Clean Air Technologies

Hybrid Cars
Celebrity owners have made them famous, and drivers' concerns about skyrocketing gas prices and the environment have made them a popular new choice. Sales in the U.S. of hybrid cars such as Toyota's Prius, seen here, doubled in January 2006 compared to the year before, with nearly 16,000 cars sold. Hybrids get their power from small gasoline engines combined with electric motors and rechargeable batteries. Their compact engines deliver excellent gas mileage and cause much less pollution than those in conventional cars. Experts estimate that driving a hybrid for 100,000 miles would barely fill a teacup with pollutants.