Want To Save the Environment? - Don't Buy A Prius

In the quest to become “carbon neutral,” environmentalist Americans have celebrated the arrival of the Toyota Prius and other hybrid cars as the premier way to fight global warming. Hybrid cars have become the ultimate symbol of one's devotion to the environment. But is buying a hybrid even good for the environment? Such a question might seem laughable given the laudatory praise heaped upon hybrid cars and their ability to travel approximately 50 miles for every gallon of gasoline.

However, a recent report concluded that hybrid vehicles, such as the Toyata Prius and the Honda Accord Hybrid, are not all that kind to the environment. The report states that while hybrids certainly use less gas per mile than other cars, the manufacture of hybrids, the replacement and disposal of such items as batteries, electric motors (in addition to the conventional engine), and lighter weight materials associated with hybrids and the complexity of the hybrid power package mean that hybrids arguably do more damage to the environment than gas guzzling SUVs.

For instance, hybrids require a special battery which uses a substantial amount of the metal nickel. Nickel mining, which is often done in open cast mines with all the attendant pollution that goes along with excavating large holes in the ground, is very carbon intensive. Thus, the extra nickel required for hybrid batteries significantly offsets the carbon savings created by higher gas mileage.

In addition, hybrid cars require more parts and more repairs. The manufacture of these parts and the repair work associated with keeping hybrids on the road means that it takes more resources to keep a hybrid car in good condition. These are just some of the many factors that make hybrids unfriendly to the environment. If the environmentalists were honest with themselves they would admit that significant amounts of extra resources, which come at a large "carbon cost" (in their parlance), substantially reduce and, according to the report, eliminate the "carbon savings" hybrid cars generate.

The report's conclusion that hybrids are just as bad, if not worse, for the environment than SUVs does not sit well with the environmentalist movement, which has staked a large part of its reputation on convincing Americans that hybrid cars save the environment. But saving the environment is not as important to many people as getting others to think you are saving the environment. In today's world driving a hybrid is a statement that the driver wants to save the planet. However, if saving the environment was the goal, the environmentalist movement would emphasize the environmental downsides of hybrid cars. But they don't because such downsides do not fit into the narrative that SUVs are killing the planet.

Unfortunately environmental hypocrisy is everywhere and is not limited to the cars people drive. Consider Al Gore, the former vice president, who is now the world’s cheerleader for fighting global warming. But Al Gore certainly does not practice what he preaches. He jets around the world in carbon-spewing private jets and has a home that consumes 20 times the energy a normal American home consumes.

Even if one assumes that the environmentalists are correct about their theory that carbon dioxide drives climate (a theory I do not adhere to), the hybrid cars environmentalists champion do not, on average, reduce carbon emissions. Environmentalists should be judged on the results of their actions, not their supposed empathy for Mother Earth. They like to scold the rest of us for not doing enough for the environment while, in fact, they themselves are not doing much of anything, other than looking like they care more than everyone else.

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~ The Conservative Guy