Scott and I were featured, today, on Toyota Canada’s Facebook for their Earth Week campaign.  This started about a week before we even knew we were trading in our old 2009 Prius for the 2012 Prius.  Toyota was asking for people with Hybrids to tell their stories, to be picked.

They fell in love with our story because Scott and are I pretty big guys and we fit really well in both the 2009 and 2012 Prii.

As I have said before, I have no problem supporting Toyota this way.  My partner and I chose Toyota initially, in 2001, because Toyota was the only company, we thought, doing anything really significant around fuel economy and technology in line with my beliefs.

Some people have argued that it’s possible that some hybrids and even plug-in hybrids (Prius PHV, Volt) could be more polluting than their petrol counterparts.

•  In the case of the hybrids because of the battery production, and potential wastage and environmental hazards when the car no longer runs, etc…  Well, Toyota has setup recycling programs for the battery so that when a car is at it’s end of life, or when the battery is at it’s end of life, there is a mechanism to get it recycled.  I would also hope that my car could be used for spare parts, allowing it to live on if you will.
• The plug-in case is difficult.  If you get your power from a coal or natural gas power plan, then it could be possible that you’re adding unnecessary pollutants to the air.  At the same time, it doesn’t take much to charge a plug-in Prius – I’ve heard about 3 hours.  On the flip side, I know in Ontario you can select greener choices like Bullfrog Power that divert power in your home to greener sources.  You’ll have to do your homework in other places.

To people who say “It’s not enough”, “We need to do more” – I believe it’s something people need to make baby steps on but I do agree people need to take the time and make changes – global warming is a fact not a theory and the politics of gas is out of hand.  I’d say Scott and I have done a fair bit to help.  We always recycle, we’ve always chosen greener cars, I’m now using EV mode as much as possible, we’ve completely switched to efficient LCD TVs (my Samsung actually tells me how much power it’s drawing!), we’re using dimmers where needed in our condo, and switched to long lasting fluorescent bulbs in some of our rooms (not that there is much of a choice but I would have switched anyway).

There is more we could be doing, for sure.  I wonder if our condo building would consider switching to Bullfrog Power, and if it could help with cost savings?  Could we get solar panels for the building to drive our hot water heaters?  And the questions go on…