Electric cars and plug-in hybrids are only marginally better than ordinary hybrids in terms of energy consumption and CO2 emissions. They only appear to be better because most of the energy waste and CO2 happens "outside the box," back at the power plant. The best car today in terms of CO2 emissions is a diesel car using biodiesel fuel. You can find this documented in many places. The best current information will probably be found at _www.auto.xprize.org_ (http://www.auto.xprize.org) Or, search on Wang, Argonne National Laboratory. I can supply additional information to those that are interested. We should not be overly optimistic yet about saving the planet with better cars. Consumption of fossil energy is one of the top three environmental problems on earth, and cars are at its center. Most of the planet's organisms may be lost before we get this one under control. Ernie Rogers Driving for efficiency-- 65 mpg ------------------------------------- Wirt Atmar said,
Given the level of concern that people have expressed about reducing their ecological footprint, particularly in regard to greenhouse gases and fossil fuel usage, I thought that I would mention some of the work that's being done in automobiles that you may not be aware of. This next statement is the kind of thing that's going to get me kicked out of the ecology club, but as Dick Cheney has said, "conservation is a personal virtue." It's something that you can't force on someone else. It's been suggested that everyone ought to proactively -- and with some significant self-sacrifice -- either drive 1970 Tercels or ride bicycles with milk baskets bungee-corded to the back of them. As a practical matter, none of this will ever happen, and it is somewhat foolish to ever imagine that it will. If you want to change the world, you have to do it in a manner that will be economically profitable to manufacturers and simultaneously attractive to consumers. But in that regard, people are farther along at building comfortable, attractive energy-efficient, virtually zero-polluting automobiles than you might think. These vehicles will have not only very close to zero greenhouse gas/pollutant emissions but will also have truly extraordinary mileage, and I thought that you might like to see them. <SNIP> ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
