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BlueMtnBeachVagrant

Beach Fanatic
Jun 20, 2005
1,354
401
Chickpea,
Not to throw in any more monkey wrenches into this thread, but did you see the article written by Matthew Christ, a senior at South Walton High School in this past Walton Sun (page A9)?

BTW, I find the article and this thread to be very coincidental! :cool:

Underlined is the part I found most interesting... and no, I don't drive a Hummer.


America needs more environmentally friendly car options

Last month, the Toyota Prius, the poster car for all wannabe tree huggers sold the highest level of units for one month, a total 24,009 cars, making it the ninth best selling car in America for the month of May.
This record number helped hybrid cars capture two percent of the total automotive market in America, a fi gure that many industry experts believed would never be achieved until after this decade.
This is absolutely horrible news.
Americans are being duped out of their money. Toyota lured the public into thinking that the Prius is an economical, environmentally friendly car, when it plainly isn?t.
Obviously, I dislike Priuses. I think they?re uglier than dead catfi sh, and worst yet, fraudulent.
The basic premise on why one would buy a Prius, is that they would be helping the environment. This is just rubbish.
The Prius is a Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle, meaning that the car emits minimal and cleaner than normal emissions. This fact would certainly satisfy most suburban environment-conscience buyers, and it does. But there?s something that they need to know.
There is a term used in the automotive industry called ?energy cost,? which measures the energy needed to build, drive, sell and even dispose of a vehicle. The energy cost is a fi gure that is incredibly hard to find. Fortunately for the American consumer, there are people out there that do not fi nd data analysis as boring as I do. CNW Marketing Research, an independent company based out of Oregon published energy cost findings in December of last year.
And just what did they fi nd?
The energy cost for a Prius is high, with an average cost of $3.25 per mile, higher than a Hummer H1, which comes in at $1.95. Again, the energy cost covers multiple variables.
The high energy cost of the Prius is primarily caused by the construction of the car. For instance, the energy cost of a Prius would include the energy needed to produce the nickel for the battery that aids in propelling the car. The nickel used in the Prius is mined from a vain out of Sudburry, Ontario. The process to convert that nickel to a medium that can be used by the Prius is a 10,000-mile trek that would give any environmentalist a coronary.
Yet to sample: the nickel is first mined, then smelted, and when the process is fi nally fi nished the environmental impact only leaves the Sudburry factory even more biologically drained. In fact, the Sudburry nickel plant has created an environment surrounding the plant that is so desolate, so sparse, that NASA now uses it to model what conditions are like on the moon. The environment in the Sudburry area was not like this before the plant began catering to the Prius.
I readily admit that if you drive the Prius the way that it was supposed to be driven (think of how the world?s oldest person would drive) it will achieve exceptional gas mileage. And yes, the emissions ratings are superb, but that only takes into account the energy of the car while being driven, not the energy that was wasted to create the Citroen wannabe Prius.
When we take this ?hidden energy? into account, the Prius becomes a hugely uneconomical car, and very eco-unfriendly. It makes the Prius driver look as foolish as the Hummer H2 driver, (do they really take those Hummers off road?).
This country came to an energy crossroad 30 years ago. At that time, we had a choice to make. We could continue our addiction to oil or we could find an alternative energy source. We chose to continue the wretched addiction. Today, more than a quarter-century later, with gas prices rising and the stability of oil sources in question, we stand at that same crossroad again.
So the Prius technology isn?t as environmentally friendly as we would like to think. Yet, this country still needs to find a way to transport itself, which is economically and ecologically friendly, so what do we do?
Solar technology isn?t fully developed, so for now at least, that?s out of the equation. Hydrogen technology is currently being developed extensively by the BMW AG group, but unless the technology can be safely accessed, don?t plan on buying a hydrogen BMW anytime soon. The same applies towards E-85 ethanol. Currently only a sprinkling of fi lling stations that offer E-85 have sprung up across the country, and I don?t expect many more since the price of corn products is linked to the supply of E-85 ethanol.
Another alternative is electricity. Tesla Motor Corporation is a private business based out of California that will begin to offer an electric sports car later this year, which will accelerate faster than the top Ferrari model and drive for over three hours on a single charge. While this technology is promising, and in this columnist?s view potentially viable, it is still costly. Unless you have $100,000 to spend on what is basically still a concept car.
So where does this leave us? Diesel. Clean diesel technology is not only viable but available. Current diesel cars can achieve exceptional mileage, which lessens our dependency on foreign oil, and have relatively clean emission ratings with low energy costs ? all without sacrificing engine performance.
True, it may not have the cachet of the Toyota Prius, but then, it doesn?t carry the premium price tag either.
Or the ugliness.
Matthew Christ is a senior at South Walton High School and a resident of Santa Rosa Beach. You can contact him at thewaltonsun@gmail.com.

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</IMG>
YOUNG WISDOM
Matthew Christ
 

30A Skunkape

Skunky
Jan 18, 2006
10,279
2,320
54
Backatown Seagrove
Chickpea,
Not to throw in any more monkey wrenches into this thread, but did you see the article written by Matthew Christ, a senior at South Walton High School in this past Walton Sun (page A9)?

BTW, I find the article and this thread to be very coincidental! :cool:

Underlined is the part I found most interesting... and no, I don't drive a Hummer.


America needs more environmentally friendly car options

Last month, the Toyota Prius, the poster car for all wannabe tree huggers sold the highest level of units for one month, a total 24,009 cars, making it the ninth best selling car in America for the month of May.
This record number helped hybrid cars capture two percent of the total automotive market in America, a fi gure that many industry experts believed would never be achieved until after this decade.
This is absolutely horrible news.
Americans are being duped out of their money. Toyota lured the public into thinking that the Prius is an economical, environmentally friendly car, when it plainly isn?t.
Obviously, I dislike Priuses. I think they?re uglier than dead catfi sh, and worst yet, fraudulent.
The basic premise on why one would buy a Prius, is that they would be helping the environment. This is just rubbish.
The Prius is a Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle, meaning that the car emits minimal and cleaner than normal emissions. This fact would certainly satisfy most suburban environment-conscience buyers, and it does. But there?s something that they need to know.
There is a term used in the automotive industry called ?energy cost,? which measures the energy needed to build, drive, sell and even dispose of a vehicle. The energy cost is a fi gure that is incredibly hard to find. Fortunately for the American consumer, there are people out there that do not fi nd data analysis as boring as I do. CNW Marketing Research, an independent company based out of Oregon published energy cost findings in December of last year.
And just what did they fi nd?
The energy cost for a Prius is high, with an average cost of $3.25 per mile, higher than a Hummer H1, which comes in at $1.95. Again, the energy cost covers multiple variables.
The high energy cost of the Prius is primarily caused by the construction of the car. For instance, the energy cost of a Prius would include the energy needed to produce the nickel for the battery that aids in propelling the car. The nickel used in the Prius is mined from a vain out of Sudburry, Ontario. The process to convert that nickel to a medium that can be used by the Prius is a 10,000-mile trek that would give any environmentalist a coronary.
Yet to sample: the nickel is first mined, then smelted, and when the process is fi nally fi nished the environmental impact only leaves the Sudburry factory even more biologically drained. In fact, the Sudburry nickel plant has created an environment surrounding the plant that is so desolate, so sparse, that NASA now uses it to model what conditions are like on the moon. The environment in the Sudburry area was not like this before the plant began catering to the Prius.
I readily admit that if you drive the Prius the way that it was supposed to be driven (think of how the world?s oldest person would drive) it will achieve exceptional gas mileage. And yes, the emissions ratings are superb, but that only takes into account the energy of the car while being driven, not the energy that was wasted to create the Citroen wannabe Prius.
When we take this ?hidden energy? into account, the Prius becomes a hugely uneconomical car, and very eco-unfriendly. It makes the Prius driver look as foolish as the Hummer H2 driver, (do they really take those Hummers off road?).
This country came to an energy crossroad 30 years ago. At that time, we had a choice to make. We could continue our addiction to oil or we could find an alternative energy source. We chose to continue the wretched addiction. Today, more than a quarter-century later, with gas prices rising and the stability of oil sources in question, we stand at that same crossroad again.
So the Prius technology isn?t as environmentally friendly as we would like to think. Yet, this country still needs to find a way to transport itself, which is economically and ecologically friendly, so what do we do?
Solar technology isn?t fully developed, so for now at least, that?s out of the equation. Hydrogen technology is currently being developed extensively by the BMW AG group, but unless the technology can be safely accessed, don?t plan on buying a hydrogen BMW anytime soon. The same applies towards E-85 ethanol. Currently only a sprinkling of fi lling stations that offer E-85 have sprung up across the country, and I don?t expect many more since the price of corn products is linked to the supply of E-85 ethanol.
Another alternative is electricity. Tesla Motor Corporation is a private business based out of California that will begin to offer an electric sports car later this year, which will accelerate faster than the top Ferrari model and drive for over three hours on a single charge. While this technology is promising, and in this columnist?s view potentially viable, it is still costly. Unless you have $100,000 to spend on what is basically still a concept car.
So where does this leave us? Diesel. Clean diesel technology is not only viable but available. Current diesel cars can achieve exceptional mileage, which lessens our dependency on foreign oil, and have relatively clean emission ratings with low energy costs ? all without sacrificing engine performance.
True, it may not have the cachet of the Toyota Prius, but then, it doesn?t carry the premium price tag either.
Or the ugliness.
Matthew Christ is a senior at South Walton High School and a resident of Santa Rosa Beach. You can contact him at thewaltonsun@gmail.com.

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</IMG>
YOUNG WISDOM
Matthew Christ

This sounds terribly familiar.....can we just agree to let Chickpea get the hippie car and be done with it?;-)
 

Smiling JOe

SoWal Expert
Nov 18, 2004
31,644
1,773
If that article was actually written by a 9th grader, I'll buy him a shot of vodka. Sounds like someone is spewing out of the mouths of parents.

I wonder where all the parts of a Hummer are produced. Especially all of that extra rubber for off road tires which are not used off road.
 

SGB

Beach Fanatic
Feb 11, 2005
1,034
183
South Walton
If that article was actually written by a 9th grader, I'll buy him a shot of vodka. Sounds like someone is spewing out of the mouths of parents.

Matthew is a senior, so he's in 12th grade. I have every confidence this was written by him. Very bright boy.
 

Bob

SoWal Insider
Nov 16, 2004
10,366
1,391
O'Wal
Chickpea,
Not to throw in any more monkey wrenches into this thread, but did you see the article written by Matthew Christ, a senior at South Walton High School in this past Walton Sun (page A9)?

BTW, I find the article and this thread to be very coincidental! :cool:

Underlined is the part I found most interesting... and no, I don't drive a Hummer.


America needs more environmentally friendly car options

Last month, the Toyota Prius, the poster car for all wannabe tree huggers sold the highest level of units for one month, a total 24,009 cars, making it the ninth best selling car in America for the month of May.
This record number helped hybrid cars capture two percent of the total automotive market in America, a fi gure that many industry experts believed would never be achieved until after this decade.
This is absolutely horrible news.
Americans are being duped out of their money. Toyota lured the public into thinking that the Prius is an economical, environmentally friendly car, when it plainly isn?t.
Obviously, I dislike Priuses. I think they?re uglier than dead catfi sh, and worst yet, fraudulent.
The basic premise on why one would buy a Prius, is that they would be helping the environment. This is just rubbish.
The Prius is a Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle, meaning that the car emits minimal and cleaner than normal emissions. This fact would certainly satisfy most suburban environment-conscience buyers, and it does. But there?s something that they need to know.
There is a term used in the automotive industry called ?energy cost,? which measures the energy needed to build, drive, sell and even dispose of a vehicle. The energy cost is a fi gure that is incredibly hard to find. Fortunately for the American consumer, there are people out there that do not fi nd data analysis as boring as I do. CNW Marketing Research, an independent company based out of Oregon published energy cost findings in December of last year.
And just what did they fi nd?
The energy cost for a Prius is high, with an average cost of $3.25 per mile, higher than a Hummer H1, which comes in at $1.95. Again, the energy cost covers multiple variables.
The high energy cost of the Prius is primarily caused by the construction of the car. For instance, the energy cost of a Prius would include the energy needed to produce the nickel for the battery that aids in propelling the car. The nickel used in the Prius is mined from a vain out of Sudburry, Ontario. The process to convert that nickel to a medium that can be used by the Prius is a 10,000-mile trek that would give any environmentalist a coronary.
Yet to sample: the nickel is first mined, then smelted, and when the process is fi nally fi nished the environmental impact only leaves the Sudburry factory even more biologically drained. In fact, the Sudburry nickel plant has created an environment surrounding the plant that is so desolate, so sparse, that NASA now uses it to model what conditions are like on the moon. The environment in the Sudburry area was not like this before the plant began catering to the Prius.
I readily admit that if you drive the Prius the way that it was supposed to be driven (think of how the world?s oldest person would drive) it will achieve exceptional gas mileage. And yes, the emissions ratings are superb, but that only takes into account the energy of the car while being driven, not the energy that was wasted to create the Citroen wannabe Prius.
When we take this ?hidden energy? into account, the Prius becomes a hugely uneconomical car, and very eco-unfriendly. It makes the Prius driver look as foolish as the Hummer H2 driver, (do they really take those Hummers off road?).
This country came to an energy crossroad 30 years ago. At that time, we had a choice to make. We could continue our addiction to oil or we could find an alternative energy source. We chose to continue the wretched addiction. Today, more than a quarter-century later, with gas prices rising and the stability of oil sources in question, we stand at that same crossroad again.
So the Prius technology isn?t as environmentally friendly as we would like to think. Yet, this country still needs to find a way to transport itself, which is economically and ecologically friendly, so what do we do?
Solar technology isn?t fully developed, so for now at least, that?s out of the equation. Hydrogen technology is currently being developed extensively by the BMW AG group, but unless the technology can be safely accessed, don?t plan on buying a hydrogen BMW anytime soon. The same applies towards E-85 ethanol. Currently only a sprinkling of fi lling stations that offer E-85 have sprung up across the country, and I don?t expect many more since the price of corn products is linked to the supply of E-85 ethanol.
Another alternative is electricity. Tesla Motor Corporation is a private business based out of California that will begin to offer an electric sports car later this year, which will accelerate faster than the top Ferrari model and drive for over three hours on a single charge. While this technology is promising, and in this columnist?s view potentially viable, it is still costly. Unless you have $100,000 to spend on what is basically still a concept car.
So where does this leave us? Diesel. Clean diesel technology is not only viable but available. Current diesel cars can achieve exceptional mileage, which lessens our dependency on foreign oil, and have relatively clean emission ratings with low energy costs ? all without sacrificing engine performance.
True, it may not have the cachet of the Toyota Prius, but then, it doesn?t carry the premium price tag either.
Or the ugliness.
Matthew Christ is a senior at South Walton High School and a resident of Santa Rosa Beach. You can contact him at thewaltonsun@gmail.com.

getimage.dll
</IMG>
YOUNG WISDOM
Matthew Christ
Honda and Toyota will have deisel vehicles out in 1 or 2 years. Toyota is working on lithium-ion battery technology while Detroit whines to congress about raising CAFE requirements. Get a life!
 

6thGen

Beach Fanatic
Aug 22, 2005
1,491
152
Chickpea, and other Prius owners, out of curiosity, what do you keep your home and officer thermostat on in July and January, respectively?
 

scooterbug44

SoWal Expert
May 8, 2007
16,706
3,339
Sowal
Chickpea, one helpful thing I did when buying my car was research the true cost of each "add-on" and "option" prior to negotiating. Playing hard to get isn't a bad thing either.

Car salesman hate dealing with my family because we do our homework, call them on their BS (loved it when my father told a salesman that getting a $1200 navigation system for $600 wasn't a deal if he 1) didn't want the damn thing 2) could get a GPS for $100), shop around for the best deal, and hold firm during negotiations.
 

BlueMtnBeachVagrant

Beach Fanatic
Jun 20, 2005
1,354
401
If that article was actually written by a 9th grader, I'll buy him a shot of vodka. Sounds like someone is spewing out of the mouths of parents.

I wonder where all the parts of a Hummer are produced. Especially all of that extra rubber for off road tires which are not used off road.

New hit T.V. sequel...

"Are you smarter than a 9th grader?
or a senior?
or whatever?" :D
 
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