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Hybrid hysteria
Waterbury Republican-American ^ | June 22, 2008 | Editorial

Posted on 06/22/2008 12:17:23 PM PDT by Graybeard58

Remember methyl tertiary butyl ether (MTBE), the green gasoline additive that was supposed to save the planet but was an environmental, public-health and economic disaster?

Remember ethanol, the green gasoline additive that replaced MTBE and was supposed to save the planet but has been an environmental, public-health and economic disaster?

Well, now Gang Green is pushing the hybrid vehicle. The jury remains out on whether it will be an economic and environmental disaster — it has some of the earmarks — but hybrid drivers already are saying their green machines are dangerous to their health.

Writing for the Heartland Institute, John Dale Dunn of the American Council on Science and Health notes many people who have bought taxpayer-subsidized hybrids are trading them in — at huge losses in some cases — for cars with internal-combustion engines because of concerns over unavoidable, prolonged exposure to electromagnetic fields created by hybrids' batteries.

Even The New York Times says their fears are "not without merit." The National Institutes of Health and the National Cancer Institute are two of many agencies that say long-term exposure to a strong electromagnetic field is hazardous. Drivers say their hybrids raised their blood pressure, caused drowsiness behind the wheel and worried them sick about increased leukemia risk. Tests have documented "dangerously high" EMFs in hybrids, leading owners "to conclude driving the vehicles is not worth risking blood for oil," Mr. Dunn wrote.

We think this is all a bunch of hooey, of course, because a National Research Council review of more than 500 studies on EMFs found the fields do not cause disease or cancer.

Our view is tempered, however, by the knowledge that the greens were wrong on MTBE, wrong on ethanol, wrong on global warming and wrong about lots of other things. So motorists would be wise to wade into the shallow end of the car pool before taking the hybrid plunge.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial
KEYWORDS: energy; environment; hybrid; transportation
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1 posted on 06/22/2008 12:17:23 PM PDT by Graybeard58
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To: ballplayer; warsaw44; Grizzled Bear; Tunehead54; G.Love; nothingnew; dcwusmc; Responsibility2nd; ...

Ping to a Republican-American Editorial.

If you want on or off this list, let me know.


2 posted on 06/22/2008 12:19:28 PM PDT by Graybeard58 (Only 7 more shopping days until Graybeard58's b/day.)
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To: Graybeard58

I don’t know I buy the health impact, though I can understand for certain things, the Hybrid just doesn’t cut it. If money wasn’t an option, I’d get a Hybrid SUV or something. I’m waiting for Fuel Cells though.


3 posted on 06/22/2008 12:21:14 PM PDT by StAthanasiustheGreat (Vocatus Atque Non Vocatus Deus Aderit)
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To: Graybeard58
Gang Green

Love the moniker.

4 posted on 06/22/2008 12:21:43 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (the media vs. the people.)
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To: StAthanasiustheGreat

Ah, yes, fuel cells. The alchemist’s promise.


5 posted on 06/22/2008 12:22:35 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (the media vs. the people.)
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To: StAthanasiustheGreat

Honda is bringing out a hydrogen fuel cell in California. However, there have been other fuel cells that use gasoline and don’t need a revamping of our entire infrastructure to accommodate it.


6 posted on 06/22/2008 12:25:23 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (G-d is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
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To: StAthanasiustheGreat

Honda is bringing out a hydrogen fuel cell in California. However, there have been other fuel cells that use gasoline and don’t need a revamping of our entire infrastructure to accommodate it.


7 posted on 06/22/2008 12:25:24 PM PDT by Blood of Tyrants (G-d is not a Republican. But Satan is definitely a Democrat.)
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To: Graybeard58

What’s the EMF field of the vehicle compared to cell phones? Isn’t there a cell phone hysteria about them causing brain caner?

As for the hybrid cars themselves. It’s been shown that when they run on gas only their MPG is terrible. Then too, how long would it take to amortize the car with the difference with what you’re paying now for gas for your regular car and the hybrid. There was a chart on Google that said it would take ten years to break even.

/r/jane


8 posted on 06/22/2008 12:25:40 PM PDT by SkyDancer ("I Believe In The Law Until It Interferes With Justice")
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To: the invisib1e hand

Actually, Honda is leasing a small number this summer in Southern California. The real problem with Fuel Cells is re-supply fueling. The infrastructure isn’t there and would probably take a decade to build (worst case).


9 posted on 06/22/2008 12:25:59 PM PDT by StAthanasiustheGreat (Vocatus Atque Non Vocatus Deus Aderit)
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To: Blood of Tyrants

Doesn’t using gasoline for a Fuel Cell defeat the whole purpose of a Fuel cell vehicle?


10 posted on 06/22/2008 12:26:44 PM PDT by StAthanasiustheGreat (Vocatus Atque Non Vocatus Deus Aderit)
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To: Graybeard58
... concerns over unavoidable, prolonged exposure to electromagnetic fields ....

This idea is absolutely stupid - if this were true, then every utility worker at a power plant would be (a) sterile, (b) deformed, (c) a monster, .. or worse!

11 posted on 06/22/2008 12:28:14 PM PDT by Ken522
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To: Ken522
.. or worse!?

A conservative?

12 posted on 06/22/2008 12:33:15 PM PDT by uglybiker (I do not suffer from mental illness. I quite enjoy it, actually.)
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To: Graybeard58
Remember ethanol, the green gasoline additive that replaced MTBE and was supposed to save the planet but has been an environmental, public-health and economic disaster?

Yeah, I do. Only I don't remember it being an environmental, public-health, or economic disaster. This guy must be running his diesel in a garage with the door closed.

13 posted on 06/22/2008 12:33:23 PM PDT by IronJack (=)
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To: the invisib1e hand

Not true. Here’s a few examples of what’s going on in that area. These fuel cells don’t use hydrogen. That’s probably what you think of when you think fuel cell but they can use a wide range of fuels including gassified coal.

http://www.epicos.com/epicos/portal/media-type/html/user/anon/page/default.psml/js_panename/News+Information+Article+View;jsessionid=45978ACEB2054EA17A25EE32E11A7DA9.tomcat6?articleid=105404&showfull=false

http://www.tradingmarkets.com/.site/news/Stock%20News/1642979/

http://www.fuelcellsworks.com/Supppage8830.html


14 posted on 06/22/2008 12:35:44 PM PDT by saganite
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To: StAthanasiustheGreat

Fuel cells can use their fuel quite a bit more efficiently. That’s where the promise lies with them.


15 posted on 06/22/2008 12:36:58 PM PDT by saganite
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To: saganite
I got nothing against hydrogen. I just thought it was funny how, when I looked into them a few years ago, I needed to have LP tanks to keep 'em working.

I admit I never bothered to educate myself about the process in detail, and now I'm curious.

16 posted on 06/22/2008 12:38:15 PM PDT by the invisib1e hand (the media vs. the people.)
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To: SkyDancer
Honda has a cost savings calculator on their web site for the Civic Hybrid. Compare it against the Civic LX automatic, which gets 36 MPG, and the fuel savings is 1250 in 5 years. That doesn't figure in the cost difference, Hybrid at $22600, Civic LX at $17760 for a $4840 difference. Plus the hybrid battery will require replacement at ~ 80 thousand miles and costs approx $3000.

Where is the savings???

17 posted on 06/22/2008 12:39:56 PM PDT by Don Carlos (No8Do)
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To: Blood of Tyrants
Honda is bringing out a hydrogen fuel cell in California.

How much hydrogen does one of these 'Hondenbergs' have to carry around as fuel?


18 posted on 06/22/2008 12:41:18 PM PDT by Nick Danger (Oh! The humanity!)
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To: Graybeard58
We are living in an electromagnetic environment up to the hilt. If electromagnetic radiation is that dangerous, than power plant workers, where huge amounts of electromagnetic radiation is present, should be dying like fies. This is an attempt by the anti personal transportation Marxists to make sure the automobile is taken out of the reach of the individual.

It is time to get into the aluminum wear business. I could make a killing selling just hats.

19 posted on 06/22/2008 12:43:03 PM PDT by jonrick46
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To: Don Carlos
"Where is the savings???"

What's wrong with you? You're not supposed to think about it. You're supposed to feel good about yourself because you're greener than others.

20 posted on 06/22/2008 12:47:58 PM PDT by penowa
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