[Timber Loftis]

Originally posted by MagiK: What about the huge amonts of lead contamination of landfills as these hybrids wear out their lead acid batteries? ..... The increadible amounts of toxic waste that is produced in manufgacturing the toxic batteries all batteries use toxic elements..at least the materials that are commercially viable) They save gas and fix one problem but still raise other just as deadly problems. The best thing that can be said about the hybrids, is that they are "different" in where they hit the environment. Lead Acid Batteries can be recycled. I have a HUGE multinational client that makes and recycles batteries all over the world at ISO 14001 certified facilities. Making the batteries does cause waste -- but not as much now as it formerly did. While some old facilities still discharge under grandfathered permits, many others operate at zero effluent. Again, I have a client I can hook you up with if you like. Oh I don't disagree aobut alternatives having costs....it's just that many people just "blip" over those costs as if they are nonexistant and I wanted to point them out. Fair enough. Not in and of themselves...planting them all over the landscape and spoiling the "pristine" desert environement in the huge numbers of acres that is required to make an impact is against the econut fringes sensibilities. (I'll quit useing the term econut when you drop the term "Oil Monkey" Well, fair enough -- but I think we can reason with the nuts over time. And, you can keep the term -- I like Oil Monkee too much to let it go. I personally did a lot of research on the viability of residential solar cells..let me tell ya friends...they aint cheap enough to be a viable alternative unless you are already one of those in the upper 5-10 % income bracket. $75,000 start up cost to get you off the grid and a whopper of an annual maintenance fee for the batteries and storage systems for the cloudy and wet days...Solar Power is still expensive. Yes, it is still expensive on the individual level. In a city like chicago, several residences sit under one roof, so it makes it cheaper to *supplement* with solar. Moreover, we cannot forget the green roofs (gardens) and air circulation standards that have been developed to help make "green buildings." A lot of things working in concert together, and you can have an office that almost never has to turn on its air conditioner. We're not talking silver bullets to make ZERO impact here, we're talking using lots of factors to make significant reductions. There have been restrictions on oil exploration in the arctic for decades. We need to open up the ares for exploration even if we aren't going to exploit right away, knowing wehat is there versus what might be there would lead to more beneficial discussions. I'm fine with exploration. We can't plan without knowing the facts. However, please be as unobtrusive as possible. Sonar ranging and other methods of detecting oil reserves should be preferred over drilling lots of long narrow holes.

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