by Bruce Allen

Created on: September 15, 2009   Last Updated: September 16, 2009

If you are like most of America, you're probably wondering why hybrids are becoming so popular. You may think that oil prices going up are the only reason why and the media hype right now surrounding global warming. Let me tell you why there is much more than that going on here.

When you go out in the morning to start your SUV to take your kids to school, there are a number of things to note about the process in which your internal combustion engine powered car transfers and uses energy. First and foremost, you are using a liquid fuel that must be processed from light crude, or heavy crude(bitumen). Most of the oil supply in the U.S. comes from Canada and the Alberta tar sands projects which must be first dug up, heated, using injected steam created from burning natural gas, then transported over several thousand miles to refineries such as the one in whiting Indiana where it is processed into gasoline.

The tailing ponds from this extraction process are leaving miles and miles of wasteland and making the water supply undrinkable for much of the surrounding area in Alberta. This is the wastewater from the heating process. In addition to this, processing this heavy crude into gasoline, produces waste water containing extremely small amounts of ammonia and lead which is discharged into fresh water lakes which sometimes provide our drinking water.

Secondly, The path by which your SUV uses this liquid fuel is full of many components that must be replaced after only a few years. These examples include, carbon cannisters, fuel pumps, fuel filters, air filters, catalytic converter, and oil filters. All these parts add to the total lifetime maintenance costs of the vehicle. After the fuel has been put through this system it is discharged in the form of carbon dioxide, sulfur dioxide, Benzene and formaldehyde through the tailpipe which inevitably goes into our lungs and into our bloodstream.

Now, let's compare the above with a parallel hybrid vehicle such as the Toyota Prius. In a parallel hybrid, the drive train gets power from both a gas engine and an electric motor simultaneously. In low speeds, the Prius operates mainly on battery power with a small assist from a Atkinson cycle 4 cylinder engine, which still does need oil changes and air filters but not as often since the engine is not always being used. You could also conclude that since the engine is being used less that it will also last longer than a non-hybrid engine. The electric motor gets it's power from

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