Blog: That CNW study that said a Hummer is greener than a Prius

Dave Leggett | 14 July 2008

'Dust-to-dust' sounds like the way to go in assessing the environmental impact of various vehicles. And, intuitively, you'd think that a vehicle containing a heavy battery made up of an extracted metal ore would be a bit heavy in the production phase, even if cleaner in use. 

And you may have heard about a study in the US that 'proved' a Hummer is actually environmentally cleaner in terms of the 'whole life' picture than a Prius. That study certainly got itself plenty of publicity with its eye-catching headline claim and people still trot it out. 

But it's also a study that has been very heavily criticised - and not just by Toyota - on alleged flaws in the methodology. This link summarises the case for the prosecution.