Wait a mini, folks. We need to recognize that the impacts of hybrids depend on the characteristics of the people who own them, and where they are used.
In urban areas, everything I have read leads me to conclude that, assuming not all of us and are neighbors are going to ride our bikes everywhere we go, it is better to use a non-bike vehicle (NBV) that pollutes as little as possible and uses substantially less fuel than most NBV's, than to use a standard gasoline one. All the non-truck hybrids do that. If all vehicles were hybrids now, we'd have cleaner air and feel less need to bully other nations into selling us oil. Since we live a 42 minute walk from the capitol building, having a hybrid, for us, has not contributed to sprawl. And since I still bike from downtown to Memorial High to watch a kid's track meet (and yesterday to Verona), it has not changed my determination to drive as little as I deem possible... When we got a hybrid to get rid of an 11-year-old decatylzed small car, that is an improvement in the status quo. Instead of getting 20 mpg or less in town (even with shutting off the engine at many stops), we now can get up to 36 mpg. Many of those miles are traveled on an electric motor, so a cyclist can follow along and breathe deep without a health concern. When the engine is on, it reportedly emits as little pollution as any gasoline engine now available to the masses - considerably less than from the cleaner 2006 standard gasoline-only non-truck NBVs.. That said, it takes a lot of patience (and above-50 degree temps) to meet the EPA ratings, and requires a callousness about the impatient motorists behind you as you slowly accelerate to keep the engine off. Hybrids are not a perfect solution to our county's and state's many transportation-related problems, but they are far better than the continuing trend of more people going around in non-hybrid vans and suvs. Jeff Schimpff Bureau of Science Services Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources "Bus, Bike, Walk or Carpool to Work for Clean Air for Kids" (*) phone: (608) 267- 7853 (*) fax: (608) 267-5231 (*) e-mail: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of timwong Sent: Wednesday, April 19, 2006 4:39 PM To: Steve Drake; Bikies Subject: Re: [Bikies] NYT: Life in the Green Lane (on the mythology ofhybridvehicles) yeah, that dim bulb Parisi, the east-side rep, seems to think giving incentives for buying hybrids (read: sprawl-inducing pollution heap global warming deathmobiles) is a good idea, yet he's silent on rebates for buying bicycles . . . . and that so-called "environmentalist" Brett Hulsey was singing the praises of the Chevy Tahoe SUV behind the post office today . . . . . Long live hypocrisy! ----- Original Message ----- From: "Steve Drake" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Bikies" <[email protected]> Sent: Monday, April 17, 2006 2:44 PM Subject: Re: [Bikies] NYT: Life in the Green Lane (on the mythology of hybridvehicles) > Better yet, how about no incentives for buying cars AND consumers of > gasoline pay the true cost per gallon? > > >> From: Scott Rose <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > > " > ...the >> suburbanite who buys a hypothetical hybrid Dodge Durango that gets 14 >> miles per gallon instead of 12 thanks to its second, electric power >> source would be entitled to a huge tax incentive, while the buyer of a >> conventional, gasoline-powered Honda Civic that delivers 40 miles per >> gallon on the open road gets none. > " > > _______________________________________________ > Bikies mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies _______________________________________________ Bikies mailing list [email protected] http://www.danenet.org/mailman/listinfo/bikies
