Are hybrid cars REAlly worse for the environment than hummers??

Question

I read somewhere that due to how the mine the zinc for hybrid cars up in canada they are actually worse for the environment car by car than the amount of smog hummers put out over their entire life. Is this true??? only answer this question if you've heard something about this before. It would be great if it was LOL think of all those stuped environmentalists running around polluting while Arnold is helping the environment in his 5 hummers LOL.

Answer 1

It really depends on what you are measuring.  Hummers are known gas guzzlers and produce a lot of pollution.  Hybrids are not gas guzzlers, offer cleaner air emmissions, but are an environmental nightmare when it comes to those huge battery disposals and replacements.

Answer 2

iv heard something like that

in some instsnces it is but as the tecnology increases and mining becomes better it will eventually pan out plus you have to consider all the other factors including the ones from the hummer befor you could come to a conclusion

Answer 3

"Stuped"???

Answer 4

Let's put to rest this urban myth about Hummers being better for the environment than Prius. Get comfy...

The plant in Sudbury where Toyota buys approximately 1.5% of the plant's annual nickel output can be seen using this Google maps address:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&la...

Sudbury, Ontario is called the mining capital of the world for good reason.

The Sudbury plant has been in continuous operation since the rock was blasted to make way for the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1883.

That means that nickel has been mined there for the last 124 years. The Prius has been on the road since 1999. What about all the environmental damage done for the 116 years before the Prius ever came along?

There used to be a great deal of pollution at the Sudbury plant, just like there was at a lot of factory facilities. However, new pollution controls are in place and Sudbury residents themselves will talk about how things are improving dramatically in the area around the plant. Young trees are growing there, even now.

Another thing noted about the area around the plant is the Apollo astronauts trained there. It has been said that the area around the plant was as lifeless a wasteland as the moon. Actually, the astronauts trained there because the rock formations were similar to those on the moon. This area of Ontario was hit by a meteorite which created a basin and caused much of the look of the area. The moonscape feeling is also from the slag heaps from smelter output. Anyone who has ever seen any factory facility knows there is always a large amount of material left over from the original raw materials, be that a nickel plant, a steel smelter, or a dog food producer.

Also the environmental damage is not all due to the nickel plant - there is other industry, and a lot of the trees disappeared due to extensive logging.

Take a look for yourself. Here's a breakdown:

The Sudbury nickel plant produces around 60,000 tons of nickel per year. If Toyota buys 1000 tons/year, that's around 6% of the total output.

I have personally presented a Prius battery to local safety responders and fire department personnel. The entire pack weighs 117.47 pounds, which is the components as well as the actual nickel itself. The nickel weighs about 50 pounds. So that's 50lb per Prius, with 2000 pounds per ton, that's 40 Prius per ton of nickel.

Considering the plant puts out 120,000,000 pounds of nickel each year, each Prius uses about 0.000024 of the annual production of the Sudbury plant. Please double check my math and contact me if I need to make any corrections.

So, let's use common sense when looking at a vehicle like a Prius and what it uses for fuel, space, and amount of material to build. And then let's consider what a vehicle like a Hummer would require in those three areas. Obviously, the Hummer consumes much more resources, and the same basic types of resources, as the Prius.

Any other questions on this, or any other aspect of the Prius or Toyota, please contact me.