Cash for Clunkers: Opportunity for alt energy

For a few years now, alt fuel experts have been preaching the urgent need for the quick adoption of alternative fuels, energy and vehicles; not so much because of the environmental issues, although that’s good too, but because we believe that it is through alternative technologies that the U.S. and world economies will find long term salvation. In short, we need the products that will be borne by an alternative fuel/energy revolution to provide millions of good paying jobs, along with the revenue streams that will open and pump money (with real profits) through the systems. What we’re now seeing through the Cash For Clunkers and similar scrappage programs abroad, in terms of stimulating the economy, is a failure to gain oil independence.

Imagine what would happen if, instead of encouraging trade-ins of one "gasoline-guzzler" for another or even a fuel-efficient one of 30 mpg, the government instead granted incentives for trading in gasoline-guzzling vehicles for vehicles that use no gasoline at all (or at least no foreign oil), and dispense little-to-no harmful emissions. We would have a bonanza on our hands, the likes of which have never been seen in any gold or silver or diamond or oil rush.

So, the question is: what will it take to kick off the bonanza?

Well, mostly it will take only the will to get it done, because many of the technologies and no- or low-emission fuels are already available: CNG (compressed natural gas), propane, and numerous forms of ethanol made from crops we do not eat--which of course excludes corn. You’ll notice that electric is not on this list; that will come later.

In dozens of stories and editorials The Auto Channel, author Edwin Black, Set America Free, and many other oil independence advocates have harped on the fact that every major automaker in the world has and is producing vehicles that run exclusively on CNG or propane. The OEMs have shown that they know how to do it and that the vehicles run as well as any gasoline-powered vehicles. They can be produced for the same costs, and they offer additional advantages aside from environmental and fuel availability benefits: for example, the engines require less servicing and significantly fewer oil changes. But, incredibly, here in the U.S. the manufacturers act like they never heard of these fuels. The only car company selling CNG cars in America is Honda (the Civic GX), and their production run each year is embarrassingly low—as if they were ashamed to build them. Incidentally, Fiat, the Italian carmaker that now owns the Chrysler Group, offers every one of their models in CNG-powered versions.

As for propane, the only one really championing propane-powered vehicles in the U.S. is Roush Performance, the company best known for their enviable racing achievements. Roush started with a Ford F-150 pickup truck and have now added an F-250 pickup and E350 van (coming soon) to their lineup. In Europe, Opel (which is still owned by GM) just announced an extensive lineup of dual gasoline and propane-powered models.

Mysteriously, although Roush has proven that there is a market for propane Fords, Ford has been reluctant to commit to offering more vehicles and more models. Roush’s production capabilities (or more accurately, their ability to convert Ford’s products to propane) are impressive, but they're a drop in the bucket compared to Ford’s assembly capabilities.

CNG and propane powered engines emit far, far less pollutants than gasoline and these fuels can be made almost entirely from gas reserves found right here in North America. We don’t have to send hundreds of billions of dollars each year to enemy nations, we don’t have to indirectly fund terrorist groups, and we don’t have to pay attention to any arrogant two-bit dictators.

Then, there’s the dazzling potential of algae-produced bio-diesel. Again, this technology graduated from high-school labs a long time ago. Companies such as SunEco Energy are able to produce raw "biodiesel" oil at about one-third the cost of raw petroleum oil. And this oil can also be "grown" right here in America. Just as important, every poor landlocked desert country around the world can have algae biodiesel farms and become virtually energy independent.

Finding the Will

Just about one year ago, Barak Obama made his campaign energy speech, which talked about an aggressive plan to utilize alternative fuels and ideas to do much of what I’ve described herein. But since ascending to the throne, he has done nothing. He’s ignored CNG and propane, forgotten about wind power and solar, and, if he’s even heard about algae biodiesel you would never know it. The only kind of commitment he’s made is to say that by 2015 we will have one million hybrid-electric vehicles on the road.

For Obama to hang his hat on one million electric vehicles by 2015 points to a mere novelty. In normal years, about 15 million new vehicles are sold in the United States. In five years (from 2010 to 2015), approximately 75 million new vehicles will be on the road. This is in addition to around 200 million existing gasoline or diesel powered vehicles. One million electric vehicles would be hopelessly insignificant.

The presidential commitment should be to make sure that at least 25 percent of all new vehicles on the road from 2010 to 2015 are 100 percent alternative fuel powered, regardless of whether motion is powered by electric, CNG, propane, or second-generation biofuel. Then, the Federal EPA and State governments should drop their gasoline-protectionist rules against converting existing vehicles to CNG and propane, and incentives should be given out to ensure that another ten or twenty million vehicles get converted over that time period. This could give us 30 or 40 million non-gasoline, lower (or no) emission vehicles on the road by 2015.

Then, if Obama and/or Congress mandated a plan like the one we suggested last year (that calls for the elimination of all new gasoline-powered vehicles by 2014), by 2020 we could have as many as 150 million alternative fuel vehicles on the road. That would amount to almost half of all operating vehicles. This is how the depression in the auto industry can be ended. This is how to bring financial prosperity back to America and the world. This is how to create jobs. This is what we can achieve from the small lessons being learned from the Cash For Clunkers program. All it will take is you calling and writing and insisting that Obama and Congress get off the gasoline-lobby gravy train and do something for the public instead of their own purses.

Marc J. Rauch, Executive VP and Co-Publisher of The Auto Channel, owns and drives a CNG-powered 2001 Dodge Ram 2500 van.