et's face it: we've all been spoiled as far as ease of getting
around is concerned. A mere two hundred years ago, when the
fastest mode of travel was via horse, it took President Thomas
Jefferson ten days to travel between Monticello and Philadelphia,
a distance of just 225 miles! The arrival of the automobile
age made it possible to traverse greater distances in far less
time, and as vehicles have become more affordable, we've turned
into a nation of drivers who depend on cars and roads to help
us carry out the most trivial chores.
The problem is that today's gasoline vehicles are responsible
for more than half of the air
pollution in the United States and over one-quarter
of the greenhouse gas emissions that cause global
warming. The environmental and human health impacts
of the emissions from gasoline-powered vehicles are rather well-documented,
but since economical transportation has become a given, we've
chosen to live with the risk. Until recently, we have pretty
much ignored the consequences of our search for, extraction
of, and refinement of oil, because the vast majority of our
supply comes from foreign sources. Most problems and mishaps
have occurred far away from American land and our national shores
(a glaring exception, of course, was the Exxon-Valdez spill
in 1989).
The current tensions in the Middle East have highlighted our
dependence on foreign oil supplies and illuminated many other
not-so-pleasant truths related to this nonrenewable resource.
Even the most ardent defenders of the oil economy — executives
from the very companies whose business it is to develop the
oil fields all over the world — acknowledge that the world's
supply will not last through the century at the current rate
of demand.
Increasing the fuel efficiency of vehicles combined with the
benefits of emission standards help control pollutants to some
extent, but with the popularity of SUVs, pickups, and mini-vans
at an all-time high, there is only so much auto-makers can — or
are willing — to do when it comes to conventional vehicles. Clearly,
we use far too much of a fuel that is harmful and which will
not be available forever.
IT'S ELECTRIC: ELECTRIC CARS
Electric
vehicles have seemingly fallen by the wayside for lack of practicality,
at least for highway and suburban use. However, many scientists
continue to study the science of these battery-powered vehicles,
finding new and creative ways to increase their viability, and
there are an amazing variety of utility vehicles (golf-carts
and the like) that are electric. Unplug ‘em and drive.
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A COMPROMISING
STEP IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION: HYBRID CARS
The writing is on the wall, and car manufacturers are slowly
refocusing their efforts on alternative fuels. The current generation
of hybrid cars, such as Toyota's Prius and Honda's Insight,
combine an electric motor with a gasoline engine and reduce
gas consumption by more than 25%. Many other car manufacturers
are respondig to consumer demand with their own models.
According to The
Natural Resources
Defense Council —
THE NEXT E-MISSION:
HYDROGEN POWERED CARS
The President's mention of the FreedomCAR initiative in his
state-of-the-union address has brought the hydrogen
fuel cell to dinner-table conversation. Most experts view the
hydrogen fuel cell as the renewable technology with the most
promise economically and environmentally. Running a car on hydrogen
releases no pollutants — only steam. For more information
on the potential uses of hydrogen (automotive or no), read Jeremy
Rifkin's "The Hydrogen Economy" in E
magazine's January/February 2003 issue.
GreenWorks has followed the clean car movement for a while now,
and has several sites dedicated to the notion that there are
better ways of getting around. Check out Forward
Drive, and listen to Jim Motavalli discuss his book
about the race to build clean cars. Visit Ready
to Roll, a GreenWorks exclusive that takes a look at
efforts to build awareness of modes of transportation that use
every kind of fuel imaginable, with the exception of gas. Raycing
the Sun is based on an hour long documentary that follows
students from the University of Pennsylvania as they take on
the American
Solar Challenge-a car race that takes competitors from
Chicago to Los Angeles using only fuel from the sun.
For more on Around Town visit our links
and resources page.
Site sponsored by Refinery.
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