????長期以來，汽車一直是環保人士眼里破壞環境的惡魔，但現在它正在變得更為環保。最終，汽車巨頭們會有足夠的商業理由開始生產電動汽車、混合動力車、以及未來將出現的燃料電池汽車。看起來，汽車業可能會給自己樹立起一點環保的形象。

????決定環保信譽的因素是哪些？它主要取決于汽車企業減少使用、重復利用及回收各類原材料的能力。目前汽車業在這三個“R”（reduce, reuse, recycle）上其實已經做得很好了，而且它們這么做也已經有很長時間了。比如汽車回收協會（Automotive Recycler's Association）20世紀40年代就成立了。據該協會的一份報告稱，美國汽車報廢后，零部件有約86%都被回收或重復利用。

????PTC公司是一家幫助客戶管理產品生命周期的技術企業。公司首席技術官安德魯?威特金稱：“我不知道還有哪個行業在回收能力上比汽車業做得更好了。”但他又表示，這種回收利用能力并沒有讓汽車業在環保領域獲得什么好名聲。為什么呢？為什么汽車企業從來就不大書特書他們的環保回收工作呢？

????汽車企業之所以不在美國大肆宣揚自己的回收利用能力，原因頗多。其中之一就是，使用替代燃料的汽車市場相對來說既新又小。盡管豐田汽車（Toyota）憑借普銳斯（Prius）大獲成功，但迄今混合動力車也只占美國年汽車總銷量的約3%。

????第二，環保在美國還不算一個真正能打動消費者的賣點。研究咨詢公司Business for Social Responsibility咨詢服務部門的高級副總裁埃里克?奧爾森表示，豐田在努力運用可持續利用材料來打動人心。比如，豐田汽車的座椅就是用回收材料制成，一些絕緣材料也是用大豆泡沫材料制成。

????奧爾森稱：“我開過這類電動車，也看過它使用的材料。但對電動車來說，銷量要想從幾萬輛擴大到上百萬輛，光靠車門板上用的大豆泡沫材料肯定不行。”奧爾森表示，在向美國購車人推銷時，“對普銳斯來說奏效的一招是豐田努力把這些環保材料包裝得很酷，而不是說什么用這些材料是明智的選擇。”

????Cars, long the bane of environmentalists, are becoming more earth-friendly. Finally, there is enough of a business case for big car companies to start building electric vehicles, hybrids, and, in the future, fuel cell-powered cars. It looks like the industry might gain some green cred.

????What dictates green credibility? A company's ability to reduce, reuse, and recycle raw materials. The auto industry is actually exceptionally good at these three R's, and it has been for a while. The Automotive Recycler's Association has been around since the 1940s. According to a report from the group, roughly 86% of the material components of U.S. cars are recycled or reused after those cars are off the road.

????"I don't know that there's an industry that's in a better place in terms of recyclability than automotive," says Andrew Wertkin, the chief technology officer at PTC, a technology company that helps clients manage the lifecycles of their products. But the ability to recycle doesn't give the car industry a gold star in the green department, Wertkin says. Why not? Why is auto recycling not a story that the industry tells all the time?

????There are a couple of good reasons car companies are not touting their recycling prowess in the U.S. For one, the market for cars that burn alternative fuels is relatively new and small. For all of Toyota's (TM) success with the Prius, hybrids only make up roughly 3% of the total vehicles sold annually in the U.S.

????Second, in America, green still isn't enough of a selling point to really come into play. Toyota is making impressive efforts on using sustainable materials, says Eric Olson, senior vice president of advisory services at research and consulting firm Business for Social Responsibility. Toyota is using reclaimed materials in seats, for example, and some of the insulation is made out of soy foam.

????"I drive one of these EVs [electric vehicles]," Olson says, "and I do look at that stuff. But for EVs to go from thousands of units to millions of units is not going to be because of soy foam in the door panels." In marketing to U.S. car buyers, Olson says, "the element that does work for the Prius is that they're trying to package it as cool, not even primarily the right thing to do."