Access

Published online 15 April 2009 | Nature 458, 819 (2009) | doi:10.1038/458819e

News in Brief

Japanese stimulus provides green boost

Comments

Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. If you find something offensive or inappropriate, you can speed this process by clicking 'Report this comment' (or, if that doesn't work for you, email webadmin@nature.com). For more controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate before comments are published.

  • The following sentence makes an implicit assumption not supported by evidence: "Subsidies in the range of ¥250,000 for electric and hybrid cars aim to create sales of 1 million environmentally friendly cars by the same deadline." The implicit assumption is that electric and hybrid cars are 'environmentally friendly' (what, exactly, does this term mean?) The highly energy and resource intensive nature of electric car manufacture suggests a-priori that such automobiles would have a considerable environmental impact. Evidence from a transport journal (see http://www.clangmann.net/2007_August_8/Cost_benefit.pdf ) suggests that hybrids are not a cost-effective strategy for mitigating climate change, compared with other options. In addition, personal experience suggests cycling is a faster, cheaper and more fun method of transport for many urban trips <10km long. Robin Lovelace

    • 15 Apr, 2009
    • Posted by: Robin Lovelace