Better than petroleum - The Boston Globe

One in a series of editorials about America's car culture)MAYOR MENINO is the proud owner of a new Chevy Tahoe fueled by compressed natural gas, but regional power officials are worried that New England generating units might not have enough natural gas to get through cold spells this winter. This doesn't mean he should keep his sport utility vehicle in the garage until spring, but it does demonstrate how changes in the energy market can undercut plans for alternatives to the world's quickly tightening supply of petroleum. Both higher gasoline taxes and tougher fuel-efficiency standards would help push automakers to find the best long-term alternatives to gasoline.

Not too many years ago, natural gas, the cleanest fossil fuel, seemed plentiful. Burning it in vehicles would not only produce less pollution than gasoline or diesel, but would make the nation less dependent on foreign sources of petroleum. Since then, power companies nationwide have built more natural-gas-fired generators, using more of the fuel, and gas-drilling projects off Canada and elsewhere have been disappointing. Don't look to natural gas as the successor to gasoline in America's gas tank.
Something else has changed since the first energy crisis of 1974 spurred engineers to make vehicles less reliant on oil: Scientists have concluded that carbon dioxide emissions from transportation, power plants, and industry are contributing to greenhouse gases that are warming the Earth to levels unprecedented in recent history. It appears inevitable that at some point carbon dioxide emissions will be capped, putting pressure on automakers to design motors that use not only less oil, but fewer hydrocarbons of any kind.
One way to fuel a car without carbon emissions would be to power it with a hydrogen fuel cell, but only if the hydrogen is produced in a way, such as through wind- or nuclear-powered electrolysis of water, that relies on no fossil fuels itself. Using agricultural products or biomass of any kind to produce ethanol as a vehicle fuel makes sense only if the conversion process consumes significantly less energy than is finally produced.
Whether cars of the future are powered by hybrid gas-electric motors, ethanol, or hydrogen fuel cells, they will have to be lighter. Achieving weight reductions without compromising safety by greater use of lightweight, high-strength metals and other materials will be crucial. In the fall, the US Department of Energy and the US Council for Automotive Research agreed on a five-year, $70 million research program in this area. The nation's engineers ought to be able to design cars that are both efficient and safe. If they cannot, engineers in Asia or Europe will.
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