Any pointers for the "insane amount of energy"? I vaguely remember the local tech/car newspaper writing that after something like two years of driving (used 80s car v.s. brand new efficient car) the new car has spent less energy per kilometer. Or was it even less...

What I hear most often is 80% of the energy consumed by a typical car is used during the manufacturing process.

It's also worth noting that many 80's cars got very good gas mileage. My first car, an '86, got low 30's, and with a tune-up some owners got higher than 35. So, be wary of the studies you read comparing new car mpg to old car mpg. My car got better or equal gas mileage compared to everything but hybrids like the Prius and Insight, and those are not representative of modern cars. I would bet the studies you have been reading have been comparing Insights (70mpg, and actually made since 1999) to 80's Corvettes (14mpg) or something along those lines.

"A California-oriented paper http://www.environmentaldefense.org/documents/3986_CAautocar...

states that direct tailpipe emission of CO2 accounts for 68% of the average vehicle lifecycle carbon emissions, with 21 percent linked to production and delivery of fuel, and 11 percent are due to manufacturing, including materials production."

So 11%. Pretty far off.

You're talking about CO2; he's talking about energy.

Two completely different things!

The Prius is not particularly effective.

You can get an approximate answer by looking at the cost of the car. A new car costs say $30,000. Gas costs $2.75/gallon, so a new car is equivalent to about 10,000 gallons of gas.

It'll take a very very long time to recoup that.

The cost is not all energy though, so at best that is an upper limit. Furthermore there are cheaper sources of energy than gasoline (eg coal), so it is not even an upper limit.