The Huge Hybrid – Few Takers for a New S.U.V. Twist – NYTimes.com

The Huge Hybrid – Few Takers for a New S.U.V. Twist – NYTimes.com

General Motors and Chrysler are betting that their 5,500-pound, eight-seat S.U.V.’s — long the scourge of environmentalists — can be reformed as hybrid models, albeit ones getting 20 miles to the gallon.

Consumers have been slow to embrace the first two models from G.M., which are relatively new to the market.

G.M. has sold about 1,100 of its Chevrolet Tahoe and GMC Yukon hybrids since their introduction in January, according to company sales briefings. That pace is well behind its goal of 12,000 sales a year, and a fraction of the more than 100,000 hybrids sold so far in the United States this year.

“To this point, the G.M. hybrids aren’t getting any traction at all,” said Mike Omotoso, a senior manager with the research firm J. D. Power & Associates.

Giving a four-wheel drive Tahoe a gas-electric hybrid engine raises fuel economy for city driving to 20 miles a gallon from 14.

Okay—am I the only one who thinks this is stupid? Can someone just give the Detroit automakers a kick in the head and a boot in the ass? It’s a hybrid and it gets 20 MPG instead of 14MPG. What a waste of $53,000!

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Tags: enviroment, automakers, Detroit, hybrid, car, green, fake, economy, gas

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NPR : Eco-Friendly Product Claims Often Misleading

NPR : Eco-Friendly Product Claims Often Misleading

Another NPR gem. Look at the logos above. The one of the left has no meaning since CFC’s have been banned since the 1970s so everything is CFC free. However, the logos on the right have real value.

America’s store shelves are filled with products claiming to be good for the environment. Everything from shampoos and cleaning agents to granola bars claim to be “natural” and “earth friendly.” But some environmentalists think you’re being “greenwashed.”

One of them is Scot Case, with the environmental marketing firm TerraChoice.

The firm says it found 1,018 products that made environmental claims, ranging from toothpaste to office paper, on retail shelves of six big-box retailers.

“When we dug a little deeper, we were actually shocked to discover that all but one were committing what we’re now calling one of the Six Sins of Greenwashing,” Case tells Steve Inskeep. The one product was paper napkins, but Case says the firm decided not to name specific products.

Check out the podcast and the article has links to TerraChoice, Ecologo.org, Green Seal and many other helpful articles including the “The Six Sins of Greenwashing”.

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Tags: green, marketing, TerraChoice, NPR, podcast, greenwashing, consumer, environment