Mean Green

In January it seems there are two things on almost everybody’s minds: New Year’s resolutions and shopping. These may seem hard to reconcile, but with the growing market of ‘green’ and ethical consumer products, it may actually be possible to combine the two and put your money where your mouth is in terms of those good intentions. Some of the most exciting developments for environmentally aware consumers in 2008 will surely come from a surprising source: motoring and car companies.

If you’re tiring of your current car – but you’re not ready to go totally green and trade it in for walking, then public transport or a bike (cycling, incidentally, is a great way to shift some of the ‘festive plumpness’ that’s often another top January concern) – it’s worth looking into the environmental impacts of various vehicles’ production and manufacture. Find out about the fuel economy and emissions levels of cars before you buy, and you could be doing a big favour to the planet, human health and your bank balance too: obviously, smaller engines with greater efficiency mean you’ll spend less on fuel while producing less harmful CO2.

Climate change has been the hot topic of the year, from dinner tables to boardrooms and from muddy campsites to Westminster and Washington. Even California’s Governor, one Arnold Schwarzenegger, previously seen saving the world from killer robots and Harrier-surfing terrorists, has added his distinctive voice to the lobby for cleaner, greener transport by setting ground-breaking goals for reducing greenhouse gas emissions across the state. He plans to increase the number of hydrogen fuelling stations in California (currently 25) to 200 and create a ‘hydrogen highway’ there by 2010, making it a Mecca for owners of carbon-neutral vehicles like his very own, wildly inefficient and expensive but still hydrogen-powered, ‘green Hummer’.

Good news for green consumerism, then, which is big news on this side of the pond too – several hybrid and electric cars are already available here and there’s a fast-growing network of ‘biodiesel’ fuelling stations across the UK, with a mix of 5% biofuel to regular diesel already common thanks to the RTFO plan. The ‘half-way house’ in the shorter term is represented by small, efficient vehicles like the new diesel Mini and the funky Smart range from Mercedes-Benz, which both also happen to be pretty fantastic in terms of looks.

Another thing to bear in mind whether you’re looking for a new vehicle or just to cut the costs of your driving is car insurance – it’s vital to ensure this is up to date each year, as the law is quite clear that you can’t drive without it. The car you choose will affect your premium, as will many other factors like your driving history, whether the car is kept in a garage, and even having a tracking device installed (often included with satellite navigation systems) can mean a big saving. You can also often save by taking out car and home insurance from the same provider, or simply through a loyalty discount once you’ve found the company that’s right for you.

Why is it that stupid ideas find so many followers? European Governments, the US Federal Government, and an increasing number of US State Governments have issued legislation that requires the use of ethanol in cars.

Making ethanol from corn was promoted by the US agricultural lobby as the best approach for producing biofuels. None of the decision makers listened to the advice of scientists, who pointed out correctly, that the benefits of ethanol were minute. Ethanol is incapable of reducing consumption of petroleum-derived fuels and of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Almost all of the food producing acreage in the US must be converted to growing corn before a sizeable reduction in foreign petroleum imports can be expected.

For the agricultural lobby the financial rewards of the ethanol craze have been spectacular. When future prices of corn began to escalate, more and more farmers decided to plant corn in favor of other crops like soybean and wheat. Predictably, food prices started soaring.

Now we must deal with the sorry political mess that the ethanol subsidy of the US Federal Government has left behind. Poor countries have been hit hard with escalating prices for grains and other basic food staples. Protests are growing across the globe demanding price reductions or price controls. Demonstrations are stoking social unrest in many countries. Demands are growing to prohibit the production of biofuels altogether.

What originally began as an effort to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and an attempt to reduce consumption of fossil fuels and petroleum, may instead be perceived as a worldwide failure of renewable biofuels. Such result would be unfortunate and ultimately disastrous.

We know for sure that petroleum reserves are getting scarce and will be depleted soon. We know for sure that global warming is caused by greenhouse gases produced by fossil fuel combustion. We know for sure that economies will begin to fail, when liquid motor fuels become scarce and unaffordable.

We must replace fossil petroleum sources with an alternate source for liquid fuels or world economies are doomed to fail and contract. Only biomass meets the requirements for such a new energy source. However, virtually all the biomass crops, which are being used, have one common shortcoming. Instead of using plants with exceptionally high energy yields, we are converting low-energy food crops into ethanol, a low-energy fuel.

Only high-energy crops can become the savior of our huge transportation sector. The wellbeing of this sector is absolutely vital for the continuing functioning of world economies. Famines will result if we convert instead low-energy food crops into liquid fuels. There are not enough arable lands on this Earth to provide food for an additional three billion people during the next fifty years and grow simultaneously sufficient amounts of low-energy biomass for replacing petroleum as source for liquid motor fuels.

Substitution of petroleum with motor fuels derived from coal or oil shale is not sensible, either. These synthetic fuels will increase greenhouse gas emissions and will accelerate global warming. Therefore, there remains only one single choice for securing the supply of affordable transportation fuels; we must learn to convert high-energy biomass into standard motor fuels.

This will involve the development of new approaches and new technologies for finding, breeding, and growing high-energy crops on fallow and arid lands. We must protect tropical and primal forests and we must assure that arable lands are sustained properly. Arable lands will become scarce and must be protected from exploitation.

The world has huge areas of deserts and arid lands with exceptionally high solar irradiation. We must learn to grow biomass with high-energy yields on these ignored and neglected lands. We must develop new irrigation and cultivating technologies for arid areas and we must learn how to achieve high-energy biomass harvests without excessive water use and without the wasteful and expensive fertilizer runoff.

High-energy plants need plenty of sunshine. We must breed new high-energy plant hybrids and we must develop new agricultural techniques that are effective under these adverse conditions. We must prevent exploitation of forests across the world and we must find ways to protect and preserve tropical and primal forests.

It is mandatory that we bring the recent inflationary wave of food prices under control soon. It is important that we prevent any speculative manipulation of grain prices and that we avoid any irrational reactions to this artificial food crisis.

Above all, we must not blame the concept of renewable biofuels for the artificially created food crisis. Liquid fuels from biomass are our only hope for simultaneously controlling global overheating and preventing hyperinflation of liquid fuel prices.

If we fail to succeed in this crucial and fateful endeavor, we must prepare the world for the collapse of world economies and the disappearance of civilizations.