Promotion of alternative fuels, such as ethanol and hydrogen, as a solution is a fraud. [View All]

There is only one real, viable, market-oriented solution that will simultaneously solve the problems of high gasoline prices, greenhouse gas emissions, global climate change, and so-called peak oil - that solution is to drastically reduce oil consumption. This will automatically reduce demand, which will reduce the price of oil, which will reduce the pumping of oil, which will preserve the oil that is still in the ground for future generations, which will reduce pollution, which will reduce global warming, and which will help prevent (hopefully) catastrophic climate change.

The technology exists today to begin implementing such a solution without the need for any expensive research and development project that would take years to implement. Implementing this solution is neither technically difficult, nor economically impractical as the oil and the auto companies would have you believe. Implementation requires a political solution.

In fact, the solution of reducing oil consumption was successfully implemented some thirty years ago and was demonstrated to work extremely well using then current technology. It worked surprisingly quickly and without any significant economic dislocations or great cost.

This solution was implemented in response to the so-called Arab oil embargo of the 1970's, which had caused "artificial" oil shortages, high gasoline prices, and long lines at the gas pumps. What was this one-step solution? Congress passed CAFE laws mandating increasing fuel efficiency standards for automobiles. The auto companies were "encouraged" to improve gasoline mileage for all new cars - which they did over the next five years (as the law specified fines for the auto companies should their fleet average miles-per-gallon not comply with the law.)

The result was that within five years, the cars on the road were achieving significant increases in miles-per-gallon which reduced gasoline consumption, which reduced gasoline pollution, and gasoline prices stabilized. Oil imports were reduced by as much as twenty percent.

There is more good news. In the 1990's, California mandated the development of zero emission vehicle (ZEV) prototypes by the auto companies. General Motors developed the EV1 electric car in response to this mandate. About 1,100 cars were produced between 1996 and 1999. These were leased to selected Californians to test drive.

The people loved these cars so much that many wanted to purchase them. This popularity proved embarrassing to GM which claimed that they couldn't sell such a vehicle due to lack of demand. So GM took back all of these EV's and destroyed almost all of them (a few were given to museums.} (This episode was documented in the movie "Who Killed the Electric Car?")

The oil companies keep saying that ethanol and similar biofuels are the answer to our energy problems. However, this argument is self-serving and false. Growing and processing corn to produce fuel means you are still at the mercy of the oil companies to be able to use your car. If gasoline mileage stays the same, you will still be paying $3.00, $4.00, or $5.00 a gallon for fuel, whether oil or corn based, and you will still be producing the same greenhouse gases that cause global warming as before. Moreover, diverting corn output from food to ethanol production will produce supply "shortages" and the cost of food will rise significantly. Replacing oil with ethanol won't solve any problems for the people. It will just provide oil companies another way to make huge profits.

The auto companies are touting hydrogen fuel cells as the way to go. This is also a fraudulent "solution". The technology to make hydrogen fuel cell vehicles that work and are economical to operate is ten years or fifteen years away, maybe more. It won't save fossil fuels as hydrogen is made from oil or natural gas. It won't save money as the cost of production will be high and the infrastructure to produce, store, and distribute this fuel will ensure huge profits for the oil companies.

There is only one way to reduce pollution, alleviate global warming, reduce cost to the consumer, save oil for future generations, and reduce the incentive for wars-for-oil: the only solution is to reduce consumption and reduce demand for energy. The efficacy of such a solution was demonstrated in the 1970's with Congress mandating fuel efficiency standards. It works. The technolgy to do this exists today. Hybrid electric cars, like the Prius, and all-electric vehicles, like the EV1, are viable and marketable. People like them and economies of scale can reduce the costs of production.

It is time to stop giving credibility to the nonsense from the auto and oil companies about letting the "private sector" and "market forces" magically solve these problems. The private sector's aim is to maintain its monopoly and its profits. Workable solutions are available now. It will take political action to see that they are implemented.