If every household had at least one hybrid...

The average residence time of water emitted into the atmosphere is a week or two. The average time for CO2 is over a century. So, for a given amount of useful energy released, burning a C-based fuel causes a far far far greater AGW impact than does burning an H-based fuel.

Note also that Earth has virtually no ready-made H-only fuel sources available. Essentially all the H available for fuel is bound to equal or greater amounts of C. To use pure H-only fuel, we need to make it, and that requires another source of energy.

 

...yes I think one (1) high mileage car per household >40 avg would do the "trick". We went from 2 minivans to one minivan and one Prius, and the Prius does 75-80% of the miles, so we have not given up the minivan when needed but we can do Prius most of the time.

 

I'm not holding my breath. Chemistry says that the amount of energy we get out of it is less than the amount we put into it. We are just using current solar energy for making bio-fuels, and ancient solar energy for making fossil fuels.

Plants are at best 2% efficient at turning sunlight into fuel for us. If you don't want to wait, put up some solar panels and get 15% efficiency and energy right now.

 

How does this jibe with a price of $2.00 per gallon back in 2009. Were the oil companies losing $1.80 per gallon?

The taxes are of course, a red herring, as the don't even make up for the common costs that we as a society pay for the use of gasoline.

 

Now that we are completely off topic, let me throw in my 2 cts.

In making energy decisions, we should not turn up our noses at the use of coal, oil and gas. This is particularly true for us in the states where we like to live in our suburbs, with our big houses, at precisely 70 F etc etc. It is really critical to understand that all our of energy needs cannot yet be filled by alternative energy sources.

I would also point out that switching to "renewables" for the sake of the label can be extremely inefficient as is the case with the production of ethanol from corn which requires so much energy input as to make it a nearly net 0 proposition despite our billions in subsidies.

So what about that chart of subsidies to energy production? Why push for alternatives?

The truth is that oil and coal have a bigger subsidy than anyone has calculated. 97% of the world's climatologists are in agreement that global warming is man made, and will radically change our environment in the next 50-100 years. This is right around the corner. This is not politics, it is not opinion, it is science, and it does translate to real $$$.

To go back to the OP... before we all feel good about our Prii and wonder what would happen if everyone drove such awesome cars, we should realize that by some calculations (cradle to grave emissions, materials etc) our cars may actually be larger polluters than many traditional gas vehicles.

Despite this, I still 100% support our subsidies and research dollars going into alternative energies and I am against subsidies to oil companies. Why?

Because as we develop, and try each alternative technology in our homes and in our vehicles, we improve them and over time, make them REAL viable alternatives to carbon fuels. Look at Germany, which now gets a majority (I've read but not confirmed this fact) of its electricity from solar and wind. Gas and coal will run out, and their use is a bad deal in the long term. So lets start pushing for solutions now and not wait until our hand is forced.

 

Sure they can. And if they can't maybe we should rethink our suburbs, our big houses at exactly 70F, and all those other things. Because the one sure thing about non-renewables is that they must run out. And if your life depends on disbelieving that simple reality, you are going to suffer for it.

 

Corwyn, I agree, and I try to live that lifestyle. close to work, recycle/compost, timer on water heater, AC at minimum etc.
I used to ride my bike to work until I got hit by a car and saw my life flash before my eyes! I try not to push my ways. I do believe our current lifestyle will become unsustainable, but no need to bring that up in a post about cars :-P

 

If it will become unsustainable. It is already unsustainable.

Of course there is a need to bring it up in a post about cars. Either we live sustainably or we die; it is as simple as that.

 

Well 6.9 billion of us die, the Earth can support 1 million hunter/gatherers and small farmers.

 

I calculated once that Earth could support 300 Million hunter gatherers. But whether that actually happens as opposed to the species becoming extinct depends on a lot of details of the method of the particular sustainability that is violated. Bacteria in a small location will expand to fill the entire space, and then ALL will die, even though some smaller number might be sustainable. It remains to be seen whether we are smarter or luckier than bacteria colonies.