Hybrids - NAC

[DeWitt Harrison]

On Mon, 27 Mar 2006 12:39:45 -0500
    "E. Roy Wendell IV" <erwendell at mac.com>wrote:

> [ ... ]
> As for the issue of whether or not nimh production being suppressed,
> one can't help but be suspicious. The gas and oil companies are now
> marketing themselves as "energy" companies and buying up alternative
> energy technology at a rapid rate. This is supposedly in order to
> diversify their holdings so that they have a viable business plan no
> matter what happens to global oil supplies. This makes the
> shareholders and marketing departments happy ("look at us, we're
> green"), but the company as a whole is still 99% fossil fuel based.
> So you have to wonder, given that a corporation's purpose is to make
> as much money as possible, why they wouldn't hold on to alternative
> energy technologies as a hedge but stop their widespread use so that
> they can continue to accumulate massive profits off their core
> business. By law, that's exactly what they have to do or face a
> shareholder lawsuit.

I think this (a) gives the energy companies too much credit and (b)
smacks of the old conspiracy theory in which the oil companies
bought up all the patents on 60 mpg carburetor technology in the
'50s to keep average fuel efficiency low and sell more gasoline. Of
course all those miracle carburetor patents have long since expired
and anybody can make them now. But seen any yet?

I think a more pragmatic view is that large companies like giant
oil companies have a tremendous amount of corporate inertia
which, by itself, is sufficient to resist change and since there is
not really a big market for many alternative energy sources, there
is little motivation. (We here in Boulder are an exception and many
here demand to pay double on their electric bills just to know
the power comes from a free range wind farm in Wyoming some
place.) Realistically, people seek to get the most bang from their
buck and if nickel metal hydride cells were the answer, you could
buy them by the cubic foot at Wal-Mart today. (You can by them
in AA, etc., now, right?)

Back to hybrids: I'll wager that any honest and full accounting of the
extra costs of hybrid vehicle manufacture and materials sourcing,
maintenance and battery recycling costs would show that the net
impact on the environment of the hybrid is negative compared to a
conventional automobile let alone the new generation of diesels.

DeWitt Harrison
'88 5kcstq