Click me
Transcribed

Hybrids: The Not-so Environmentally Friendly Car

HYBRIDS the not-so environmentally friendly car In 2010, over 2 million people drive hybrids and chose them because of their benefits: They give off less co, emissions They produce less road noise The braking system recharges the battey 4 They save you gas money WHAT'S IN A HYBRID VEHICLE Like any other coventional powered vehicle, hybrids have a gasoline motor and a fuel tank. What makes them different is the large battery pack that is continuously charged by an electrical generator. ELECTRIC MOTOR BATTERY PACK GENERATOR FUELTANK GASOLINE ENGINE SO, WHY ARE HYBRIDS BAD FOR THE ENVIRONMENT? It's not the actual vehicle that's the problem. It's the manufacturing of a hybrid vehicle that destroys the environment because they require more materials and producing them is a complicated process. STRIP MINING, A DEFINITION The rare earth metals, such as nickel and lithium, that are used in the batteries are retrieved by using a technique called Mountain Top Removal; which means the actual removal of the mountain top. The elements that are found in the mountain are STRIP MINING 101 layered, similar to the filling of a cake. Mining operations are set up to remove them as effectively and as cheaply as possible. The top most layer is blasted away with dynamite. each hybrid requires approximately The blasted rocks are then bulldozed, exposing the nickel and other unrefined minerals. 70lbs of rare earth metals to be mined The minerals are loaded on trucks and hauled away. THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF STRIP MINING WATER RESOURCES AIR QUALITY ECOLOGY The waste sludge from strip mining The diesel engines of the heavy duty When miners clear the surface and is a toxic brew of mercury, diesel and mining equipment releases toxic dust collect the materials, entire ecosys- other chemicals that are placed into and gases. When vegetation is cleared tems are obliterated. Federal laws, unlined, slurry dams. In turn, the for mining operations, particles in the such as the Surface Mining and Con- sludge seeps into the groundwater and eventually finds it way into the drinking water supply. Sometimes, ground, such as lead and arsenic, get trol Act (SMCA), have been created kicked up in the air that can potentially in order for mining companies to cause respiratory ailments. The lack of trees greatly reduce the amount of oxygen, since it is the by-product of reclaim and re-vegetate the land that excess sludge is placed in valleys have been cleared. However, they and streams which increases the are mining the land at an extremely metal toxicity content of the water. plants during photosynthesis. faster rate than they can reclaim it. TRANSPORTING Once mining operations are completed, there are several ways to transport the minerals. Technology makes it easy to send goods around the world. However, the choice of transportation does severely influence the amount of CO, emitted for the shipping of goods. Boeing 747 500g emitted per kilometer FLYING HIGH Ultimately, while cargo planes emit the most carbon dioxide out of all transports, they produce only 2% of the global emissions total. However, that number is increasing due to cheaper flights. Freight Train 30–100g emitted per kilometer 18-Wheeler Truck 60–150g 000 emitted per kilometer Container Ship 10–40g emitted per kilometer MASS SHIPPING Container ships are responsible for transporting 90% of goods in international trade. While they emit less carbon dioxide than the other types of shipping, global co, emissions of container ships have risen due to cheaper costs of shipping and because they hold more cargo. PRODUCTION EMISSIONS Hybrids are much more complex than regular cars and the factories that produces them emit more pollution. They require more materials and ten times more energy for production and essentially, that means ten times the amount of pollution emitted into the environment before the consumer ever drives the car. so Co During manufacturing 10-20% CO so TOXIC SKIES The production of a hybrid's batteries is of greenhouse gasses are released the reason for higher sulfur oxide (SO) and carbon dioxide (CO,) emissions that are released by refineries and factories during the manufacturing process. 00 000 BREAKING EVEN Since the production of hybrids puts so much pollution into the air, a "break-even" point method is used for measurement. The break-even point is the amount of CO, released during production which is equivalent to the amount of miles a hybrid makes while driv- ing exclusively in the city or the highway. SO, HOW MANY MILES BEFORE BREAKING EVEN? Ford Fusion Hybrid city 150,000 2 million hwy Ford Escape Hybrid hwy 1 million city Toyota Highlander Hybrid city 250,000 hw never* *The fuel efficiency in this hybrid model is worse than in the standard version when driving on the highway. IN CONCLUSION JUST STICK WITH GOOD OL GASOLINE GAS 00 00 SOURCES www.pitt.edu/-crf30/Writing3.pdf www.hybridcars.com/hybrid-car-battery/ www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/mar/03/travelsenvironmentalimpact.transportintheuk /timeforchange.org/co2-emissions-shipping-goods www.brighthub.com/environment/science-environmental/articles/19087.aspx www.thecarconnection.com/tips-article/1010861_prius-versus-hummer-exploding-the-myth science.howstuffworks.com/science-vs-myth/everyday-myths/does-hybrid-car-production-waste-offset-hybrid-benefits1.htm

Hybrids: The Not-so Environmentally Friendly Car

shared by empleoj1 on May 19
1,457 views
0 share
0 comments
Hybrids are, without a doubt, bad for the environment. While the vehicle gives off less CO2 emissions than a conventional automobile, it is the production of the car that gives off higher CO2 emissions.

Designer

Jed Empleo

Category

Environment
Did you work on this visual? Claim credit!

Get a Quote

Embed Code

For hosted site:

Click the code to copy

For wordpress.com:

Click the code to copy
Customize size