obviously they stole this idea from the amazing aptera, which automatically cools your car for you while it's parked in the sun.

support!

I guess the engineers at Toyota will scan the Green blogs and simply add any contrivance on the Prius that they think will sell to the Guppies (Green Yuppies -- Wealthy Urban professionals with extra income to consume all things green).  

How about a wind turbine hood ornament?   Or a cup holder for vegan soup?   A cigarette lighter made of bioluminescent algae that have been genetically engineered to heat a filament to 500F while at the same time consuming microscopic amounts of CO2 from the atmosphere?

Thing about the Prius is...it still has a tail pipe doesn't it?

I think that's a great idea! who said that we need to use one type of energy to power a car, or buildings for that matter?

give me a diverse energy portfolio and call it a day!

"Thing about the Prius is...it still has a tail pipe doesn't it?"

Lance Armstrong and I have both done a triathlon, so what's the difference really?

Good one, GoodCheer.

If it drives people into a greener car, who cares about Toyota's motivation?  Who cares why people buy them?  Perhaps we should admonish Prius buyers that they aren't really having a positive effect and urge  them to get back into their Yukons and Suburbans....

My bigger concern is how is this going to work?  I'm having trouble reconciling the energy produced by a solar roof and the amount currently used by the Prius's already-efficient a/c.

remember that it's $$ that drives innovation - including green innovation.  sorry, we don't all want to live under the poverty line and have our environmental choices restricted to re-using yogurt tubs as tupperware and line-drying our clothes >because we have no choice<.  it's easy to be "green" when you got no dough to do otherwise.  I prefer to be green 'cause I got the dough to push the envelope on cool innovations.  

--one guppy who >chooses< to line dry clothes and flout my HOA's rules

I only drive it when I need it's capabilities. A Prius driven 12,000 miles a year is far worse than an SUV driven 2500 miles a year.

Yet the Pious squint and feel so self satisfied when they see an SUV.

Frankly, I think the Prius is an awesome vehicle. I would love a two seater with a solar panel roof based upon the synergy hybrid drive system...with plug-in capability.

Drive the first 20 miles (?) on batteries alone...that would absolutely rock.

But I also want affordable, abundant electricity to charge it up at night. Lets use nuke, coal, CNG and oil to build the wind and solar infrastructure we need.

Why? Because there isn't a conservative alive who doesn't like the idea of moving forward, improving standards of living, cleaning up the air, and standing on our own energy feet.

Can we come together and work toward that goal, or is the only answer soaking feet in buckets of water on hot days and eating any children you can find? (I meant grinding them up to fertilize plants that you would then eat, of course.)

Seriously. Do you have to be a Marxist to be in the environmental club?

After doing some research on idling (which I printed in Grist), I was sitting in traffic today on the 45th Street exit of I-5 waiting for a bus, which was wedged behind a double tank tractor trailer that couldn't make it up the hill to back up so we could go, and I remembered reading that if I idled more than 10 seconds, I should turn the engine off.  So I did.

And then it struck me.  I could design a car that is just as efficient as the Prius if I simply could turn the engine off when idling and at stop signs!   I would simply do what the prius does, add in a lot of batteries, and use those to run the electric lights, A/C, power steering when the engine is off.   I might add a fly wheel that could power the car for a say five minutes without the engine on.   The car itself would decide when to turn the engine on and off...just like a hybrid.   But my car would have only one engine, one drive train and hence be lighter than the Prius.

Bob Lutz?  Are you listening?   Call me...

This technology already exists in the form of start/stop systems. The BMW 1 and 3 Series and some Citroen cars use them.

But I wouldn't recommend switching off the engine in your car too frequently - it's the recipe for a swiftly broken starter motor. Start/stop systems have beefed up starter motors which can take it but normal cars don't.

And fortunately, when I don't generate much power, I don't need AC - my biggest power consumer.