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Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce
claims a Hummer H-3 has consumes less energy than the Honda Hybrids.
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Strange.
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"dollars per lifetime mile"
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$/mile
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While neither of those figures is surprising, it is interesting that driving a hybrid vehicle costs more in terms of overall energy consumed than comparable non-hybrid vehicles.
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...so, where are the figures on this? Energy consumption is
not measured in US dollars. For vehicles, the energy used in production, driving, and recycling of that car are measured is a unity of energy, usually BTUs. Is the money required to purchase the vehicle and maintain it being included? Dollars don't mean anything as far as the environment goes, not to mention what the actual emissions are of that vehicle and the amount it pollutes the air based on a single gallon of gasoline burned in it.
I recently got into an argument with a friend concerning my five year old vehicle that gets ~32mpg on the highway who suggested it would best be scrapped and ditched for a hybrid. It has ~95,000mi on it and, as I consider it, a long ways away from retirement. Being the green dork I am, I looked up how many BTUs it would take to manufacture a new hybrid and how many it would take to drive my car another five years and rack up another 100,000 miles. Knowing that better technology will come along, I found that even driving my little car for another five years is more energy efficient than swapping it for a hybrid Civic. Yet, there is a chance
emissions output would be lessened if I were to switch. To date, there is no data regarding it, however, and so I'll continue to drive my current vehicle.
I'm sad to see "environmental impact" errorneously translated into consumer dollars. That isn't what this is about, although I'm not surprised considering this article seemed targeted at potential H3/SUV buyers.