Link to the Show / Show NotesInterview About Dust-to-Dust Study of Vehicle Energy Use
There's a study done by a research outfit called CNW Marketing Research which attempts to determine the total energy used by a vehicle from mining the metals to final disposal. Interestingly the Hummer H2 comes out ahead of a number of more fuel efficient vehicles including the Honda Civic and the Toyota Prius. (Let it be said that the Focus and the Scion XP come out far ahead of the Hummer). There's an interesting discussion of the results here and an audio interview with the researcher here. The primary reason's why the Hummer does so well seems to be low research costs, simple design resulting in lower tooling costs, and the fact that many of the Hummers parts are also used in many other GM vehicles resulting in economies of scale. These could be important lessons in attempting to reduce our society's overall energy usage. Of course better still is riding a bicycle.
This comes from TheWatt podcast.
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