“ As Matt Power notes in this month’s issue of Wired, hybrids like the Toyota Prius get great gas mileage but it takes 113 million BTUs of energy to make one. Since there are about 113,000 BTUs of energy in a gallon of gasoline, the Prius has consumed the equivalent of 1,000 gallons of gasoline before it reaches the showroom. Think of it as a carbon debt - one you won’t pay off until the Prius has turned over 46,000 miles or so.
