Alternative Fuel Vehicles, Reduce Oil Dependency
Obama Pushes Higher Emission and Fuel Economy Standards in the U.S.
Feb 9, 2009
President Barack Obama, is pushing for more Alternative Fuel Vehicles, higher emission standards and higher fuel economy standards; this will help reduce fuel prices in the United States and reduce dependency on foreign oil.
Global climate change due to greenhouse gasses such as Carbon Dioxide is also a big factor; according to the EPA the levels of CO2 in the atmosphere have increased 35% since the industrial revolution. The biggest cause is the burning of fossil fuels. These issues are causing a need for innovation and technology to be developed.
Pressure from the government is pressing for more stringent standards. President Barack Obama has stated that he plans to make the U.S. a world leader in climate change. In his plan for "New Energy for America," (BarackObama.com) President Barack Obama will Establish a National Low Carbon Fuel Standard;to reduce the carbon in our fuels 10% by 2020 and require 60 billion gallons of bio-fuels to be phased into our fuel supply by 2030.
The engineers in the Automotive Industry have been trying to keep up with the pressure from the government. Making changes to improve vehicles’ emissions takes time to develop and implement new technology; The Detroit Big Three are already in economic trouble and developing new technology takes time and money both of which are both very limited.
Making Alternative Fuels a Reality
However, there is already alternative energy sources and technology in the Automotive Industry. The challenge is making these technologies and alternative fuel vehicles affordable and either converting existing infrastructure or constructing fueling stations for alternative fuels. All these changes have a big price tag attached.
The Automotive Industry has already been making changes by improving emission standards and increasing fuel efficiency of gasoline and diesel engines. Yet, some technologies are still in the development stage.
Flex Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) and Natural Gas Vehicles (NGVs) are already in production but are most widely used as fleet vehicles. There is also a lack of wide scale fuel stations for fuels like E85. Currently according to E85vehicles.com, there are 1900 fuel stations in the United States which have E85 at the pump; a blend of 85% ethanol and 15% gasoline.
Hybrid and Fuel Cell Technology
Hybrid technology combines both electric and gasoline engines to decrease emissions and increases fuel efficiency. Hybrids have become widely more available but not on a large enough scale, it is a step in the right direction.
Fuel Cell Vehicles are electric vehicles which run on electricity produced internally in the fuel cell opposed to an external plug-in electric vehicle. According to the article "Fuel Cell Vehicles" (fueleconomy.gov), “FCVs create their own electricity. Fuel cells on board the vehicle creates electricity through a chemical process using hydrogen fuel and oxygen from the air.” Methanol can also be used in the process of making hydrogen for fuel celled vehicles.
It is clear that more changes are to come in the Automotive Industry. The government pressure to clean up emission and become a world leader in global climate change and to reduce dependency on foreign oil pressing the industry into a new generation of vehicles.
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