What Shade Of ‘Green’ Vehicle Does America Want?
I was recently glancing through the Washington Post, when the headline, “Green Is In The Eye Of The Beholder,” caught my eye — mostly because I have been wondering a similar question question as of late: What, exactly, makes a vehicle “green?”
It seems there are as many answers as there are shades of green. But, ultimately, the question all automakers need to figure out the answer to — especially the Big Three in Detroit — is which variety of environmentally friendly vehicles do Americans really want?
- » See also: Driving to Phish Festival 8 in a 2010 Ford Fusion Hybrid
- » Get Gas 2.0 by RSS or sign up by email.
For some people, green equals miles per gallon. For them, smaller and lighter vehicles — or those with gasoline-electric hybrid engines — fit the bill. Fans of the new, cleaner, high MPG diesel vehicles fit here, too.
For others, it’s not green unless the vehicle uses an alternative (non petroleum-based) fuel or power source: electric, hydrogen, ethanol, natural gas, propane, biodiesel and the like. These drivers generally have a greater commitment to “driving green” and are willing to try new technologies, even if the initial cost is greater and the supply and selection of alternative vehicles and fuels are very limited.
There is yet another emerging category of environmentally aware American consumers, who look even deeper. This includes those who choose to park their vehicles and take mass transit when possible. It also includes those who consider factors such as the materials the vehicle is made of — are they recyclable or reusable? Are they made with less toxic raw materials, like the soy-based foam seat padding Ford uses in some of its vehicles?
All of the major automakers are searching for answers as new vehicle sales plummet in the bad economy. All are turning to some shade of “green vehicle” as their industry’s ticket to better sales and in Detroit’s case, the survival of the American auto industry. The stakes could not be higher for them, for us, and for the environment.
Image Credit: GM fuel cell vehicles on display at the 2007 Toronto International Auto Show from Mike Babcock’s Flickr Photostream under a Creative Commons License.
It’s funny how passionate proponents of each “shade of green” are. EV advocates discount hydrogen and vice versa. It will be fun to see which technology pulls ahead of the others.
I expect the end result to be a mix of all of the new technologies that can be produced in economical to buy and operate vehicles. The industry will gravitate toward a conglomeration of niche vehicles rather than just one over riding design with multiple implementations having only minor differences.
“Badge Engineering” will disappear as the niches become identified with brand names. As the energy density of Alcohol is lower than other combustible fuels, I expect vehicles using alcohol as the primary fuel to be available in smaller quantities, but engines capable of using alcohol as an alternate or emergency fuel may be common.
I commute with a 50 cc scooter and avoid the car (a hybrid) whenever possible … what shade of green am I?
OOh! Someone should make a quiz!!
I would say you fall under the mpg (also known as the use less & conserve crowd) banner, Jo. The fact that you you have a hybrid AND a fuel sipping scooter suggests as much.
It is often said that the least “sexy” — and also most effective and least costly — aspect of driving green is conservation. You are doing your part, Jo. Congrats!
I don’t commute to work and work from home, we buy all of our food locally, we walk to the shop, and use a bycicle to go into town, how green am I.
We do have an old van but do very little milage per year, about 4000 which cost me last year 1024 pounds in fuel alone, and use it for the least amount of things possible, we don’t really need it most of the time, its a luxury a get us out of bringing things home that we don’t want to pay delivery costs for, its a happy balance thing, if we posted more products than we collected then it would go the journey.
The only green vehicle is one with wooden wheels that is made from carbon neutral timber and has an animal on the front which can reproduce when you need another engine and can happily be fed on 1-1/2 acres of land per horse, ask the Amish who are going to be sitting pretty when the oil runs out.
In poland still today there are over 500 thousand green machines producing power and fertiliser for the soil in use on the many small farms which are about 12 hectares in size, did someone mention cars, Oh sorry I got distracted there for a while.
There is no such things as a green car, some are greener than others by quite large margins, the Americans know this more than most, one of their SUV’s i equivalent to six or seven small cars here in the UK that’s not a direct hit towards our cousins over the pond but fact.
I’m from the high tech and machine induced society that I was brought up in, yet we have positioned ourselves into a life style that reflects what we do, our obsession with the motor vehicle has taken us away from what we are, we ill eventually become victims of our own sucsess.
Go green repair your shoes.