I don't dispute a word of HB about the Prius. I own one.
While I have also read reports about how much more it taxes the ecology to produce, I am certainly happy at the pumps. I literally fill it up once a month.
My big question comes as to when the fuel cell dies and how many landfills they will congest.
[Show/Hide Quoted Message] (Quoting Message by _strat_ from Tuesday, March 31, 2009 1:03:28 PM)| |  | _strat_ wrote: | | I did. Not with a calculator, but it must be some 4$.
Prius not that good, eh? Well, I wish I could be surprised... As far as Im concerned, the bus still rocks my world. Burns fuel, yes, but much less than there would be if all passangers would drive their cars.
| | | Head banger wrote: | | you do realize that you need to take into consideration the energy that goes into production, right? the Prius uses way more energy to produce than a Suburban (look it up, its as big as most european houses)
to convert euro/l to $/G convert your currency, dunno the exchange. to a US Galon there is 3.88 L
SWR, the reason we dont use metal is it is heavier, and more costly. in a car, you want some parts to break in a colision to absorb energy.
| | | _strat_ wrote: | | Well, we are at around 1€/litre (which must be somewhere around 4$/gallon), and Germany is even higher than that, I think. And even tho theres a reccesion, and wages have never been particulary good (they average at around 800€/month).... People still burn fossil fuel. IDK, they would have to really raise the prices of fuel sky-high to stop people from driving... A cent here and there simply wont do, and certainly wont make us all buy electric cars.
I guess that things like that electric car, or even compromises like the Prius are a good step forward, but... With all the millions of cars in the world, and so many millions of people who work in the industry (not only car manufacture, but fuel production too), those steps must be small and gradual, or everything will fall apart.
| | | SadWingsRaging wrote: | | It seems that a lot of the trash produced these days is the absolute JUNK foisted off on us called consumer goods made it China. Do they even have quality controll for most of the crap they make? & WHY THE HELL CAN WE NOT MAKE MORE STUFF OUT OF METAL?!?! It lasts longer, breaks less, & does NOT photodegrade! Given the choice of something that is made of decent steel/aluminum/alloy over plastic I for one would pay a 3 times more for it rather than some piece of crap that breaks & ends up in the garbage after falling apart then being wrapped around a tree in frustration.
Are we warming the earth? I have to believe the glaciers on this one. Do I think it is as big a deal as some have made of it? Probably not but I would prefer to error on the side of caution & reduce it a bit. There is no reason we can not produce & sell electric cars here in the states.
http://teslamotors.com/s
Not bad looking, good performance, WAY fewer moving parts to go wrong. It is a bit pricy but all new technology is. Remember when the VCR/Betamax first came out it was over $1,000 for a few years. Give these guys 5 years of Mfg. & setting up dealers across the nation & the prices will drop a good bit. Let the gas prices jump back up to $4 a gallon or even worse give us european petro prices & people will be fist fighting for these things at the dealers.
If you ask me why we do not have a fully electric car for a daily commute car it is because the big 3/ nipponese/ euro car mfg. executives have not made a bigger push for them is that they have so much personaly invested in oil it is not in their & their buddies interest to produce them.
It is a LONG way off before we can totaly do away with gas/diesel motors for heavy loads or long distance travel but there is NO REASON why there are no safe fully electric 200 mile range cars on the road that plug into your 110/220 home outlet.
I personaly am not sold on the whole hydrogen thing mainly due to the whole hindenburg thing. Highly explosive gas under high pressure with some of the idiots out there on the road equals crispy critters, yeah gas is explosive but it is NOT under high pressure, not to mention you STILL have to go to the pump & pay the same people you pay now for gas. I had just as soon take them out of the loop & our wallet. (Quoting Message by _strat_ from Tuesday, March 31, 2009 3:14:01 AM)
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_strat_ wrote: |
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Well, if I can play the devils advocate here...
Most activists come from N. America and Europe, and are pressing their governments to do something about it... Which stands to reason, specialy since we all know that Chinese wont be swayed by anything. They dont listen to protesters, they run them down with tanks, as we have witnessed before.
That, and if we forget about the industry for a while, it also stands to reason that we in Europe and N. America should be more carefull about our trash, since we consume more shit, and produce more trash.
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Darth_Painkiller_0870 wrote: |
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*SIGH* Where's Kendall when you need a good anti-everything conspiracy theorist!?!?
Agreed gents, "global warming" while in fact is somewhat real...the people who push for these changes are not pushing the biggest polluters as well as the emerging powers in India and China. Nevermind, only the US, Canada, and Europeans pollute.
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Deep Freeze wrote: |
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Hmmm. Well said, HB. You seem to have a mind of your own and an opinion! I like that.
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Head banger wrote: |
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the thing is, if it actualy helped, then great. but it wont. most of the missing demand is put onto the grid at another time. people should leave off the lights in unocupied rooms. my problem with the global warming scam is that its used to justify social change, not real environmental change. Man changes the planet daily, and needs to be very cautious in that, but cant change the way he exists. the people who want the "social change" of the global warming scam, are fine with india poluting more, to polute less somewhere else. the idea that they can change mankind into a new species, one that is not compeditive, puts others first, etc.... is like saying you can train wolves to eat grass and leaves. its not realistic.
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Darth_Painkiller_0870 wrote: |
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| I am proud to say that I did nothing for "Earth Hour". Rather pointless I think to shut everything off for an hour. My parents didn't participate either. |
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Edited at: Tuesday, March 31, 2009 4:10:38 AM |
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