Border Security Pros and Cons

Five Fun Facts on Hybrid Cars

Five Fun Facts on Hybrid Cars Sure, you understand regenerative braking and you know the difference between plug-in hybrids and the rest of the pack. But are you schooled enough about these popular alternative fuel vehicles to know these five interesting tidbits about them? Hybrid vehicles are not an invention of the last decade. In fact, they date back to 1902 when a gentleman by the name of Ferdinand Porsche built the first fully functioning hybrid car, known as the Mixte. If that name rings a bell, it should. Porsche was indeed the founder of the Porsche company. Early hybrid cars were referred to as Semper Vivus, meaning always alive. The first hybrid had a two-combustion engine with an electric motor hub designed to store energy in the battery. It wasnt until 1997 that the first commercial hybrid car was produced and it was the Toyota Prius which rolled out its first hybrid in Japan that year. Since the Prius hit the market in the U.S., nearly every major automaker has either produced or announced plans to produce, a hybrid vehicle or line of vehicles. Hybrid cars are not the only example of hybrid technology. Hybrid technology isnt new and has been around for many years, as noted above. But did you know that it has been used in mopeds which united the gasoline engine and power pedals? Of course you did...you just never thought about it that way until now. Hybrid technology has also been used in locomotives, submarines, mining trucks and other applications. It took over a century for the technology to find its way back to automobiles. Hybrid cars are not one-trick ponies when it comes to savings. While fuel savings are the most obvious economic argument to be made for hybrid car ownership, with hybrids getting over 50 miles per gallon and using just one-third of gas as conventional cars, there are other financial reasons to consider a hybrid. They have lower depreciation rates compared to their conventional counterparts and most owners will be eligible for a tax rebate. While batteries are costlier, most automakers now offer a lifetime warranty on batteries and some also offer substantial warranties on other parts. Finally, hybrid cars retain excellent retail value. Repair costs wont break the bank. Much like some conventional models, known for their costly maintenance, vehicle maintenance for a hybrid should cost no more than for conventional vehicles. This statement used to be false, but popularity of hybrids has decreased costs considerably with more mechanics now trained routinely to perform maintenance on hybrid vehicles, making it much easierand less expensiveto keep a hybrid vehicle performing optimally. Hybrid cars are breaking through long-held myths. One of the most nagging myths about hybrid cars is their performance. But with hybrid car makers tuned into this growing concern, advancements in technology with advanced electronic mechanisms which can intelligently strike a balance between performance and efficiency according to the driver’s needs, have answered to this concern. Another myth that is also slowly being disproved is that hybrid cars are dangerous in the case of an accident. In reality, hybrid cars include many safety features to protect both the drivers and passengers as well as emergency response personnel. Power train components are marked clearly with bright colors to warn emergency workers of their existence and recent recommendations are for additional safety features to be put into place. Another example of inaccurate information once believed to be true is that hybrid cars need to be plugged in every evening and that drivers will be stranded if the battery runs down while driving. In reality, the hybrid vehicles popularity has grown at least in part from the realization that hybridsother than plug-in hybridsare not plugged in to charge their batteriesthey charge while on the go. In addition, hybrids will not leave you stranded since they seamlessly switch to gasoline when necessary...just remember to have some gas in the tank!

Americas post civil was growing pains Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Americas post civil was growing pains - Essay Example But during this period, a lot of people who entered America suffered a lot of pain because of discrimination. The treatment of whites and blacks were different, and it took a long time before everything in immigration was smoothed out. Two questions loom on this topic: Could events have been different if President Lincoln had not been assassinated, and how industrialization affected the lives of the American citizens during this period. To the first question: Could events in the Reconstruction period have been different if President Lincoln had not been assassinated. Yes, I believe it would have been because he had a lenient plan of transformation. The period of 1865–77 was called the Reconstruction Period in the U.S. history because it was a time when the federal government reinstated the states that had seceded during the war. It was a time when President Lincoln had to face many political and social issues such as â€Å"how to deal with the states when they were reunited, how to deal with the freed slaves, and how should Southern whites be treated† (Kelly, n.d.). If President Lincoln had it his way and if he had not been assassinated, he would have had lenient proposals for the seceded states. First, he wanted to consider those states that seceded on or at the outbreak of war as if they had not seceded. He wanted to grant pardon to southerners who participated in the war if they pledged allegiance to the United States. Second, President Lincoln would allow readmission of the state if it formed a government that would guarantee freedom of slaves, and if 10% of white voters in that state took an oath of allegiance to the US (Kelly, n.d.). His political opponents did not agree with this and after his death, made the reintegration difficult. To the second question: How industrialization and urbanization affected the life of the average working American during the period. It was significantly affected in many ways: economically, socially and cultura lly. The industrialization that started in early 1800s continued to grow steadily amidst the Civil War, although the American industry at that time was described to be typically small. However, after the war, when reforms were introduced, industrialization grew more tremendously as machines replaced hand labor, railroad network allowed marketing and distribution of goods in many areas, and inventions made work processes easier. Machines produced a greater number of goods, gave jobs to more people, and created specialization and labor division. As industrialization grew, the life of the average American was affected. Since businesses were situated in cities, people began to flock the cities in droves to look for work. The availability of jobs in cities attracted people from the farms to the cities. This situation, according to the website of theusa.online.com (n.d.), created an economic division of the rich and the poor, which was widely resented by the people. It had created the wea lthy, middle class and the underprivileged class of society. Immigration caused the population of America to grow by more than double, from 40 million to 100 million from 1870 to 1970 (theusa.online.com, n.d.) This period also depicts different pictures of an era. The South was economically behind the North because of the war while the frontier life of the West ended. The South remained to be an agricultural area all throughout the period of industrialization. The farming