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John Truitt
10/21/16
Professor de Benedictis
ENC1101 – Compare/Contrast Essay
Diesels are Greener than Hybrids
Historically, engines used in self-propelled vehicles such as the automobile have
been looked down upon, as a hindrance to our environments health. Gasoline-Electric
powered hybrids are instead looked up to. The Toyota Prius is the messiah of “Going
Green” in the automotive demographic. It is seen as the quintessential mode of
transportation to get you from point A to point B, while saving the world. This is simply
just not the case. Although diesel fueled motors are seen as environmentally unclean; the
reality is that they are much better for the environment than gasoline-electric hybrids
when accounting for long-term impacts.
The gasoline-electric hybrid engine car is in many ways, is worse for the
environment than a car that runs on diesel. Pollution caused by the manufacturing
methods offset the benefits of their low emissions and gas mileage. Many of these hybrid
vehicles use lighter materials, such as aluminum or titanium, in their construction to
further enhance their efficiency. Lithium-ion batteries, used to power the electric part of
the hybrid, depend on rare-earth metals. These metals require several more steps in
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manufacturing to be harvested, refined, and incorporated into the construction of
automobiles. One rare-earth metal, nickel, creates high sulfur emissions. Lithium, also a
rare-earth metal for these batteries, is mined cheapest in China, because of their lack of
precautions taken in order to care for the environment in the mining areas. Due to this
China’s cheap pricing, that’s where most of the lithium for these batteries is sourced
from, and in turn these destructive operations continue to grow.
Using electricity in automobiles is not completely carbon footprint free either.
What about the power plants used to create the electricity for those hybrids’ batteries?
Are they really any cleaner than any of the regular gasoline burning cars? “In 1999,
Denmark established CO2 quotas and emission trading and banking allowances for its
