Hybrid Vehicle Comparison
There are three primary types of hybrid vehicles we are going to compare: the parallel hybrid, the mild hybrid and the plug-in hybrid. Then we provide an overview of the car models on the market…
How do Hybrid Cars Work?
The term hybrid is one of the hottest buzz words to enter the English lexicon. In our global economy and an ever-growing awareness of the limitations of our resources, people everywhere are concerned about how we can maintain our lifestyles into the future. There is a plethora of curiosity, enthusiasm and confusion surrounding this term as we face high gas prices and a bleak forecast for our natural environment. Our lifestyles are being threatened, and so people all over the world look to the hybrid car as a potential solution, allowing us to continue speeding across our lands and living our lives of convenience. With all these concerns riding on the success of new technology, it is no wonder that people want to know, in simple terms, how do hybrid cars work…
Can You Recycle Envelopes With Window In Them?
We once heard that throwing just a small amount of unrecyclable material would screw up the recycling process and cause the entire portion of recycled material to go to waste. So for a long time, we would spend tedious hours cutting out the plastic windows from envelopes to make sure no non-recyclable materials got into our recycling bin. After a while we got fed up with all the time this process took, thinking – “why should we have to spend hours to make up for the credit card and other advertising companies’ neglect of the environment?” Well, after some research, it looks like some recycling facilities can process those little plastic windows. So are envelopes recyclable after all?…
Toyota Prius Party in California
On a recent visit to San Francisco I was amazed at the number of Toyota Priuses on the road. I don’t think at any one time I could look in any direction on the highway or on city streets and not see one. It’s no wonder that the American auto market has been eclipsed by foreign auto makers, not the least of which is Toyota, riding the success wave of their gas-electric hybrid, the Prius.
The World is Running out of Crude Oil
The reality of the situation is that crude oil is a fossil fuel, something that cannot be recreated or regenerated, and the world is rapidly running out of this so-called precious resource. Even the Middle East (Saudi Arabia), stockpiling some of the largest crude oil reserves in the world, will eventually run out. Because of its deep integration in our society, businesses and individuals depend on oil. Carmakers, airplane manufacturers, and various manufacturing and processing facilities thrive on the profits generated by oil-based equipment. What these companies are failing to realize is that there’s not much left. United States oil production peaked in the early 1970’s, and we are now completely out of crude oil, depending on other nations for our oil imports. Because of its limited availability, crude oil is bound to run out everywhere sooner or later. And that time is closer than we think…
Is Global Warming Causing Wildfires in California?
If anyone is still asking “Is global warming causing wildfires in California?”, they may need to face the facts. With all of these freaky questions swirling around, the time is now to start the dialogue. Do you think there is a connection between our changing world landscape of natural disaster and extended summer weather? How much have we done to create this and further how will we and our children continue to pay to keep our planet safe? More importantly, what are we doing to fix it?
Toyota Prius MPG: Fuel Efficient or Not?
When it comes to hybrid cars, one of the most important, if not the most important metric, are the mpg’s (miles per gallon). So how many miles per gallon does your Prius hybrid get? When I accompanied my fiance to buy one last year, we were greeted with an EPA mpg on the sticker touting a city mpg of 60, and a highway mpg of 50.
Paper or Plastic? Tips to Reduce the Use of Plastic Bags
The average grocery store goes through thousands of plastic bags everyday. At home, consumers use hundreds of zip lock and sandwich plastic bags to bag lunches, store food in the refrigerator, etc. All this adds up to an unbelievable amount of plastic waste. In fact, according to the Wall Street Journal, the United States goes through 100 billion plastic grocery bags annually!
Best Low Flush Toilet
Think about how many times during a day you go to pee. The average person pees about 9 times each day. That’s 9 toilet flushes, not counting the occasional #2 😉 What does that mean in terms of water used per person per day just for going to the bathroom? If you take a look at your toilet, you may see behind the lid an indication of how many gallons per flush it uses. Toilets from the 1950s and earlier averaged 7 plus gallons per flush. Those from the 1960s were built to use 5.5 gallons, and the new 1980s toilets brought the water used in a single flush down to 3.5 gallons. Today, a new toilet is designed to use no more than 1.6 gallons per flush. Therefore, if you’re using an old toilet you may be flushing as much as 63 (7 gallons per flush times 9 flushes per day) gallons of water per day!
Plug-In Hybrid Automobiles: Better Than Fuel Based Cars?
Hybrid cars use a combination of fuel and stored electrical power (in a battery) to optimize fuel consumption and help reduce emissions. They can be seen as a stepping stone between fuel-based cars and electric automobiles. What many consumers, as well as owners of hybrid automobiles don’t realize, is that it’s possible to purchase a kit that will turn your hybrid into a plug-in hybrid automobile. In other words, into an electric vehicle. The problem with these kits is that they currently are only available on the black market, and as such they will invalidate your warranty if you install them. They are also better suited to certain hybrid automobile models than to others…
Is it Possible to Be a Carbon-Neutral Town?
Ashton Hayes, in the United Kingdom, is trying to become the first town to be a carbon-neutral town. Ashton Hayes began just like any other small, affluent town (it has only 1000 residents), but last year turned into a grassroots effort to fight climate change. What do residents do to maintain the town’s carbon-neutral status?
How to Save Sea Turtles
Have you ever asked your seafood waiter for turtle-safe shrimp? If not, now may be a good time to start. Why? Fishing nets used all around the world ensnare and kill sea turtles. Many U.S.-based ships use turtle escape hatches, a type of Turtle Excluder Device, which give the turtles an escape path. However, most foreign-based ships don’t. The result? 150,000 endangered sea turtles are at risk of being killed each year. How to save sea turtles?