50. Prius vs Pick-up, Can We Lay It to Rest?
Prius vs Pick-up, Can We Lay It to Rest? Despite our attempts to stay abreast of misinformation about current energy topics related to the climate crisis, we are continually caught off-guard by new doozies. One of those experiences was at the Common Ground Fair this year. While staffing a climate solutions booth at the fair, one of us engaged in conversation with a friendly visitor who shared how much he regretted that electric cars were certainly no answer to the CO2 problem. “Well,” we ventured, “certainly not THE answer, but part of it?” Oh no, he assured us, his son had learned at community college - they had “done the calculations” - that his diesel pick-up will have produced less CO2 over its 280,000 mile lifetime than a Prius would produce in its first year, if you count the CO2 involved in its manufacture. Since the One of Us staffing that booth was not the one with the scientific cred, or even the information at hand, we could only ask for clarification. “Well it’s the lithi