If most power plants use fossil fuels, why are hybrid electric cars more beneficial for the environment?
I think your question has been answered pretty well, but just to add a little more info: 1. Hybrid-electrics are more efficient than conventional gas-powered cars because: a. Electric motors and gas engines are best suited for different conditions. Electric motors are most efficient at low rpms and heavy loads. Gas engines are most efficient at higher rpms and light loads. Hybrids choos the best one for current conditions. b. Regenerative braking allows energy that would normally be wasted wearing out your brake pads to instead be converted to electricity, stored, and used to accelerate the car when the light turns green. This saves a lot of energy. 2. There is some debate as to whether hybrid-electrics are more environmentally friendly when all factors are accounted for: a. Hybrids get phenomenal gas mileage in cities, but folks have discovered that their highway performance was overestimated. They don’t get much better highway mileage than a small 4-cylinder, and not as much as a sma
