Embodied Energy: Prius Vs. Hummer

Reader Contribution by Sebastian Blanco
Published on April 5, 2012
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I got an email from a relative with claims that scientific studies have proven that a Toyota Prius consumes more energy over its lifetime than a Hummer. Can this be true?

Wow, this brings me back to a simpler time, when the Internet was ablaze with reports of a study that proved?–?proved!?–?that it was better for the Earth to drive a Hummer than a Prius. If that sounds absurd, it’s because it is. But just because something is wrong doesn’t mean it leaves the Internet. In fact, that’s where untrue things seem to live on forever.

In 2006, a group called CNW Marketing Research said that even though a 50-mpg Prius doesn’t suck down a lot of fuel to move from place to place, the extra energy and resources required to build, drive and then recycle one?–?especially its nickel-metal hydride batteries?–?require more embodied energy than the notorious symbol of automotive excess: a Hummer.

Since the “study” first hit the Web six years ago, plenty of organizations have debunked it.

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