Hummer or Prius? Hummer better for planet

[Mr Snappy]

I thought this was very interesting.....use this for ammo against the greenies, especially in DURANGO COLORADO.

"Speaking of Hummers, perhaps it is environmentally responsible to buy one and squash a Prius with it. The Prius hybrid is, of course, fuel-efficient. There are, however, environmental costs to mining and smelting (in Canada) 1,000 tons a year of zinc for the battery-powered second motor, and the shipping of the zinc 10,000 miles ? trailing a cloud of carbon dioxide ? to Wales for refining and then to China for turning it into the component that is then sent to a battery factory in Japan.

Opinions differ as to whether acid rain from the Canadian mining and smelting operation is killing vegetation that once absorbed carbon dioxide. But a report from CNW Marketing Research ("Dust to Dust: The Energy Cost of New Vehicles from Concept to Disposal") concludes that in "dollars per lifetime mile," a Prius (expected life: 109,000 miles) costs $3.25, compared with $1.95 for a Hummer H3 (expected life: 207,000 miles)."



This is from a George Will editorial.

[HummerHippy]

Thanks. But a repost. And there are opposing views that question the validity of that article's facts.

[Mr Snappy]

Originally Posted by HummerHippy

Thanks. But a repost. And there are opposing views that question the validity of that article's facts.

Thanks, I have not been around long enough to had seen the previous posts.

Oh, I'm sure the greenies have problems with the facts, which is ironic since they seem to bend them very nicely when it suits their religion...

[f5fstop]

The H3 has a very favorable end of vehicle life; meaning, after it has been retired to the junk yard, it is very recyclable. Can't speak for any non-GM vehicles, but I will say anything with a large number of lead acid batteries is very unfriendly to the environment. The old EV1, that GM marketed in 1997 and 1999 were extremely expensive to destroy due to the 27 lead acid batteries contained in the belly of the beast.

[HUMMJAY]

Mr Snappy - do you work at a HUMMER dealership?,,,, I only ask because that article came over the wire from our Zone rep this morning.

[Mr Snappy]

Nope,
I work in Telecom as a Sr. Contract Manager and a co-worker sent it.

[HUMMJAY]

interesting article,, ,, even if it had ben posted before. its not often that HUMMER gets good press, I'll be showing it to a few people

[f5fstop]

That article, and a similar article hit this forum a few months ago.

[Wisha Haddan H3]

It's good food for thought. MPG doesn't tell the whole story when you consider the costs of materials, manufacturing, transportation and disposal/recycling ... but the article has plenty of flaws in its own analysis.

Here's a pretty good discussion about it, showing both solid research and faulty assumptions .

http://www.thecarconnection.com/Auto_News/Green_Car_News/Prius_Versus_HUMMER_Exploding_the_Myth.S196.A12220 .html?pg=1


One of their more problematic concepts is the idea of "social energy expenditures", such as worker commuting costs and transportation expenses.

Sounds like they're looking at the "big picture" ... until you realize that source and supply manufacturers make parts and materials for lots of applications, not just cars. And employee commuting costs might include stops for breakfast, shopping, banking or dropping their kids off at school, not just the actual trip to work. What portion of these "social energy" costs should be applied to a "dust to dust" vehicle cost?