Dust to Dust: The Deeply Flawed Study That Won’t Go Away

One of the many interesting aspects of the Blogosphere is that when you put something out there, no matter how good or bad, its half-life can measure right up there with that of, say, plutonium. It doesn’t matter how wacky the thing is. Folks will latch onto it, buy into it, and repeat it.

Here’s a case in point.

Some of you may remember a study released a while back by CNW Marketing Research, of Bandon, Oregon, titled, "Dust to Dust, the Energy Cost of New Vehicles from Concept to Disposal, the non-technical report."

This study compared the concept-to-disposal energy costs of several vehicles, including the Toyota Prius. We found the results curious, to say the least. And to say that we took exception to those results would be an understatement.

In any case, it all died down. It did, that is, until the third week of February. The whole business has raised its unlovely head again out there in the automotive blogosphere. You may have seen it.

What you may not have seen, however, is a thoughtful and provocative piece refuting the Dust-to-Dust study. Called "Prius Versus Hummer: Exploding the Myth," it was done last year by the folks at The Car Connection. To take a look at it, and to provide balance to this interesting issue, just click on the link.

We think you might find it worth your while.

- Irv Miller, Group Vice President, Corporate Communications

Comments

[J. Myers]

I think this response to the bogus CNW report is among the best:

http://www.pacinst.org/topics/integrity_of_science/case_studies/hummer_versus_prius.html