produces 19.64 POUNDS of CO2 and 22.38 POUNDS of CO2 are produced from burning a gallon diesel? I know, as a matter of fact, that diesel is lighter than water and water weighs 8.34 pounds.

http://www.eia.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=307&t=11

About 19.64 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2) are produced from burning a gallon of gasoline that does not contain ethanol. About 22.38 pounds of CO2 are produced from burning a gallon of diesel fuel


Until I read that I was gonna argue that the guy has to go to jail because he's not playing the game. Diesel, even if the above is accurate, that it produces a little more CO2 as well as other nastiness, the best I could find quickly was that if you revise diesel MPG down about 20%, that's what a gas engine needs to achieve to be, roughly, on par in terms of environmental impact. So, I know VW's can get about 50 mph here, thus a gas car needs to get 40 mpg, which isn't all that common. So, to the point, if VW is cheating a little, it's making it harder to justify buying gas over diesel, which is already, mostly superior to gas because it gets more than enough MPG to offset the difference environmentally. In other words, to be one of the gang, VW, with an inherently better product, environmentally, had to conform to a more stringent set of rules to make it comparable to gas. So, the cheating, while already better for the environment, can't be allowed to stray from the rules.

Now, I'm fascinated by the prospect that burning fossil fuels creates nearly triple their weight in a byproduct. And that's just the gross weight as a gallon of fuel isn't 100% CO2 to begin with.

Some help?
 

glhs837

Power with Control
So, regardless of the BS surrounding carbon output, and whatever VW is paying, the fact is that this guy was charged with ensuring VW was complying withy the law, and he broke it instead. Are we not always saying that buying yourself free from the legal consequences of your individual actions is BS? And the corporations should not be allowed to just pay a fine and wash away wrongdoing?
 

Clem72

Well-Known Member
Ok, someone smarter than me; how is it that burning a gallon of gas produces 19.64 POUNDS of CO2 and 22.38 POUNDS of CO2 are produced from burning a gallon diesel? I know, as a matter of fact, that diesel is lighter than water and water weighs 8.34 pounds.

It probably has to due with most of the components of the CO2 coming from the air, and burning the gas is simply acting as a catalyst to turn breathable air into CO2.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
It probably has to due with most of the components of the CO2 coming from the air, and burning the gas is simply acting as a catalyst to turn breathable air into CO2.

Because the carbon MONoxide binds up free oxygen to become carbon DIoxide. Like how a 30lb muddy dog can weight 50lbs.
 

Clem72

Well-Known Member
Because the carbon MONoxide binds up free oxygen to become carbon DIoxide. Like how a 30lb muddy dog can weight 50lbs.

Are you explaining that to me or to Larry? Because that's just restating what I said with a bit more specificity.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Are you explaining that to me or to Larry? Because that's just restating what I said with a bit more specificity.

Yep, that was amplifying it for Larry, although I might think a plant guy would be all over that, come to think of it :)
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
.... the fact is that this guy was charged with ensuring VW was complying withy the law, and he broke it instead.



well the FBI should be filing charges and arresting a bunch more VW employees, this went all the way to the top .... starting with the CEO already out of work

[I know they grabbed who they could]
 

Larry Gude

Strung Out
Ok, so that I have a handle on this, IIRC, a CO2 molecule is heavier than air, right? By about a third? So, whatever it's becoming, somehow, makes it float above air, right?

So, of 8 pounds of weight in a gallon of gas, how much of that weight is CO2? A fraction of the 8 pounds, yes? So, we're not talking about it doubling, we;'re talking about a CO2 molecule becoming exponentially heavier when freed from liquid via burning, right?

God, I wished I'd paid more attention in chemistry class. :stupid:
 

Larry Gude

Strung Out
Yep, that was amplifying it for Larry, although I might think a plant guy would be all over that, come to think of it :)

You've missed my rants about CO2 and greenhouse 'gases'???? Well, allow me!

Greenhouses do NOT trap CO2. THEY CONSUME it. It's the dumbest analogy in the history of dumb analogies. Further, greenhouses have vents and fans and cooling pads and....get this....CO2 GENERATORS to create MORE CO2 so that...the plants GROW better.

And what gas does a greenhouse produce?????


O2.
 

Clem72

Well-Known Member
God, I wished I'd paid more attention in chemistry class. :stupid:

Wasn't my favorite class either.

Wikipedia has the conversion as 2 C8H18 + 25 O2 → 16 CO2 + 18 H2O.

So, for every two molecules of the primary hydrocarbon in gasoline 25 molecules of Oxygen are pulled from the air to produce 16 molecules of Carbon Dioxide and 18 molecules of water. Now, obviously they have differing weights (which I am not even going to attempt to look up), but on the fact of it a 1 to 8 ratio seems like it should be enough to account for the difference in weight you outlined in your initial post.
 

Larry Gude

Strung Out
Wasn't my favorite class either.

Wikipedia has the conversion as 2 C8H18 + 25 O2 → 16 CO2 + 18 H2O.

So, for every two molecules of the primary hydrocarbon in gasoline 25 molecules of Oxygen are pulled from the air to produce 16 molecules of Carbon Dioxide and 18 molecules of water. Now, obviously they have differing weights (which I am not even going to attempt to look up), but on the fact of it a 1 to 8 ratio seems like it should be enough to account for the difference in weight you outlined in your initial post.

I actually enjoyed it. True story; I dicked around and dicked around and got an F mid terms. Teacher had me stay after ONE time and in 45 minutes she opened my eyes and mind and I earned an A by end of quarter. I just couldn't see a future in it for me.

So, in any event, if we know burning fossil fuels CREATES 8 times the product then think of the possibilities, the potential applications if we can set aside stupidity, like 'greenhouse gases' and start looking at what we could DO with the by products. Again, we ADD CO2 to improve plant growth which, in turn, basic photosynthesis, creates more O2.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
You've missed my rants about CO2 and greenhouse 'gases'???? Well, allow me!

Greenhouses do NOT trap CO2. THEY CONSUME it. It's the dumbest analogy in the history of dumb analogies. Further, greenhouses have vents and fans and cooling pads and....get this....CO2 GENERATORS to create MORE CO2 so that...the plants GROW better.

And what gas does a greenhouse produce?????


O2.

Larry, relax, I was simply pointing out that the reason emissions can produce a greater weight than the fluid burned that produced the emissions. I know plants consume CO2 and produce O2, being carbon based lifeforms. I never mentioned greenhouses.
 

Larry Gude

Strung Out
Larry, relax, I was simply pointing out that the reason emissions can produce a greater weight than the fluid burned that produced the emissions. I know plants consume CO2 and produce O2, being carbon based lifeforms. I never mentioned greenhouses.

My bad. I wasn't ranting AT you. I was ranting at the conventional wisdom which, while conventional, isn't very wise. :buddies:

I think that's my biggest problem as a writer; I make people feel like I am barking at them when I am not. That said, I think it's REALLY clear when I actually AM barking at someone. :lol:
 
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