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An autmotive industry number cruncher called CNW Marketing Research [6] has announced a study which claims that, "dust to dust," high-polluting SUV's consume less energy than high-mileage hybrids. The CNW report [7] claims to have calculated total energy consumption in the full lifecycle of an automobile, including construction and disposal, and concluded that SUVs have an energy advantage over gas-electric hybrids.

Newsday handled the story [8] well, getting reasonable reaction from hybrid majors like Toyota and Honda. But the CNW study deserves more intense scrutiny. First, the company is comparing cheap, long-run production cars to the most innovative and experimental (and therefore short-run) cars on the market. It is inevitable that developing a new technology will be expensive (and energy intensive) in the short-term, and it seems disingenuous - at the least - for CNW not to acknowledge that in its report. CNW also offers a complete list of its results without providing any of the supporting data that might help explain its findings; you can't help but be suspicious.

It is true, however, that hybrids have parrallel operating systems — two engines and a complex drive train to make the whole thing work smoothly. It's a significant construction challenge. It's also true that it would be harder to pull a hybrid apart. That's probably why they fare so well in crash tests, compared to the easily demolished truck-based SUVs.

The best part of this story is that it led us to www.hybridblog.org [9], a marvellous resource for anyone interested in hybrids or automotive energy efficiency. For example, have a look at recent posts on the relative CO2 savings between a Prius and a couple of dozen compact flourescent lightbulbs. Or a the cranky and articulate analysis of the Bush Administration's ineffective update of Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards for so-called “light trucks.”

The folks at hybridblog [10], which is "a project of the Union of Concerned Scientists," promise to weigh in soon on the CNW report. We're looking foward to it.

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