If you want to help the environment, start buy doing some research

[CocheseUGA]

First off, this isn't a condemnation of anything or anyone. It's just information. It's a reminder to not look at the surface of an arguement or a solution and think that's all there is.

I love the environment as much as anyone...well, definetly not as much as Al Gore, but a lot. I want to be on this Earth for as long as possible, and making sure the Earth is happy is one way to do it. So don't think I hate the environment for the link you see here:

http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/pages...ews.html?in_article_id=417227&in_page_id=1770

The article is three months old, but I don't think anyone has posted it here. Makes you wonder how much you are really helping Mother Earth with the products you use and buy. It's not the car's fault, but you'd think Toyota would at least put some pressure on them to clean up their act for the world's best selling hybrid vehicle. - EDIT: Years of pollution caused this, well before nickel car batteries were made. I do not have any current info on the level of pollution caused by the plant or the mine.

It will be interesting to look at future hybrid models and see what the plant effects are in the future.

 

[mykevermin]

A tabloid article?

 

[CocheseUGA]

Yes, most of the damage has been caused by the entire scope of the nickle mining. However, the Harvard research I looked up doesn't provide any concrete numbers on what the Superstack and it's scrubbers are doing. I simply don't have access to the info.

It was more of an account of the methods we use to extract resources can outweigh the benefits of an item produced. I'd be interested to know what the current impact on the environment is, if it can be calculated.

 

[mykevermin]

I'm no environmental biologist, so I really can't comment. Given the timetable that the mine has been operating, it's absurd to attribute the environmental effects to hybrid cars - it's been around far longer than the technology has.

Now, of course, that doesn't excuse the damage it causes (that it's inevitable regardless of whether or not hybrids exist). I think there are better means of creating environmentally-friendly cars, and that there are ways to support the auto industry to find out and work on what they are.

This really, truth be told, makes me want to see the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?"

 

[CocheseUGA]

[quote name='mykevermin'] I think there are better means of creating environmentally-friendly cars, and that there are ways to support the auto industry to find out and work on what they are.

This really, truth be told, makes me want to see the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?"[/QUOTE]

http://www.chevrolet.com/electriccar/

\m/

No, Toyota doesn't have anything to do with the past. But like I said, I wonder what damage the plant is still causing. The batteries are made of nickel, and until that changes, a closer eye needs to be paid to the companies involved in making it. I've edited my post to reflect how the damage was caused by the years of mining.

 

[PKRipp3r]

the pollution involved in extracting fossil fuels, transporting them, refining them, distributing them, etc... plus the vapor emissions all added together far outweigh the pollution caused by manufacturing hybrid batteries

i agree that the overall benefits of hybrids are being oversold and pumped up too much by the people who stand to benefit financially from the normalization of hybrid vehicles in society today

i wish hydrogen fuel cells were closer to reality

also a jet-pack would be nice

 

[Trancendental]

[quote name='mykevermin']This really, truth be told, makes me want to see the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?"[/quote]

Anyone see that Simpsons where they went to Epcot.

They had the "town of the future" ride that was sponsored by Exxon mobile, where the sad pink herbie said "I'm an electric car, if you drive me ppl will think that you are gay" then they had a gay section of town with dudes saying "one of us! one of us!"

Hilarious stuff.

 

[elprincipe]

Interesting thoughts on this issue.

There are others like it. One in the news lately is ethanol, a substance touted by farm-belt congressmen and the president alike as a good thing to replace foreign oil. But take a look at this:

http://healthandenergy.com/ethanol.htm

70 percent more energy is required to produce ethanol than the energy that actually is in it.

Instead of doing more government ethanol subsidies, we should be putting that money into hydrogen fuel cells or other promising renewable projects. The whole thing is basically a money grab by Midwestern states.