Sidebar, I haven't read anything on it, but was talking to a coworker who is an electrical engineer. She said that the carbon footprint for a hybrid car is greater than that of a regular car. Granted if you get a civic, it will get a lot better mileage than an Xterra, but doesn't sound like Hybrid's are really the answer for the evironment. Just clever marketing to make the hippies feel better.

I have done no independent research so take that for what it is worth, but I thought it was interesting.