Buy a Toyota Prius and kill the world

[Lilleput]

Toyota factory turns landscape to arid wilderness
By MARTIN DELGADO, Mail on Sunday Last updated at 22:36pm on 18th November 2006

Comments Reader comments (9)
The 'green-living' Toyota Prius has become the ultimate statement for those seeking to stress their commitment to the environment.

However, the environment-saving credentials of the cars are seriously undermined by the disclosure that one of the car's essential components is produced at a factory that has created devastation likened to the arid environment of the moon.

So many plants and trees around the factory at Sudbury in Ontario, Canada, have died that astronauts from Nasa practised driving moon buggies on the outskirts of the city because it was considered the closest thing on earth to the rocky lunar landscape.

[Picture of tortured landscape goes here]

Unlike normal cars, hybrids such as the Prius, whose proud owners include Gwyneth Paltrow, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts and ex-Tory leader Michael Howard, are powered by a battery that contains nickel - as well as a traditional petrol engine.

Toyota gets the metal from a Canadian company whose smelting facility at Sudbury has spewed sulphur dioxide into the air for more than a century.

The car giant buys about 1,000 tons a year from the plant, which is owned by Inco, one of the world's largest nickel-mining companies.

Fumes emerging from the factory are so poisonous that they have destroyed vegetation in the surrounding countryside, turning the once-beautiful landscape into the bare, rocky terrain astronauts might expect to find in outer space.

Although efforts have been made in recent years to reduce emissions from the plant's 1,250ft chimney - dubbed the Superstack - campaigners say the factory is still respon-sible for some of the worst pollution in North America.

David Martin, energy co-ordinator of Greenpeace Canada, said: "The acid rain around Sudbury was so bad it destroyed all the plants and the soil slid down off the hillside.

"The solution they came up with was the Superstack. The idea was to dilute the pollution, but all it did was spread the fallout right across northern Ontario. Things improved in the Nineties but the plant is still responsible for large-scale emissions of sulphur dioxide.

"Sudbury remains a major environmental and health problem. The environmental cost of producing that car battery is pretty high."

Once the nickel is smelted it is sent 10,000 miles on a container ship journey which in itself consumes vast quantities of fuel and energy.

First it is shipped to Europe's biggest nickel refinery at Clydach near Swansea, South Wales. From there it is transported to the Chinese cities of Dalian and Shenyang to be turned into a lightweight substance called nickel foam.

The final stage of the manufacturing process takes place in Japan where the Prius batteries are made.

Toyota produced nearly 180,000 Prius cars last year, some 4,000 of which were sold in Britain. Last week 14 MPs from all parties claimed they had exchanged their petrol-guzzling vehicles for a Prius or similar hybrid.

But some experts doubt whether the Prius even wins the argument over fuel consumption.

Robert Fowler, of the Battery Vehicle Association, said: "It is questionable whether it does any more miles to the gallon than a good diesel.

"The hybrid system has a very small battery so most of the time it's operating as a petrol car, particularly out of town and above 30mph."

A Toyota spokesman said last night: "I cannot confirm the source of the nickel used in the Prius battery. It is true there is a slight increase in the energy required to produce the materials for the car."

Original article

So much for being smug about owning a hybrid.

[toma_alimosh]

it's true that car parts manufacturing produces pollution ... but the prius is not the only car whose production causes pollution ... running it, however, which is more long-term, would prove less polluting. We have a lot of car plants here in ontario; we produce this pollution on our ground so the US won't have it in their backyard, yet they make the profits off of it .

I tend to agree on this issue though ... making an hybrid/electric car with nickel based batteries isn't the way to go, even for a beginning. And especially since all that acid rain is falling into my back yard. Even though the winds usually point towards northern ontario, sometimes they hit the greater toronto area the south as well ... .

A better source for powering a hybrid or an electrical car would be a hydrogen fuel cell based on water ... but somehow nobody's brave enough to bring it into the market because they might lose money off of it. I blame it on the car manufacturers and blackmailing from oil companies.

[klutch]

Blame the Chinese....those socialist bastards!

[Lilleput]

^^ Hydrogen is made by Nuclear power and getting rid of that trash will kill the world too

[toma_alimosh]

Originally Posted by Lilleput

^^ Hydrogen is made by Nuclear power and getting rid of that trash will kill the world too

hydrogen can be made by putting water through electrolysis and the output is oxygen. How do you think they make all the hydrogen needed to power the space shuttles, in a nuclear laboratory ? And the hydrogen fuel cell actually works without even releasing any of its substances in the environment. Works just like a battery, you recharge it and then it runs. The only difference is that it can hold a lot more power than your normal battery, so it can last longer.

[andyhui01]

where is priusowner?... can't wait to see what he says

[Lilleput]

Originally Posted by vladmitu

How do you think they make all the hydrogen needed to power the space shuttles, in a nuclear laboratory ?

Yeah, pretty much

[klutch]

Buy a Toyota Prius and kill the world

Better yet, buy some guns, kill a Prius.

+ YouTube Video

[andyhui01]

^Where did that video come from? I've never seen it before

[Lilleput]

Clarksons - The good the bad the ugly

Official thread on the video


Where have you been?

[thedguy]

The original link to the article is bad. correct link http://www.dailymail.co.uk/

Fucking Canada, sending us your cold fronts, and now putting out "some of the worst emissions in north america." Now I know it's damn cold up there and you think global warming will make it like the Caribbean, but your hurting out planet. Face it, Canada is fucking cold if you don't like it, move. I hear Texas is pretty warm /sarcasm

[andyhui01]

Originally Posted by Lilleput

Clarksons - The good the bad the ugly

Official thread on the video


Where have you been?

ahh... I don't bother downloading anything except Topgear because I have a 10gb download limit

[IVIaster]

Originally Posted by Lilleput

^^ Hydrogen is made by Nuclear power and getting rid of that trash will kill the world too

Nuclear waste kills no one if properly handled, but you just wait few more years and we will have FUSION power! No negative issues at all (until they discover them )

[fbc]

A great example of why you need to look at more than just fuel consumption to work out a car's true environmental impact.

[priusowner]

Originally Posted by andyhui01

where is priusowner?... can't wait to see what he says

Howyerdoinmateorright ?



I quote the reading:

"....Toyota gets the metal from a Canadian company whose smelting facility at Sudbury has spewed sulphur dioxide into the air for more than a century...."

So they've been smeltering for over a century and Toyota gets the blame ? OK, Toyota could've looked for a more environmetally concious partner, but hey. Money rulez !
If this canadian company is ignoring laws then it should be proscecuted.
But it isn't any of Toyotas concern imo.

[toma_alimosh]

Originally Posted by Lilleput

Yeah, pretty much

umm, last time I've heard they were chucking them up from a few factory's by-products and making water electrolysis for the rest they needed. That wouldn't require a nuclear laboratory.

[fbc]

Originally Posted by priusowner

But it isn't any of Toyotas concern imo.

You can't be serious - That's like me saying I've built a refuge for exploited children, and not caring that the builders I've employed used child labour.

Toyota make a big fuss about the environment impact of the Prius, so it's very much their concern about the total impact the vehicle makes, not just the fuel it doesn't use when being driven.

[Alex_0700]

Meanwhile...

BMW Manufacturing Powers Up with Methane Gas from Landfill
Spartanburg, SC— BMW Manufacturing Corp. began using recycled methane gas as an energy source. The recycled methane gas, drawn from the Palmetto Landfill near Spartanburg, will supply BMW with 25 percent of its energy needs. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Christine Todd Whitman participated in the announcement.

Not one of the reasons I gave my money to BMW instead of Toyota, but still makes me feel good

[BlaRo]

"Sudbury remains a major environmental and health problem. The environmental cost of producing that car battery is pretty high."

Thought that was interesting. Unfortunately, I doubt your average politician or celebrity has the attention span to give a shit about this.

Originally Posted by klutch

Blame the Chinese....those socialist bastards!

[klutch]

Heheh....joking. Sudbury is quite the wasteland though. I'd still take a diesel over a Prius if I was concerned over fuel economy.