The trouble about quoting the Prius is that it's an epic fail - it's not any greener than a conventional car. It uses more energy per unit to produce, and more energy per unit to dispose of afterwards.
I'm not totally against alternative fuels at all. It's just that I don't agree that half-hearted, poorly executed attempts at them (solar powered, hybrids, electrics) do anything to help the problem. We're running out of fossil fuels (if you believe the scare mongering). So we need something to replace it. Batteries don't, directly (though, of course, they could be powered by nuclear power stations, but there isn't the nuclear programme requried to do that, whilst renewables are just gimmicks and can't produce the required power). Hybrids might slow the process down a tiny tiny tiny bit, but it's hardly worth bothering about, and the increase fuel needed to make them in the first place probably destroys all credibility they might have had. Solar isn't viable for cars - too expensive, too fragile, and what's more not all that great for the environment either (though not as bad as a few years ago).
The thing to do is find a different SOURCE of energy, not attempt to use what we've got more efficiently (because those gains are, in the whole world, miniscule). Nuclear has a LOT of good points with very few drawbacks, but isn't really suitable at the current time to personal (as opposed to personnel) transport. Hydrogen works at both the small and the large scale, so is likely to win the race at the moment in the very long term. Other technologies will come and go - some will be better than others. But to say that Hybrids are even remotely greener than a nice V12 carburetted engine is just silly.
I'm not totally against alternative fuels at all. It's just that I don't agree that half-hearted, poorly executed attempts at them (solar powered, hybrids, electrics) do anything to help the problem. We're running out of fossil fuels (if you believe the scare mongering). So we need something to replace it. Batteries don't, directly (though, of course, they could be powered by nuclear power stations, but there isn't the nuclear programme requried to do that, whilst renewables are just gimmicks and can't produce the required power). Hybrids might slow the process down a tiny tiny tiny bit, but it's hardly worth bothering about, and the increase fuel needed to make them in the first place probably destroys all credibility they might have had. Solar isn't viable for cars - too expensive, too fragile, and what's more not all that great for the environment either (though not as bad as a few years ago).
The thing to do is find a different SOURCE of energy, not attempt to use what we've got more efficiently (because those gains are, in the whole world, miniscule). Nuclear has a LOT of good points with very few drawbacks, but isn't really suitable at the current time to personal (as opposed to personnel) transport. Hydrogen works at both the small and the large scale, so is likely to win the race at the moment in the very long term. Other technologies will come and go - some will be better than others. But to say that Hybrids are even remotely greener than a nice V12 carburetted engine is just silly.
