Controversy in Material Science
Hybrid Cars, Are They Really Helping?
For this week's blog post I was asked to find a controversy in my field. I decided to choose the topic of hybrid cars and how "efficient" they really are. I found an article on How Stuff Works, a branch of Discovery, that argues both side of the fight, and compares the cost of a hybrid car per mile compared to a Hummer H3 SUV per mile. The result that were concluded were a little surprising to me.
They found research done by CNW that compared these two vehicles for their cost per mile, which took into account everything from tires to the energy required to actually manufacture the car. The shocking part was the Hummer came out to $1.949 per mile while the Toyota Prius came out to $3.25. Part of this was that the Hummer was lasting over 200,000 miles and the Prius was only averaging a little of 100,000 miles. Parts on the Prius are also more expensive to replace, so fixing the car would cost more than a Hummer. According to this information a Hummer could actually be more efficient over it's lifespan than a Prius.
The batteries have remained being a big issue on these hybrid cars. They do not have a long life, and they use a decent amount of energy to produce. However, there are now recycling programs for these batteries and people can receive up to $200 for an old battery. These cars also get triple, if not more, fuel economy than many SUVs, which causes less greenhouse gas emission.
It's up to you to decide what side you will take, but I believe if hybrid cars can be produced and maintained efficiently then this would be a major break through. We are definitely pushing the limits with the environment and efficiency would be extremely helpful in these tough times.
Clark, Josh. "Are Green Cars Manufactured in a Green Way?." How Stuff Works. Discovery, 2008. Web. October 18, 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment