Grist | Topics | 24 Results

RESULTS		Results 1 – 24 of 24
Headline	Author	Published	Section
Assault and Battery On hybrid myths	Umbra Fisk	27 Aug 2008	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, Could you help me clear up a rumor about cars? I've heard that although hybrids reduce your carbon footprint because they use less gas, the process for mining the nickel in the hybrid batteries produces far more pollution than the process for regular car batteries. So are we really making a difference by buying hybrids? I personally decided to get a more fuel-efficient car and bought a used Honda Fit, which I love. Did I m ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, fuel efficiency, green living, hybrids, Prius (all these topics)

Converting a Yaris into a plug-in hybrid Toyota may have something up its sleeve	biodiversivist	12 Jun 2008	Gristmill
The first car I ever owned didn't have power anything. Today you will be hard pressed to find a car without power brakes and steering. But those features also consume energy. This explains how the first wave of economy cars from Japan got such notoriously high mileage (they didn't have power anything either). One reason I chose a Yaris for my next car is that it has electric power steering and power brakes. In theory, you should be able to turn the engine off without ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

Demand outstripping supply again Buying a high-mileage car easier said than done	biodiversivist	07 Jun 2008	Gristmill
My brother-in-law recently sent me a spreadsheet he'd built that compares a Prius and two similar-sized cars. He just wanted to know if 'doing the right thing was going to cost me.' The numbers said to buy a Prius. Ideally, going green should always be a win-win situation. Then, however, he found that the waiting list is 'baaaack!' So he'll have to put down a deposit just to get in line. He was quite disappointed and may now buy a different car. My car is also on t ...
Topics: Big Auto, cars, fuel efficiency, green living, Prius, shopping (all these topics)

Toyota's foresight pays off, part one Prius sales top one million	Joseph Romm	16 May 2008	Gristmill
The Toyota Prius is 'the world's first mass-produced petrol-electric hybrid car to hit 1 million in sales.' More than half of those were sold in North America. Toyota's goal is to sell more than one million per year. I own one and must say it is a terrific car. I get about 45 miles per gallon combined city and highway -- double the mpg of my old Saturn, which was not as big. I think the comments from the Wired blog bear repeating, considering how GM (and ...
Topics: cars, green living, Prius (all these topics)

Where Many Have Gone Before Prius sales top 1 million		15 May 2008	News
Posted at 3:17 PM on 15 May 2008 Worldwide sales of Toyota's Prius hybrid have passed the 1 million mark, the auto company announced Thursday. The world's first mass-produced hybrid was introduced in Japan in 1997 and in other markets in 2000. While it was at the time a risky business venture, it didn't take long for the word Prius -- Latin for "to go before" -- to become synonymous with popular hybrid technology (and yuppie enviro ...
Topics: Big Auto, cars, green living, hybrids, news, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

Another urban legend is spawned Prius 'proven' to get worse gas mileage than BMW 520d	biodiversivist	27 Mar 2008	Gristmill
This story in the U.K.'s Times Online is racing around the interwebs. Google 'BMW 520d' and note how many pages deep it goes. Two goofballs journalists took a road trip, one in a Prius and the other in a BMW 520d. The BMW purportedly got about 4 percent better gas mileage than the 'gas guzzling' Prius, which amazingly only managed a dismal 40 mpg. Coincidentally, that is exactly what our Prius got on a road trip last summer, which was not only jammed with people and c ...
Topics: cars, energy, fuel efficiency, green living, Prius (all these topics)

The greening of Madison Avenue When do green ads translate to green action?	Tom Philpott	31 Dec 2007	Gristmill
The greening of the U.S. of A. still has a ways to go. We're plundering Canada's tar sands and mining the Midwest's topsoil to keep our cars on the road. We lay waste to ton after ton of Chinese coal to fuel our cheap-stuff habit. And so on. But if our habits remain environmentally ruinous, the strategies we use to sell stuff have gone decidedly green. From today's Wall Street Journal, a wrap-up of the year in advertising: Green is the new black. Madis ...
Topics: advertising, cars, consumerism, green living, Prius, shopping (all these topics)

Prius smackdown, round two High gas prices make hybrids look even better	Clark Williams-Derry	07 Dec 2007	Gristmill
A couple of years ago, I ran some numbers trying to figure out which was the better buy for the planet -- a biodiesel Jetta or a hybrid Prius. And I came to the tentative, but perhaps counterintuitive, conclusion that the best buy was ... wait for it ... a Toyota Corolla. The Corolla, you see, was thousands of dollars cheaper than the Prius (the runner-up), even after I accounted for all the savings on gas from driving a fuel-miser. And if you were a gre ...
Topics: cars, consumerism, electric vehicles, energy, green living, hybrids, Prius (all these topics)

Hybrid wars Honda fights to regain green car company mantle	David Roberts	29 Aug 2007	Gristmill
Honda entered the hybrid market before Toyota, but over time it made a fateful mistake: it failed to visually distinguish its line of hybrids. The Prius' distinct shape is like peacock feathers -- it signals your identity to the world. Who wants to be virtuous if nobody knows about it? Now Honda's gotten the message and it's returning to the fight: [Honda is] working on a new high-profile hybrid -- a Prius fighter that analysts expect will have the highest mileage ...
Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

It Only Hertz a Little Rental and car-share companies get hip to hybrids		14 Aug 2007	Daily Grist
It Only Hertz a Little Rental and car-share companies get hip to hybrids Fueled by consumers' green interests, rental, car-service, and car-sharing companies are increasingly turning to hybrids. (Hear the collective sigh of relief from guilt-prone enviros who cringe with every tap on the rental accelerator.) Big renters Enterprise, Hertz, and Avis have all recently added several ...
Topics: cars, consumerism, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, news, Prius (all these topics)

Aero 101 Airliners are shaped the way they are for a reason	biodiversivist	29 Jul 2007	Gristmill
We took our Prius over the mountains a few weeks back. I was looking forward to testing it at the extreme end of its design envelope, with a bulky cargo carrier to boot. This gave me an opportunity to see how much highway mileage would be affected by aerodynamic drag. Yes, yes, I should have stuck to the speed limit, but by not doing so I preemptively squashed a bitching point leveled by hybrid hatas -- Prius drivers sticking to the speed limit are always getting in t ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius, tech (all these topics)

Google tries to kickstart an energy revolution Google.org funds V2G demonstration projects	David Roberts	18 Jun 2007	Gristmill
Sweet mama! Google.org is going to give vehicle-to-grid technology a much-needed boost, to the tune of $10 million. The company is going to modify six cars, a mix of Toyota Priuses and Ford Escape hybrids, with batteries that can draw juice from the grid and feed juice back in. The promise of this technology is that if it spreads, it will enable distributed electricity storage that can smooth spikes in electricity demand without expensive new generation plants. That ...
Topics: business, cars, electric vehicles, electricity grid, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

A123 assimilates Hymotion Plug-in aftermarket kits just around the corner?	biodiversivist	07 May 2007	Gristmill
Business Wire tells us that A123 (what a catchy name) just bought out Hymotion, the company it had been working with to develop a plug-in kit for the Prius. The kits may be available next year for about $10,000, allowing you to go about 30 miles on a four-hour charge. Don't get too excited just yet. Putting one on your car will void the manufacturer's warranty and Hymotion presently plans to guarantee the kit for only two years, until they are confident it will las ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, energy, green living, hybrids, Prius (all these topics)

Meeting notes The lost art of conversation	biodiversivist	21 Apr 2007	Gristmill
I passed a big rabble of bikers on my way to downtown Seattle yesterday evening. Several complimented my bike as I passed. There were a couple of talls in the mix. I assumed it was another Critical Mass ride, but maybe not. Sure looked like fun. I need to participate in one of those someday. I periodically attend a monthly gathering of Seattle atheists. There are always new faces, and they pick a different restaurant every month for variety's sake. We chatted about t ...
Topics: bikes, cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius, religion and spirituality (all these topics)

The Prius snob strikes back Prius consumes more energy in lifetime than Cherokee	biodiversivist	12 Feb 2007	Gristmill
I thought this article hit a little too close for comfort. If you really want to call yourself an environmentalist, do what my sister-in-law did: Buy a small Toyota hatchback and put 5,000 miles a year on it for two decades.Then there was this interesting article in the Economist discussing the future of diesel cars in America: The dirty little secret about hybrids is that their batteries and extensive use of aluminium parts make them costly to build in energy terms ...
Topics: cars, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

Prius: the new drug dealer bling From the show Weeds	David Roberts	27 Oct 2006	Gristmill
Showtime's semi-hit show Weeds is about Nancy Botwin, a suburban stay-at-home mother of two boys who, after the death of her husband, turns to selling marijuana to make ends meet. Soon she starts growing too. I'm in the midst of watching the second season. With some partners, Nancy's just developed a new strain (dubbed "MILF weed" by Snoop Dogg himself) and started selling it. Cash is pouring in, so Nancy goes on a shopping spree. Here's a short clip of wha ...
Topics: cars, consumerism, electric vehicles, green living, messaging, Prius, TV (all these topics)

Engine Block On owning multiple cars	Umbra Fisk	27 Sep 2006	Ask Umbra
Dear Umbra, Your recent column suggested that the questioners sell one of their two cars, but I can't help wondering how much good that does for the environment, especially weighed against the annoyance cost of not having a second car when two people have to be going in opposite directions at the same time. I have a personal interest in this, as we have three cars: mine (a Prius, used for all errands and most weekend driving), his (f ...
Topics: advice, Ask Umbra, cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

Pimp My Prius Customizations and hacks jazz up a hybrid		26 Sep 2005	Daily Grist
Pimp My Prius Customizations and hacks jazz up a hybrid Sure, your Prius saves gas and helps you reduce your personal carbon dioxide emissions ... but does it have mad bling? We didn't think so. Luckily, The New York Times commissioned George Barris, car customizer extraordinaire, to modify a Prius without altering the car's mechanics or electronics for a price the Gray Lady termed "withi ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, news, Prius (all these topics)

Another Prius sighting They're everywhere!	Chris Schults	13 Jul 2005	Gristmill
I can't go outside anymore in Seattle without seeing a Toyota Prius -- actually make that several. To escape the onslaught, I ducked into a movie theater this past weekend to watch War of the Worlds. Just as I was thinking it would be just me, Tom, Dakota and a few alien friends, Mr. Prius showed up on the big screen to remind me that he's watching me. Is there no escape!?
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, movies, Prius (all these topics)

"Hybrid Veterans for Truth"? Are there problems with the Prius?	Chip Giller	02 Jun 2005	Gristmill
Tucked into the business sections of newspapers today is this story: The feds are investigating claims that Toyoto Prius engines may unexpectedly stall out at highway speeds. The development may be but a hiccup interruption for Toyota, as the automaker continues to press its green advantage on American consumers while American automakers stand pat (or worse) on fuel efficiency. After all, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received only 33 complaints ...
Topics: cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, Prius (all these topics)

Of Motion and Emotion	Clark Williams-Derry	25 Jan 2005	Gristmill
I seem to have touched a nerve: it seems that more people had an opinion about my posts on the Cascadia Scorecard weblog discussing the Prius and the potential benefits of hybrid SUVs than about anything I'd written before. My question is: why?To recap:� in the first post I argue that, for someone choosing between an inexpensive-but-pretty-efficient car and a super-efficient-but-more-expensive Prius, the cheaper car might be the more environmentally soun ...
Topics: cars, consumerism, electric vehicles, green living, Prius (all these topics)

Hy Jinx Hybrids Gaining Ground Among Celebs, But Still Pricey for the Rest of Us		08 Mar 2004	Daily Grist
Hy Jinx Hybrids Gaining Ground Among Celebs, But Still Pricey for the Rest of Us Thanks to lobbying by intrepid enviro group Global Green USA, several high-profile celebrities arrived at the Academy Awards this year not in stretch limos, but in diminutive hybrid Toyota Priuses. Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon, Charlize Theron, Robin Willi ...
Topics: cars, celebrity, consumerism, electric vehicles, environmental justice, green living, hybrids, placemaking, Prius (all these topics)

You Can Hardly Prius Out of 'em		24 Mar 2003	Daily Grist
You Can Hardly Prius Out of 'em Some stars toned down the glitz at last night's Academy Awards ceremony in acknowledgement of the war in Iraq, while others toned down their energy consumption, arriving at the event in gas-electric hybrid cars instead of gas-guzzling stretch limos. Actress Cameron Diaz was chauffeured to the Oscars in her own Toyota Prius. "I drive it e ...
Topics: Cameron Diaz, cars, celebrity, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, Prius (all these topics)

Wild Horses Couldn't Prius Away		11 Dec 2002	Daily Grist
Wild Horses Couldn't Prius Away Toyota Prius owners -- celebs and regular folks alike -- are doing more than saving money at the gas pump and curbing greenhouse-gas emissions: They're also making a political statement, thumbing their noses at Saddam Hussein, oil barons, and SUV owners everywhere. Wyatt Earp, a descendant of the legendary gunslinger, has purchased four hybrid-electric P ...
Topics: Cameron Diaz, cars, electric vehicles, green living, hybrids, Prius (all these topics)

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