That's simple. Just add another trailer with an aux boiler running on lawn clipping.
The Stanley Steamer was just ahead of its time.
Posted on 03/14/2007 2:00:06 PM PDT by tcrlaf
The Toyota Prius has become the flagship car for those in our society so environmentally conscious that they are willing to spend a premium to show the world how much they care.
Unfortunately for them, their ultimate ‘green car’ is the source of some of the worst pollution in North America; it takes more combined energy per Prius to produce than a Hummer.
Before we delve into the seedy underworld of hybrids, you must first understand how a hybrid works. For this, we will use the most popular hybrid on the market, the Toyota Prius.
The Prius is powered by not one, but two engines: a standard 76 horsepower, 1.5-liter gas engine found in most cars today and a battery- powered engine that deals out 67 horsepower and a whooping 295ft/lbs of torque, below 2000 revolutions per minute.
Essentially, the Toyota Synergy Drive system, as it is so called, propels the car from a dead stop to up to 30mph. This is where the largest percent of gas is consumed. As any physics major can tell you, it takes more energy to get an object moving than to keep it moving. The battery is recharged through the braking system, as well as when the gasoline engine takes over anywhere north of 30mph. It seems like a great energy efficient and environmentally sound car, right?
You would be right if you went by the old government EPA estimates, which netted the Prius an incredible 60 miles per gallon in the city and 51 miles per gallon on the highway.
Unfortunately for Toyota, the government realized how unrealistic their EPA tests were, which consisted of highway speeds limited to 55mph and acceleration of only 3.3 mph per second.
The new tests which affect all 2008 models give a much more realistic rating with highway speeds of 80mph and acceleration of 8mph per second.
This has dropped the Prius’s EPA down by 25 percent to an average of 45mpg. This now puts the Toyota within spitting distance of cars like the Chevy Aveo, which costs less then half what the Prius costs.
However, if that was the only issue with the Prius, I wouldn’t be writing this article. It gets much worse.
Building a Toyota Prius causes more environmental damage than a Hummer that is on the road for three times longer than a Prius.
As already noted, the Prius is partly driven by a battery which contains nickel. The nickel is mined and smelted at a plant in Sudbury, Ontario. This plant has caused so much environmental damage to the surrounding environment that NASA has used the ‘dead zone’ around the plant to test moon rovers.
The area around the plant is devoid of any life for miles.
The plant is the source of all the nickel found in a Prius’ battery and Toyota purchases 1,000 tons annually. Dubbed the Superstack, the plague-factory has spread sulfur dioxide across northern Ontario, becoming every environmentalist’s nightmare.
“The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside,” said Canadian Greenpeace energy-coordinator David Martin during an interview with Mail, a British-based newspaper.
All of this would be bad enough in and of itself; however, the journey to make a hybrid doesn’t end there. The nickel produced by this disastrous plant is shipped via massive container ship to the largest nickel refinery in Europe.
From there, the nickel hops over to China to produce ‘nickel foam.’ From there, it goes to Japan.
Finally, the completed batteries are shipped to the United States, finalizing the around-the-world trip required to produce a single Prius battery. Are these not sounding less and less like environmentally sound cars and more like a farce?
Wait, I haven’t even got to the best part yet.
When you pool together all the combined energy it takes to drive and build a Toyota Prius, the flagship car of energy fanatics, it takes almost 50 percent more energy than a Hummer - the Prius’s arch nemesis.
Through a study by CNW Marketing called “Dust to Dust,” the total combined energy is taken from all the electrical, fuel, transportation, materials (metal, plastic, etc) and hundreds of other factors over the expected lifetime of a vehicle. The Prius costs an average of $3.25 per mile driven over a lifetime of 100,000 miles - the expected lifespan of the Hybrid.
The Hummer, on the other hand, costs a more fiscal $1.95 per mile to put on the road over an expected lifetime of 300,000 miles. That means the Hummer will last three times longer than a Prius and use less combined energy doing it.
So, if you are really an environmentalist - ditch the Prius. Instead, buy one of the most economical cars available - a Toyota Scion xB. The Scion only costs a paltry $0.48 per mile to put on the road. If you are still obsessed over gas mileage - buy a Chevy Aveo and fix that lead foot.
One last fun fact for you: it takes five years to offset the premium price of a Prius. Meaning, you have to wait 60 months to save any money over a non-hybrid car because of lower gas expenses.
Center>The PIUS.
Completely in keeping with the new Green Religion!
Center>The PIUS.
Completely in keeping with the new Green Religion!
Completely in keeping with the new Green Religion!
I don' need to convert no steenkin' Cadillacs.
Paging Mr. Begley. Paging Mr. Ed Begley Jr.
Never. Don't have anything against them per say, but IMHO, a vehicle that big that you can't fit a refrigerator , sofa and tables and chairs or run down to pick up a 1/2 ton of gravel or a yard of mulch in is a bunch of wasted real estate. If your objective is to haul a bunch of kids to soccer games, minivans do it very well for 1/3 of the cost.
BTW. That's just me, but I have never had my ego (or anything else) stroked by the type of vehicle I own. I always looked at them just as tools, and if I didn't need one, I wouldn't have one.
I understand other people feel different about cars, and it is a free country, but outside of the rare few who must drive very tough off-road situations or military applications, a hummer is an ego choice, IMHO.
Nothing wrong with that, but its not any different than the people who pay all that cash for the illusion of being "Earth friendly. Egos, just on different trips.
I loved the way the liberal press (e.g., The Los Angeles Times) did
NOT do an analysis on the liberal's darling uber-conveyance,
the General Motors EV-1.
I suspect the environmental damage done when one EV-1 burned to
the axles was greater than the emissions by 10 Ford F-250s over their
useful lifetimes.
That's simple. Just add another trailer with an aux boiler running on lawn clipping.
The Stanley Steamer was just ahead of its time.
Smooth 8 and a sipper not a chugger. I have a short commute to work 4.4 miles. Long trips I really get the great mileage even when I average 75 mph on cruise control.
Hmmmm...Laurie David must be saddened. She brags about flipping off people who drive Hummers while driving her Prius. I guess we can flip her off now.
The rush!
Wow.
Glad to see there's one person here with a brain.
Through a study by CNW Marketing called “Dust to Dust,”
What is this firm?
Who are their clients?
The numbers and facts in this article are so "out there" that it's actually funny.
What's not so funny is the way people are falling all over themselves to swallow the hype line, hook and sinker.
Is it any wonder Al Bore has such a huge fan club?
Looks like all the people who checked their brains in at the door are not of the liberal persuasion.
They're not called rednecks for nothing. Brainpower is not their strong suit.
How long has that nickel mine and smelter been there in Sudbury Ontario? I suspect for generations before the Prius existed.
By the way, how much does a Hummer go for these days?
I bet not one of the clowns whooping it up today can come close to knowing the total volume of the "toxic" Prius batteries. No much more than the battery in a large pickup or SUV.
Where do all the dead lead-acid batteries go?
If they can be recycled, why can't the nmh ones?
You're a shoe-in.
it is a good laugh!
the arrogant attitude of many prius owners deserves rebuttal.
Actually, it has nothing to do with catalytic converters. The classic VW engine is air-cooled, and because of that it is carbureted to run rich, so that not all of the gasoline is burned. This assists in the cooling of the engine in much the same way as perspiration cools your skin, but results in a very dirty exhaust. The amount of unburned gas would overwhelm a catalytic converter in no time. The rich mixture is required if you want your VW engine to last very long at all.
The point is all those hippies who thought they were saving the planet were actually polluting it more than the SUV's they were sneering at. But they cared so it didn't matter.
Pray for W and Our Troops
Can we finally build the breeder reactors?
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