http://clubs.ccsu.edu/recorder/edito...asp?NewsID=188

An inconvinient truth?

 

to bad it's so ugly

 

It's been a argument used here over the "gas guzzling" 4x4's sucg as land rover and range rover. 75% of all land rovers ever made are still on the road and as cars take much more energy and pollution to make than they put out for most of their lives having a car that lasts longer is the only way to be truly green

 

I have said 1000 times before.... Hybrids suck and it has been one of the biggest marketing hoaxes pulled over the American consumers in the last 100 years.

 

like i said before, these hybrids require a lot of energy for production.

it builds awareness, but no environmental benefits when you see the
whole picture.

 

But it makes the owners feel good about their "good intentions"...like the road to hell is paved with you know what...

 

Never did like the Prius =/

 

As with all of the 'green" stuff, all that matters is that it sells books/videos, or gets NSF grants. Scientific method is so passe'.

An inconvenient lie.

 

yah... for someone like my wife though, the long intervals between
pumping gas would be something worth getting.... im going to let my
wife drive the civic pretty soon and get my legacy back.

 

i've never thought hybrids are all that great and viable, as have magazines like car and driver. it's a *feel-good* and fashionable purchase that in reality doesn't make any economic or true environmental sense, and that in the end makes them worse vehicles. pollution and running out of oil is bad, and i'm against ginormous gas-guzzling suv's like hummers and escalades (land rovers, however, are different; they truly are incredible), but hybrids are not the way of the future, at least not yet. newer-generation highly efficient clean-burning diesels that europeans love are much better and should be made availabe here in the us

 

The author obviously has it in for hybrids. The writing style and choice of words discredit him in his tracks. Editorials can get like that I suppose.

The facts are also skewed to make the author's "point".

1. Nickel is used in MILLIONS of other consumer products. So why is it that Prius is now at fault for harming the enviroment? Ever hear of nickel cadmium or nickel metal hydride batteries? Also known as rechargable. They are in countless consumer products we use everyday. Should we launch a campaign against digital cameras? There's much more of those than Prius cars.

2. Prius can't be blamed for the (allegedly) poor environmental practices of a single nickel plant. That's rediculous. The government needs to step in IF the plant in question is operating outside of EPA rules. It's that simple. I doubt that one plant is knowingly causing all this damage and no one does anything except write this article? Please.

3. The only "credible" source on the article is from a Greenpeace activist. lol

4. CNW Marketing's report (I read some of it) was used to make the claims that a Hummer takes less energy to make than a Prius. CNW themselves admits they are a bunch of automotive journalists with no scientific background and they covertly conducted this "study" by compiling older survey results and conducting on-site analysis of manufacturing plants. So they went to EVERY plant on Earth and conducted their tests? I don't think so. There's nothing scientific about what they've done here.

5. They further base their figures that a hybrid only lasts 100,000 miles while a Hummer can go 300,000. So using these figures, you can skew the results 3 times in favor of the Hummer. Isn't that convenient for his anti-Prius agenda? You can't make these assumptions. First, there's no reason why a Prius can't go more than a hundred thousand miles. Second, most Hummers are in a junkyard before that mileage (100k) much less than 300,000! Not because they are poorly built, but because chances are they will be crashed, flipped, or stolen and stripped before then. It takes decades for the average driver to reach that mileage. Chances are slim you'll make it that long for ANY car. Poor resale values make it easier to total out a Hummer if it is damaged in any of the above scenarios.

6. Hybrid cost savings. It's been known for a long time hybrids aren't there to save you tons of money. We all know they don't. It comes down to using LESS fuel. I rather give extra money to auto manufacturers to fund research for alternative fuels than give it to the middle east oil tycoons to fund what? Bullet proof windows on their Maybachs?

7. Finally, the author says nothing else about Hummer versus Prius because there's nothing else to say that will help his case. Tires for example. Tires take energy to produce. Think how many Prius tires can come from one Hummer tire. And after they are worn, those tires need to go somewhere. Hummer tires take up more room in landfills (if they aren't recycled). Paint? Hummers have more area to paint. Paint harms the environment. Hummers use more steel. Steel takes energy to make. Hummers weigh more and are not very nimble. They inflict more property damage during accidents. This costs energy! See how easy it is to make it look bad either way? lol this is crazy.

Okay I'll stop now. But you get the point. It's easy to play with facts and figures to make anything sound like a bad idea. Everything has it's pros and cons. Even my MINI has cons, people!

It's just how you interpret it for YOU. Don't let others skew your perception for their agendas.

 

CleanSC.............. Great post!

 

You say Tomayto, I say Tomaatoe...

On the way to work today, a guy in a Prius tokes his cigarette butt and tosses it out the window...huh???

 

I think it is also important to realize that this hybrid stuff is newish. The efforts are well-intentioned enough, but it will be years before we sort out what really helps the environment and what is just someone's passing fancy.

 

I would not buy a prius but I do think it's good that Toyota has advanced this technology- we are in the begining of "alternatives" so advances will come along to will but Synergy drive to shame but you have to start somewhere. My Mom has a Prius which she loves but I am not overly impressed by it's ride,etc. The next generation will probably put this one to shame just like the current one did the the first Prius. Where does the answer lie?? Clean Diesel, hydrogen, electric, flux capacitor??? I don't know. If we invest in making our cities safer for walkers and bike riders we could walk or ride for those short trips instead of driving which would require we also redo the urban sprawl so markets and stores aren't 30 miles away. Some cities are doing this but way too many are not and SUV's and trucks are just getting bigger and drivers are getting more distracted by cell phones, nav systems, dvd's etc. Honestly I am getting depressed by all the bad news we here which probably has more to do with an election coming soon than the truth.

I am in a downsizing mode-my wifes van lease is up this year and I want to replace it with a Mini because we just don't need the van. It will never happen but maybe vehicles should get taxed based on displacement like they do in Europe, maybe that will stem the Suburaning of the Suburbs.

I don't know....one step at a time I guess.

 

I can just hear everyone decrying this new Chevy for a "Mini Clone" but at least it's not the SUV everyone expected from GM...

 

Did he smell his own fart afterwards?