Higher milage per gallon...is that the answer?

One of the demands of the EPA is the auto manufacturers develop plans to increase the mileage of the autos that they sell us. Honda is currently advertising a 40-MPG Civic ...not a Hybrid... but a standard auto that is getting 40 MPG. Ford is on track to deliver the same thing with some of its models as well.

But is higher mileage per gallon the right answer?

There is a debate over this, and the oil giants and auto makers are all for staying the course. Increase mileage and we will continue to purchase gas at its increasing price...even though the demand will fall off with the shift away from gas guzzlers. Keep in mind that the oil industry knows...or at least I hope they know, that oil reserves are falling as we are past Peak Oil...and if they don't do something they will go from being the top companies in the world to oblivion...just like saddle and harness manufacturers of past days. Oil is on its way out...plain and simple, its just a matter of time.

So again, is higher mileage the right answer...well, Yes and No...both at the same time. We will not transition to alternative vehicles and different fuels instantly. We know that we have had alternative options for decades, but industry and the consuming public have not fought for the change. In fact General Motors started a production run of electric vehicles in 1990 with its prototype EV1, which went into production in 1996 and was leased out until 1999, but they cancelled its test program in 2002... explained by them as due to low public interest.

Now we have electric vehicles with up to 400 mile driving distance, and Hybrids with potentially unlimited range...but due to delays in entering into this the costs are high...the Tesla will run over $90,000.00... and the others don't dip below $25,000.00. The public may want EVs, but they can't yet afford them.

So, Higher gas mileage is a short term solution that we can all adopt willingly, but zero emmisions alternative vehicles are the future. These are not just electric, by the way. They could be fuel cell systems producing electric charges for the power train, or H2 vehicles using Hydrogen to fuel their turbins, or we could and should shift to Natural Gas...where we can produce excellent motivational energy and not yeild any Greenhouse Gasses... or perhaps some other applicaiton of energy that we have yet to devise, like magnetism.

Within our lifetime however we will be off of the gas powered internal combustion engine and onto other things.

Me... my bicycle is tuned and gets me to the shops just fine...following the prime examples set in the Neatherlands, and here in Orlando where many find the bicycle lanes a faster way to cruise the town.