8+Science+2+Group+4+Public+Service+Announcement

**__PSA:__**  Only you can decide the air quality in your city.
 * Which air would you like to be breathing? Make the right decision; drive a hybrid and you can easily reduce harmful emissions that you might otherwise be inhaling.

__Discussion:__ In many of today's cities, modern transportation has impacted the air quality severely. Pollutants that come from vehicle exhaust combines with sunlight and ozone to create smog, creating a dirty environment that can cause damage to humans and other organisms. A solution to solve this problem is for more people to drive hybrid cars. Hybrids use an electric motor as well as a gasoline powered engine, and during instances of braking, the car uses the energy from the its motion to recharge the electric motor. Also, when the hybrid is idling, it switches to electric power. This means that during a typical day of driving, the vehicle will be running only on electricity for several minutes at a time, so emissions would be cut a substantial amount. Reducing emissions means improving air quality. The more people driving hybrids instead of gas guzzling, pollutant emitting SUVs and trucks, the better environment it would create and there would be a decrease in respiratory diseases and problems associated with breathing filthy air. Without a doubt, one of the most effective measures that can be taken to clean up cities' polluted air without changing one's lifestyle much, is to convert regular gasoline powered vehicle users into hybrid drivers.

__Notes:__** Issue: Cars powered by gasoline only are releasing an enormous amount of emissions that are leading to poor air quality and smog. Solution: If more people drove hybrid cars, we would see a reduced amount of air pollution in our cities.

Pros: A hybrid....
 * cost less to refuel than a non-hybrid vehicle
 * Use less gasoline than non-hybrids
 * has an electric motor that uses the motion of the wheels when braking to charge the battery
 * is silent at a stop because it switches to the battery and runs on that while stopped
 * is aerodynamic and is made of lightweight materials so they use less energy to accelerate
 * produces less emissions by an average of 30%
 * gives 20-25% more gas mileage per gallon on average than non-hybrids
 * can save you as much as $2,500 over the life of the car in fuel alone
 * has the same maintenance as a regular car

Cons:
 * Cost more than non-hybrid car
 * Still produces some exhaust

What is a hybrid vehicle? A hybrid vehicle is an automobile that relies on a gasoline powered engine and an electric battery powered motor.

Why is called hybrid? It is called hybrid because it uses two energy sources for propulsion.

Information:** "Hybrid electric vehicle." //Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia//. 2 Dec 2009, 08:53 UTC. 2 Dec 2009 <[]>.
 * __Sources:__

"Hybrid vehicle." //Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia//. 2 Dec 2009, 17:40 UTC. 2 Dec 2009 <[]>.

Papalambros, Panos Y. "Hybrid car." //World Book Student.// World Book, 2009. Web. 2 Dec. 2009.

"The Cleanest And The Most Polluted Cities In The World." __Reality Bend__. Reality Bend. 3 Dec. 2009 < http://realitybend.com/>.
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