Hybrids ... Another Popular Folk Remedy?

I am surprised by the number of people who have the impression that hybrid automobiles hold an answer to the energy crisis. Am I one of a few who see it as merely replacing one energy problem with another?

I visited my bank today. Through the big glass windows you can see the sign at the gas station on the corner. The lowest grade of gasoline was $2.299 (US) per gallon. The premium stuff was truly at a "premium" of $2.499; Yow! I realize that this price might be considered cheap overseas, but in recent history here; Yow! As the cashier counted out my money I said; "Well, that should last the week ... unless I have to buy gas." He chuckled and replied with. "At least more hybrids cars will help."

"Not really", I replied. And he went for it...

I explained that whether it's gasoline or natural gas, it takes just as much energy to move his car. Physics at its simplest. It just becomes a matter of considering the relative cost of that energy, which in a free market is driven by supply and demand. The energy source that has less demand and is more available should be the cheaper, right? "But hybrids use electricity..." I asked him where the electricity comes from. "From the battery" was his answer. I quickly set aside a humorous vision of him changing the flashlight batteries in his future hybrid SUV. I went on to tell him that the batteries had to be frequently recharged with energy and that natural gas is used to generate most of the electricity around here. By using an electric hybrid, you are simply replacing X joules of energy worth of gasoline with X joules of energy from electricity that is generated from X+++ joules of natural gas. Or by X+++ joules of gasoline if the hybrid recharges itself using the gas engine. (Joules is an international measure of work or energy). Gasoline prices are rising, but by shifting some of the demand to electricity and natural gas, aren't those costs going to rise with demand too? Isn't electricity already expensive? Slowly I could see he was getting the idea... There is no magical "hybrid" perpetual motion machine.

He was smart to ask; "So what's the solution". I told him "efficiency". "It's the demand for energy that adds up, so the less energy we use per person to get us where we're going the less it will cost us." Idealistic and oversimplified? Yes ... but I hope you get my point. And yes, electric hybrids have some inherent efficiencies (like using less energy while at a stop) that may prove best in some cases.

Later at home I did some homework using my most recent prices for gasoline and electricity to figure a comparable cost per unit of energy. The values and conversions are from Oak Ridge National Laboratory bioenergy site at http://bioenergy.ornl.gov

Gasoline
$2.30 per US gallon
121 MJ (MegaJoules) of energy in 1 US gallon

gives us $0.019 per MJ of energy

Electricity
$0.1332 per kWh (what I get charged at home)
1 kWh = 3.6 MJ

gives us $0.037 per MJ of energy

Hmmm, in my case electric energy costs almost twice as much as gasoline energy. Maybe a hybrid house makes more sense...?

Note: the figures don't account for the differing losses of getting the energy to the wheels of the car.

Well, before I start preaching about future energy woes ... Does anybody else see that hybrid cars are a band-aid at best? That they address a small part of the problem and could be less efficient and more expensive to operate? I can foresee class action lawsuits already.