Hybrid Talk: Big Auto Bandies the H Word Despite the buzz that they'll save money and the environment, many of today's hybrids aren't as fuel efficient as they pretend to be Hybrids used to be the environmentalists' great shining hope for combating auto pollution, greenhouse gas emissions, and gas guzzling. Those were the romance days for hybrids, the first two or three years following their introduction in 2000. But the honeymoon is over. With the emergence of performance-oriented hybrids and ultra-mild hybrid systems, environmentalists now see the technology as one more example of how Big Auto has hoodwinked consumers into believing their products are as green as they can possibly get. ... Read More
Wow... a big magazine standing up to a story without looking at their bottom line first... At least got to give their editors credit to allow articles like these to run.
Interesting article - one of the few that gives more than one angle on the issue. I found two pieces particularly interesting: I absolutely agree with that sentiment. I'm slighly put off when I hear people say they're "green" because the oversize truck or SUV they drive has the word "hybrid" glued to the back of it. Honestly, do they need that large of a vehicle to go to and from the office every day? At best, those individuals should consider themselves "light green." I guess I am one of those people that don't know. But at the same time, the article doesn't go into great enough detail to describe how and to what degree Toyota has "consistently lobbied against every atempt to increase fuel economy." So I'm curious: how does one go about researching and subsequently summarizing Toyota's lobbying efforts? Where do you look to find that kind of info? Finally, the article was doing really well until I read the last statement: D'oh! So much for objectivity. Whether I agree with it or not, I still think the best articles are those that give "just the facts, ma'am."
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(brandon @ Apr 11 2006, 05:39 PM) [snapback]238236[/snapback]</div> Toyota has joined in the lobbying against fuel economy stds, but when it comes to pollution overall, they do better than the domestics: http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/vehic...kings-2004.html
