Wisconsin Forums

[kmfarm]

Keith,

I can't remember off hand, maybe I shouldn't have brought it up. But it had to do with that overall "carbon footprint" thingy. It's about the trade-off of less gas but the increase of other resources.

I'll try to find it again, but it had to do with the amount of extra minerals and the cost to mine and produce them. Things like copper, steel, nickel and aluminum. Supply and demand (supposedly) have already driven up the costs of these minerals. Then there was the disposal,and cost of disposal, of the batteries after there effective life-span. Anywhere from 5-10 years?

I'm not against hybrids, I just think that a better battery technology is needed to make them attractive and effective. Some car manufacturers are talking about the revival of the "plug-in" hybrid. That of course increases the demand of power plants. That'd be another factor to consider for overall consumption of natural resources and their costs and emissions.

I do realize however that new technologies like hybrids are not perfect until they are on the market for a while. When demand gets higher, competition should drive down costs and force manufacturers to develop the better technologies. Once demand is high, we'll probably see all kinds of different technologies pop up. Hydrogen, bio-fuels, solar panel cars, high tech conventional carburation, all these sort of things will eventually shake out as to what is the most viable option.

I think most folks want to drive cleaner cars, but overall price is still keeping most folks away. I'm glad folks like you are running the beta tests for us.

I hope you can give us a report in a few years on how you feel about your hybrid. You can tell us if it was the best investment ever or if unforeseen things popped up. I'd be curious to hear.

Again, I'm not against hybrids, just sitting back for longer term analysis.

Mark