The hybrid car, misleading as the "low-fat cookie" with 500 calories
From a local Green discussion group:
Unfortunately the "Hybrid car" has already been hijacked as a green marketing term by the manufacturers (including Toyota) so that it is now as misleading as the "low-fat cookie" with 500 calories. Lexus and Ford luxury cars and SUV's are among the offenders.
A Prius is good, but for many driving patterns, no better than a Honda Fit, to name one of many alternatives. And a Prius emits more fossil CO2 than a VW Golf diesel burning diesel fuel blended with 50% recycled vegetable oil.
My overly-pedantic point: Hybrid is not synonymous with fuel efficient, nor is it the only or best way to reduce automotive CO2 emissions!
I agree completely. The Chevy Tahoe Hybrid gets 21 mpg in the city and 22 on the highway yet somehow was named "Green Car of the Year". The mind boggles.
A friend of mine once commented that two people in a Hummer is in the same league a single occupancy Prius. By carpooling you essentially double your gas mileage. There are logistics problems in trying to carpool to work but what about carpooling to shop?
50% of all car trips are 5 miles or less. It is reducing these short trips by single occupancy cars that can have a significant positive impact on green house gasses, pollution and congestion.
And if you have not seen the CLIF BAR 2 Mile Challenge yet it is a real eye opener.
And keeping with my shopping theme, a kid trailer for a bike is about $100-$160 from one of the chain stores. They can hold about a half a cart of groceries and fold up for easy storage. Not to mention motorist give you tons of respect when you are pulling one of these.
http://groups.google.com/group/mount-washington-green-club/browse_thread/thread/dcbe7d12879053b0?hl=en
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