I love the feeling of power, the size and the look of the vehicle. But I feel extremely guilty for my thoughtless indulgence in this gas guzzler, because, as much as I love big cars, I am also a conscientious greenie.
I could probably do just as well with a 1300 cc car which would only burn a third of the fuel as my SUV would and emit a third of the green house gases and toxic stuff...
But can you blame me and the scores of other SUV owners for owning the things we love and doing the things we love...?
Answer to the woes – both environmental and economic - lies not in driving people to shift to smaller cars but in pushing the scientific community to develop not just cheaper, but more importantly, cleaner and renewable fuel.
While I appreciate the push for cleaner and more efficient cars, serious efforts are needed in developing alternative clean fuel which will considerably reduce the dependence on gasoline.
Although there are many alternatives to Gasoline as vehicle fuel - Electricity, Ethanol, Methanol, Methane (Natural Gas), Propane and re-formulated gasoline - Ethanol is the most promising alternative to Gasoline.
Ethanol (grain alcohol) is the primary automotive fuel in Brazil and ethanol-gasoline blends (known as gasohol) have been used in US for many years. Pure Ethanol fuel offers excellent performance combined with low hydrocarbon and toxic emission. Ethanol can be produced from corn, sugar cane, as well as from cellulosic material such as wood or paper waste.
Ethanol accounts for 20% of the transport fuel in Brazil whereas the use of alternative fuel in the rest of the world is a scanty 1%. That is a 20% reduction in dependence of fossil fuel and toxic emission from burning of gasoline as compared to the rest of the world!!!
I am looking forward to the day when I can drive my SUV without feeling guilty about it...!!!
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