Sierra Club Honors First Green Family Car
21 April 2000
Sierra Club Honors First Green Family Car Prius Receives 'Excellence in Environmental Engineering' Award
NEW YORK, April 19 Kicking off its celebration of Earth
Day, the Sierra Club is recognizing the Toyota Prius with the "Excellence in
Environmental Engineering" award today at the New York Auto Show.
"Just in time for Earth Day, the Sierra Club is proud to honor the Toyota
Prius, which provides a fuel-efficient choice for our families and our
future," said former Sierra Club President Robbie Cox, who presented the
award. "We believe the Prius will take us down the path of curbing global
warming and cleaning up the smog that blankets too many cities."
With the fuel economy of our nation's auto fleet at a 20-year low, cars
like the hybrid Prius, which gets 50 miles per gallon on average, are more
important than ever to curb global warming. Additionally, the Prius is a
SULEV (Super Ultra Low Emission Vehicle), which is California's designation of
a vehicle, which emits only a very tiny amount of smog precursors.
A hybrid, the Prius uses a combination gas-electric engine, which combines
attributes of electric and gasoline motors. The Prius uses a zero-emission
clean electric motor that powers the vehicle assisted by a highly efficient
super-low emission gasoline engine, refillable at any gas station. The Prius
also captures the energy typically lost to braking, directing it to recharge
the batteries. Unlike purely electric vehicles, a hybrid does not need to be
plugged in. Because the Prius runs on both gasoline and clean electricity it
achieves fuel economy of 52 mpg in city and 45 mpg in highway driving and
therefore emits much less global warming and air pollution than other
vehicles.
Through the "Award for Excellence in Environmental Engineering" the Sierra
Club will inform the American people about advances in technology, which make
vehicles more environmentally sound. The award will be presented when a
company develops and mass markets a vehicle that represents a substantial
environmental improvement over vehicles of similar size. The award goes to
the product, not the company.
"This is an award for a real car that real people can buy and use," said
Cox. "We want people to know there are environmentally sound alternatives
readily available. In this case, Toyota built a great car and has committed
to marketing the Prius nationwide."
Better environmental technology is critical because our nation's vehicles
emit an enormous amount of pollution. American cars and trucks produce more
carbon dioxide (CO2) pollution than the CO2 emissions for all but three other
countries. The 120 billion gallons of gasoline American cars and light trucks
consume produces over a billion tons of CO2 pollution annually.
"This car proves that the technology exists to dramatically clean up the
pollution from America's cars," said Director of the Sierra Club's Global
Warming and Energy Program, Dan Becker. "The biggest single step we can take
to curb global warming is to make cars and light trucks go further on a gallon
of gasoline. While there is no technology to remove carbon dioxide from a
car's exhaust, we can decrease emissions by making them more fuel-efficient.
That is why we're so excited about the Prius."
Automobiles are major contributors to global warming, smog and suburban
sprawl. This award recognizes the Toyota Prius, which can help reduce global
warming and air pollution. We must also design convenient and livable
neighborhoods to encourage walking, bicycling and public transit. This, along
with reduced subsidies to driving, will help curb sprawl and traffic
congestion.
The Sierra Club is grateful for the technical assistance of the American
Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, which consulted with us on this
award.
The Sierra Club is the nation's oldest and largest grassroots
environmental organization with more than 600,000 members.
