Why spend time and money on developing hybrid cars when...?

Question

someone could create a filter for the exhaust ? Maybe something to convert the co2 and other harmful things to the ozone .....?

Answer 1

If you understand physics, you know the answer.

Every energy conversion has loss (S>1).

The energy powering your car comes from the combustion which transforms C+H+O2 into CO2 and H2O.

The efficiency of the car engine is at best around 40%...

If you want to make the opposite reaction and transform CO2 again in elementar C and O2, you need more energy than you have available at the car (the 40% you have in mechanical energy from the 100% chemical potential).

So that´s the END OF THIS IDEA.

Answer 2

CO2 is an extremely stable compound that would take a lot of energy to convert to anything else.

The catalytic converters on cars now convert unstable toxic chemicals into stable non-toxic ones, using only the heat in the exhaust as energy.

A filter to remove CO2 would need cleaning out very often. A typical car makes about one pound of CO2 for every mile it drives. (wow)

Better to not make as much CO2 in the first place.

JIm Z - You're numbers are pretty good (a good bit high, but you made assumptions that way, so it's fine).

The problem is that increasing atmospheric CO2 by 1/500,000 (the actual number these days) every year has a warming effect that is substantial enough to hurt us badly. That doesn't sound like "common sense" but it's scientifically accurate. Science is loaded with things (quantum mechanics, relativity, etc>) that don't make "common sense", but are accepted because the data says they're true. So too with global warming.

Answer 3

The main purpose of hybrids is saving oil, not decreasing emissions. They do make almost zero-emissions cars (there is a version of the Honda Accord that does this) that don't cost much more than the regular model, but they are only available in a few states, California being one. They are not even allowed to be sold in the other states for some stupid reason.

Answer 4

The hybrids are to cut down on the consumption of oil and gas not to improve the air

Answer 5

Mass of the atmosphere is 5.1361×10^18 kg (from wiki)which is equal to about 2,000,000,000,000,000,000 so if you devide that by 5 billion, (Earth's population), 400,000,000 pounds per person. Lets say everyone drives 10,000 miles in a year producing 10,000 pounds which is way over the true amount. That means that cars would produce CO2 approximately equal to 1/40,000 of the earth's atmosphere. Is it really worth worrying about the one pound of CO2 per mile. I personally won't lose any sleep over it. CO2 is not the bad poisonous gas that the alarmist try to make it out to be. It has many benefits as does warmth.

Answer 6

Because they hear "hybrid" or "electric" and assume it's safe for the environment. Nevermind the fact that a hybrid has 2 engines to carry around which drastically effects gas mileage, or the fact that there's going to be hundreds of thousands of toxic dead batteries in a few decades, but hey....it has the word "hybrid" in it, it MUST be evironmentally safe.

Answer 7

Hybrid cars make people feel good.
Feeling good is the reason why many people are involved in environmentalism today. Not because they care as much as it makes them feel good to do something.

Answer 8

cars generate ozone now. except it's bad at ground levels.

Answer 9

I think no matter what everything hurts the enviroment.

Answer 10

whoa