Kelley names 2008's greenest cars. Or, another reason to buy a way-cute Mini Cooper.

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2008's Greenest Cars

Well this in an interesting subject to me. I for one am proud of Ford for finally manning up to the needs of the American Consumer, releasing the first ever Ford Escape (SUV) to hit 30MPG. For the longest time I've been saying that we need to start with the vehicles, not the energy source, as crude oil is the source and will be regardless of what comes out in even the next 10 years.

We're a country with 300 million people, so replacing the cars in driveways from coast to coast is a little extreme, but I'm all for alternative energy in the future. On the subject matter of energy efficiency though, Diesel is far superior in terms of getting your energy per capita in the refining process. Gasoline takes about 11 stages to refine properly, Diesel takes less than 6. There are also less moving parts on a diesel engine, meaning less energy loss. Diesel engines don't run like normal Internal Combustion Engines, they compress air into pistons that's heated, and diesel is injected in the form of a mist, which ignites providing both a cleaner burn due to the increased oxygen in the ignition process, and a more thorough extraction of energy to power the vehicle.

I think we should start with the construction of about 12 diesel refineries in the US, and push for importing or buying out European diesel engine design and implementing it into our own vehicles. This would pave the road to a better system of recycling vehicles (which would last twice as long) and re-using resources such as oils, vegetables, etc. It would also provide a new market, build on a pre-existing market, create hundreds of thousands of jobs, and reduce the economic strain on the American pocket book, whilst reducing the environmental foot print.

Lead, follow, or get out of the way of energy independence. Long term I support electric cars though, universal energy medium, not damaging and in fact positive environmental impacts, and endless possibility.

Posted by: Dem0072   Posted on: 07/30/08 You are currently: a Guest | Members login | Terms of Use

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