We’ll take a look at your first paragraph. First, since this is a formal essay, I’d get rid of the numbers. Put a colon after rules and a semi-colon after your first two "rules".

Growing up in the suburbs of the Motor City, I have been embedded with a few simple rules. 1.Always cheer for the Red Wings! 2. Never go to Detroit at night and 3. Drive American. In the past, these rules have been pretty easy to follow.

The Wings just won the cup, so how could I not cheer for them. — Question mark here.

I can’t navigate my (WHAT?) to Detroit in the daytime so I’ll never make it at night and I can’t afford a new car so I’ll have to stick with my Ford.

In the future, these rules might be a little harder to follow since the big three (Capitalize) are in deep trouble. Most of Metro Detroit’s work force are (IS — a work FORCE is singular) employed by the Big Three so naturally, the numerous layoffs and buyouts have been a huge subject of local concern.

OK you get the idea. Just go through it a little more closely.

TO HUSTONIAN: Generally I agree with you, but I think in this case, the request was appropriate. An essay had been written, work done, and just some minor grammar editing requested.
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In cases like this – you just need to break it down into manageable chunks that look logical (paragraphs) – adjust the paragraphs as needed (moving a sentence back up or down to next) – and then going sentence by sentence to correct grammatical errors….

Any other help would be flat out cheating…..
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Nuclear technology does not have the same scale of impact on the environment, and it is difficult to trade potential nuclear waste illegal dumping with guaranteed fossil fuel burning pollution, so the jury is still out on the nuclear thing.

What IS certain is that the hybrid technology will impact pollution levels favourably at street level which is where we will mostly benefit I suggest.
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A normal gasoline engine is most efficient only at a fairly narrow operating range. It only has a good amount of ability to move the car when it is racing along. This is why drag racers will rev up the engine before starting. A gasoline engine is at most about 30% efficient.

An electric motor has a wider range where it does well. It is particularly good at starting a vehicle from a standstill. An electric motor is about 95% efficient.

In a hybrid vehicle the best qualities of both engines are used when possible. From a start the 95% efficient electric motor overcomes inertia to get the car rolling. Once there is sufficient speed the gasoline engine also helps move the car when it is also more efficient. (In a parallel hybrid like the Toyota Prius but not in a series hybrid.)

Hybrid cars also incorporate regenerative breaking in their systems. This is a way to recover energy from the inertia of the vehicle. In the city there are many starts and stops. This is usually very wasteful, but for a hybrid vehicle with regenerative breaking the starts are offset by the slow downs. Energy that is normally lost is recovered and this means that the gasoline engine will not have to run to charge the batteries by the amount recovered. This is another savings.

A hybrid vehicle uses its efficient electric system mostly for starts, stops and moving slowly. There is not enough stored battery power for highway driving. But for highway driving the hybrid can use a smaller gasoline engine because it does not have to be over-sized for starts and stops. The smaller engine is more efficient than a normal car’s necessary larger engine. So the hybrid can get good highway mileage. But this is still not as good as the very efficient electric motor combined with regenerative braking that is used in the city.
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Sources provided upon request.