| Dear
EarthTalk: We’ve all seen the current
generation of hybrid cars, but what vehicles do the automakers
have coming out that are even greener?
-- Brian Smith, Seattle, WA
No
longer just the domain of the Japanese, greener cars are
forthcoming from just about all of the major automakers.
Toyota will improve on its hot-selling Prius by adding a
plug so owners can juice up the batteries overnight and
make it at least six miles before switching over to the
car’s gasoline-powered internal combustion engine.
Toyota’s president hinted that the plug-in hybrid,
though still in the prototype stage, could attain double
the fuel efficiency of the current Prius, which gets 46
miles per gallon.
While
gas-electric hybrids are all the rage today, carmakers are
also looking at other technologies, though none are on the
market yet. Mitsubishi’s new concept car, the iMiEV,
runs for more than 120 miles exclusively on electricity
stored in high-capacity lithium-ion batteries, and sports
small electric motors on each of the front wheels, as well
as another propelling both back wheels. Nissan is also getting
into electrics with its Mixim concept car, which can reportedly
go 155 miles on a single rapid-charge (20-40 minutes only).
While Nissan says it has the technology to mass-produce
the Mixim today, costs remain too high to make feasible
from a marketplace perspective.
General
Motors (GM) recently released a prototype of its futuristic
Chevrolet Volt. This concept car is designed to go 40 miles
on just its batteries, but it has an onboard gasoline-powered
internal-combustion engine (not connected to the wheels)
that can recharge it on the fly. GM hopes to make the Volt
available to consumers within three years, but because of
slow lithium-ion battery development, competitors wonder
if such a timeline is too ambitious.
On
the fuel-cell front, Honda already has a few dozen of its
zero-emission hydrogen-powered 2007 FCX sedans on the road,
and plans to lease 100 or so more of the sleeker 2008 model.
Honda will only lease the vehicles to a few lucky individuals,
since each FCX costs hundreds of thousands of dollars to
produce.
General
Motors is launching a “test” fleet of a 100
fuel-cell powered Chevrolet Equinox SUVs in select cities
across the U.S. in 2008. The company will also set up hydrogen
refueling stations in the same locales. The program will
last two years and GM engineers hope to glean important
information on how to improve its fuel cells to perform
better at lower cost.
South
Korea’s Hyundai is also getting involved in fuel cells,
launching a U.S. test fleet of some 300 of its Tucson SUVs.
The company also recently unveiled its i-Blue concept car,
a decidedly space-age vehicle that reportedly can cover
372 miles before needing to refuel. The company says that
it will put fuel cells into mass production by 2015, if
not sooner.
Automakers
are responding to growing environmental concerns—and
consumer demand—by producing vehicles that our grandparents
would not recognize as cars. The dream of futuristic vehicles
may just yet become a reality.
CONTACTS:
Toyota;
Mitsubishi; Nissan;
General Motors;
Honda;
Hyundai
Dear
EarthTalk: I recently had an argument with
a friend who says that if we pollute and cut down the forests,
it doesn’t matter because the Earth will take care
of itself anyway. How would you counter such an argument?
-- Alison Berglof, via e-mail
It is true that
Mother Nature has amazing powers to restore her ecosystems,
and most scientists agree that it would be nearly impossible
for humans to destroy the Earth itself, despite our success
at wreaking environmental havoc. Short of a catastrophic
meteor strike or some other unforeseen galactic trauma,
the Earth will likely continue to spin in the solar system,
perhaps as long as there is a solar system.
Example after
example from distant and recent history underscore the fact
that the Earth can recover from just about any trauma—including
the meteor strike 65 million years ago that many believe
caused the extinction of the dinosaurs. Whether subjected
to tidal waves, volcanic eruptions or nuclear bomb blasts,
landscapes reform anew, even if it takes years, decades,
centuries or eons.
But what is at
stake if we don’t clean up our act may be life itself
as we know it, both our own and that of other species with
which we share the planet. We are already witnessing what
may be an even larger species extinction than occurred with
the dinosaurs—but this time thanks to various human
activities. Eminent Harvard biologist E.O. Wilson predicts
that human-caused environmental destruction will lead to
the extinction of half of all species on the planet within
100 years. Such species loss is a big problem for humans.
That incredible diversity of life keeps our water, soil
and air healthy, our stomachs full and our ailments in check
(many modern medicines originated as herbal plant remedies).
And regardless
of the fate of other species, the destruction of our environment
also impacts us directly. Though early conservationists
sought largely to preserve nature for its own sake and beauty,
most environmentalists today see a direct correlation between
environmental protection and human health. Modern environmental
problems like fast-paced habitat destruction, toxic chemical
releases and global warming (which is exacerbated by cutting
down forests) raise concerns about the spread of diseases
for which we have not evolved proper defenses.
According to
a 2002 Princeton University study published in the journal,
Science, “Pathogens that have been restricted by seasonal
temperatures can invade new areas and find new victims as
the climate warms and winters grow milder.” That trend
is already underway and has, so far, primarily impacted
non-human animals. However, said Andrew Dobson, a co-author
of the study, “The accumulation of evidence has us
extremely worried. We share diseases with some of these
species. The risk for humans is going up.”
“Epidemics
of Rift Valley fever, a deadly mosquito-borne disease, rage
through northeastern Africa during years of unusual warmth,”
said the study. “If the climate becomes permanently
warmer and wetter…Rift Valley fever epidemics will
become frequent…Malaria and yellow fever may become
more common as milder winters permit the seasonal survival
of more mosquitoes, which carry these diseases. A warmer
climate also could enable them to move into areas where
the cold once kept them out.”
CONTACT:
World
Health Organization “Climate and Health Fact Sheet,” |
