clubs.ccsu.edu — Unfortunately for hybrid fans, their ultimate ‘green car,’ the Prius, is the source of some of the worst pollution in North America; it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer! However, if that was the only issue with the Prius, I wouldn’t be writing this article. It gets much worse ...
Mar 14, 2007 View in Crawl 4
nestafettMar 14, 2007
@pants,sorry, I have this weird belief that people will look at the content of my words rather then the spelling of them.ps. oops =)
tkinnun0Mar 14, 2007
@adalgiso:When you read that part, you might ask yourself, how is such pollution allowed to continue? And the answer is, it isn't. That's why, if you read that part carefully, you'll see it's referring to pollution in Sudbury in the past tense while otherwise being in the present tense. Devious!
cmariottiMar 14, 2007
I keep seeing thie article...It's a load of bull...So... burning gas produces less toxins than an contained battery? What you smokin? The amount of lead in a Hybrid can be measured by pounds. When it's dead, you bring it in the be recycled.As well, what magical battery technology is in the hummer exactly? I'm guessing lead. Guess what's in most batteries...As well, this weak argument goes out the window in a year or two when Lead based is replaced with LiOn / Polymer (and other future battery products).I just purchased a Honda Civic Hybrid... a very nice car (actually looks like a regular car, unlike the Prius). The only thing I can say against the Prius, is that it's shipping from Japan instead of North America... but that will soon change.Hybrid is the future. Plug-in is the next obvious step (wish I could have waited). Then, we can talk about eliminating burning fossil fuels from the picture. Hydrogen is just another expensive
cartoonboyMar 14, 2007
There's another angle people dismiss when discussing Hummers and other large SUVs: The literal impact they have on other drivers when involved in an accident. The Hummer driver usually walks away with a few injuries while the occupants in said hypothetical family vehicle are carted away in baggies.
jbellaMar 14, 2007
Why is it that whenver an article like this comes out, we have to endure some retard who htis us with anecdotal evidence to prove their point. So what if your Chevy made it to 200k miles while your sister's ex-boyfriend's parents Toyota never even made it to 40k... anecdotal evidence doesn't tell us anything useful so stop it already.As for the prius battery only lasting 100k miles. This is totally untrue. The warrenty for the battery expires after 100k miles... but that does not mean that the battery will die immediately thereafter. If that kind of thinking were true, then most cars would only last 60k miles. According to Toyota's lab tests, the prius battery should last at least 160k miles without any appeciable degradation.
propane4runnerMar 16, 2007
GM is on its way out, and alot people know it. They burnt consumers for so many years. Their new warranty is a flop and they still use old technology. From the way I'm reading this article it sounds like this guy never around a junkyard. You'll see some great environmental impact there!! GM, Ford and Chrysler produce massive V8 engines and vehicles. All taking massive amounts of fluid to keep on the road. Engine. transmission, transfer case, front and rear differentials. etc. Look at the maintenance schedule of these vehicles. The modern dinosaurs are dying. They did it to themselves. Funny how Toyota keeps getting picked-on since most of the vehicle they have are now designed and built in America. Instead of blowing money on finger pointing studies and commercials. They should put some money back in the USA. Or the endowment for that matter. Cheap Canadian labor and blaming the other guy seems to be the American way anymore.
zeeboidMar 22, 2007
Toyota them selves list the Prius's live expectancy at 100k miles. This is a little scary, but batteries and electrical motor wear are the big limiting factors. The average car starter, for example, goes out around 100-150k miles, and that is a smaller, more simple version of what?s on the Prius... An Electric Motor that turns mechanical parts.If you are realy for saving the environment, you would look at things like how much energy it takes to recycle. There is a reason they are willing to pay you for aluminum and not for paper or plastic after all, because it takes less energy to recycle aluminum then it does to dig out and process the bauxite into aluminum... hence, they pay you for their savings in energy. Paper, plastic, and most things people recycle, uses more energy to recycle then it saves.Also, if you were REALY REALY for saving the environment, you would not buy a hybrid at all. what you would do would be perhaps, buy a a Salvaged automobile and repair it? instead of re-processing the material for a huge energy loss, you would Re-Use the entire thing. In one action, you would do more for the environment then you could ever do with a lifetime of recycling Aluminum cans (the one thing that takes less energy to recycle remember).Or perhaps instead of spending 20k on a Prius, you would spend 5k on a used economy car, and spend 15k in a donation to an environmental organization... which I don't believe is a good choice, looking at the sizes of most of their "non profit" headquarters...bottom line, you actually have to think for your self when it comes to doing good for the environment. I have several cars...01 Pontiac Trans Am with 350 wheel horse power (which believe it or not, kids, is an Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle. Look it up.)95 Chevy Tahoe (with 290k miles, doesn't burn any oil)04 Pontiac Grand Prix Supercharged99 Dodge Neon (purchased the shell of the car on its way to be crushed, and am rebuilding it using parts from other cars)93 Chevy Cavalier (purchased with engine problems, the owner was going to junk it. Its running fine now)So, you can see, even though I own alot of vehicles that burn a reasonable amount of dead dinos (the trans am gets about 16mpg the way I drive it) There is far more to think about when it comes to the Environment then just how much gas it uses... Otherwise you are like one of those suckers who thinks CO2 is the primary greenhouse gas. (Water Vapor accounts for about 80% of the greenhouse effect, yet some think hydrogen cars that exhaust nothing but "harmless water vapor are grand). You need to look this stuff up for your selves... and don't be so quick to claim "oh, they are just a stooge for the automotive industry" or "big oil." Otherwise, every time someone brings out something published by an environmental group, you need to point out that group's extreme Bias as well. its best to look at all the data and come up with your own conclusion, not to ignore data because you don't like what it says.so, perhaps you should look at purchasing a salvaged Chevy Tahoe instead of that brand new Prius next time eh?Also, alot of the people who don't like what this article says, would be best to educate themselves by reading the Dust to Dust report. I'm sure you would rather take in all informaiton and make an informed decision, right?
wallofcheeseMar 26, 2007
You confuse lifespan with warranty (and in California that warrenty goes to 150k, not 100k). There's Prius cabs with over 200k on them now. Yellow Cab is buying Prius to use as cabs. <a class="user" href="http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8839690/">http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/8839690/</a>
29victorMar 29, 2007
Reality doesn't matter to environmental fanatics, only their perception of reality matters.Doing good doesn't matter to the left, feeling good about themselves doing something is all that matters.
gururiseDec 11, 2007
There must be alot of Prius owners here, but the facts are that the production of NiMH batteries used in the Prius more than make up for any environmental benefit the car gets due to its higher MPG. We studied the environmental cost impact of the NiMH batteries in the Prius at UCLA and came to a similar conclusion as this article. Now I'm not suggesting that you all go out and buy Hummers, but better alternatives are right on the horizon, including the new Clean Diesel technology coming out from Volkswagen, BMW, Mercedes, Audi and Honda. According to our analysis, the 2009 Jetta TDI will have the least environmental impact of any passenger car, and it gets above 50+ MPG Hwy without the expensive and dirty NiMH batteries.
arleymJul 25, 2009
The nickle mine was built ages ago, and is used for all nickel in actual nickles and was important for the war effort. It wasn't just built for car batteries. That damage to Sudbury area (which I've seen) actually has plant life now. It was nasty in the 70s or 80s when Nasa did that stuff (hilarious), but it's not like that now. I'm not being totally defensive here, I think regardless Sudbury is one of the great armpits of Canada.