The only fuzzy math in George F. Will's April 12 op-ed column, "Fuzzy Climate Math," came from his primary resource, CNW Marketing Research Toyota should have responded to the CNW "research" long before it gained credibility in the mainstream press.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Prianista @ Apr 26 2007, 03:09 PM) [snapback]430700[/snapback]</div> I really like when articles cite sources. This article mentions Argon National Laboratory as an entity that refutes the CNW research; however, there is no source or link to the Argon website that has some sort of published article that refutes CNW. I really wish there were such a citation in this article. IMHO, it would make Toyota's rebuttal more effective.
I'm surprised this was published considering the wealth of other self-documented and linked replies to George's original article that were never posted. Maybe it wouldn't have been wise to ignore the possible PR backlash for ignoring Toyota's reply especially after Toyota's recent global sales #1 position.
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Wiyosaya @ Apr 26 2007, 01:15 PM) [snapback]430704[/snapback]</div> See Number 2 below (the following paragraphs reproduced from a post by Dave Rado): <blockquote>On the other hand, there are several peer-reviewed studies which flatly contradict the CNW findings, concluding that the lifetime energy, emissions and pollution costs are much lower for hybrids and for electric cars than for their nearest petrol and diesel equivalents; here are four: 1) The 2001 MIT study called On the Road in 2020: An Assessment of the Future of Transportation Technology used a life cycle analysis that concluded that increasing fuel efficiency with hybrid technology, is a net energy and global warming pollution winner. 2) Andrew Burnham, Michael Wang, and Paula Moon at the Center for Transportation Research of Argonne National Labs recently gave presentation called "Energy and Emission Effects of the Vehicle Cycle" at the 2006 SAE World Congress. One of the key the conclusions is "Total energy cycle energy use *decreases* for advanced powertrains & lightweight vehicles. Improved fuel economy offsets increase in vehicle cycle energy." 3) Heather L. MacLean and Lester B. Lave of Carnegie Mellon University published a 1998 life-cycle assessment which concluded that 85 percent of energy use associated with a conventional vehicle's life cycle is attributable to operation. Only 15 percent is attributable to manufacturing and disposal. The CNW report reverses these percentages). 4) Sophie Nicolay of the University of Leige in Belgium, published a lifecycle study in 2000 that concluded that the lifecycle environmental impact of electric and hybrid cars is much lower than that of petrol and diesel ones. Not one peer reviewed study has ever backed up the conclusions of the CNW report.</blockquote>
