Alternative Fuel - article by Good English Article Sites

How Realististic is it to Hope for a Shift to Alternative Fuel Soon?

The term “alternative fuel” these days has such a green ring to it, almost a green halo. And this is well-deserved too. It’s just that the term Alternative Fuel not long ago, meant something dangerous and harmful: closer to nuclear power than a car driven by solar power or ethanol. There's been quite a drumbeat for clean power sources for our vehicles for some time now. With the “Drill Baby, Drill!” administration out and a more middle-of-the-road government in, the newspapers and news channels are more outspoken than ever before today stressing the need to do something drastic to reverse the environmental catastrophe that is foreseen.

Even conservative commentators like the New York Times’ Thomas Friedman fear now how every other country in the world is going to overtake America with inventing and establishing a lock on all kinds of alternative fuel of the future. Spain has the world's largest solar panel array in place; Germany has the world's largest manufacturing capacity for it; China is pumping all its might into inventing and patenting alternative fuel technologies for the future; conservative thinkers are wondering why the US meanwhile, is still stuck on drilling in the Arctic and dreaming about oil sands and establishing close friendships with dictatorships in the Third World for their oil.

It's not that there are no profits to be made in shifting to alternative fuel, because there are. Vested interests held by large energy corporations now could be one answer why nothing seems to be happenning: they do not want anyone reshuffling the stack that they hold the top card in. Ordinary Americans meanwhile, are completely willing and see the point today. Almost 90% of all Americans, Republicans, Democrats or independents totally agree that it is about time we quit our gas habit. They have to agree; most of the city buses in New York for example, run on natural gas; most school buses around the country run on propane; the corn lobby in the Midwest can't wait to get ethanol into the mainstream; there is proof that it all works, and it is only a matter of time now.

So is the government actually doing nothing for alternative fuel use? Actually that's not really true, and as usual California leads the country in this area. The mayor of Los Angeles has made it known that in 10 years, the city will no longer accept electrical power is generated using dirty means such as coal. Alaska has long been a sticking point in the debate: Alaska is the second largest oil-producing state in the nation and this Republican state has long hated any talk of alternative fuel that could harm their oil economy. But the state's oil more and more, is being sent to other parts of the union, and locals are having to pay very high energy bills of late. All of a sudden, windmills are dotting the state's urban landscape quite a bit, as residents begin to look for ways to cut their energy costs. When a true Red Republican like the state's Governor Sarah Palin begins to make statements in support of turning completely in favor of alternative fuels by 2025, things begin to change, things begin to move.And therein lies hope.

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