Originally posted by Surf Green
The 1 out of 10 rating has nothing to do with GreenHouse emissions. The Poor rating comes from the particulate emissions, of which the blame rest fully on the poor fuel available in the United States. If we were to be as scrutinizing with the Insight, or other Hybrids, we should add a couple hundred pounds of waste batteries as part of their toxic emissions.
We are more than aware of the common misconceptions about current diesel technology, and the lengths that we still need to go. TDI owners are probably the most interested group when it comes to reducing emissions in our vehicles. We are active in bringing retail Bio-D outlets to our areas, and are constantly writing to our legislators to mandate better fuel.
particulate emissions cause cancer...is that a concern? (that's why i try to avoid following any diesel on the road)
the current hybrid platforms still have their problems...it's b/c the battery industry has never had such a challenge before...they still rely on chemical batteries [mostly Lead Acid] creating the landfill waste...hint...these are in your vw tdi diesel...so your car also creates this pollution...but they are no longer dumped there and are recycled (only if the owner is honest and does't bury it somewhere)
a 2nd type are Sodium Sulfur based batteries...these are in ford ecostar minivans and the batteries will explode if immersed in water!...so of course ford uses them
the 3rd type are Nickel Iron and Nicad...they are
100% recycleable...(these are the ones that are in the insight, prius and civic hybrids...their only downfall is cost and they wear out over time)...honda recycles them when they need to be replaced...the toxic waste misinformation is plainly false
a 4th type are Lithium Iron and Lithium Polymer Batteries...these are expensive to make and hold lots of power for long periods
another are the Zinc and Aluminum Air based batteries...these are also recycleable
the most promising technology is not based on chemical batteries but intertia called Flywheels...it is still in development though
i've shown that promising biodiesel still pollutes...its not widely available...most car mfgrs don't have diesels for a whole lineup so 100's of engines will need to be developed...hybrids get similar emissions still using regular gasoline, and it uses 100% recycleable batteries...and in 10 years fuel cells will be here since over 10 different auto mfgrs currently have concept cars and honda has the 1st commercial fleet car available...dcx has some buses...biodiesel had its time but noone listed to it...it was a promising technology at its inception but has gone nowhere since...its time to move on and reduce our reliance on any fossil fuel based fuel