Green Cars

Green: It Isn't About the Paint!

A green car, is a vehicle with greater environmentally friendly characteristics than most traditional petroleum internal combustion engine vehicles. Almost all green cars and vehicles utilize a combination of petroleum-based fuel and alternative fuel or operate completely via alternative fuels and energy sources. Many green vehicles also utilize new, cutting-edge “green” design elements, and lighter components and materials.

Green = Greater Efficiency, Greater Savings

Green cars have continually proven during research, testing, and development to consume less energy during the material acquisition phase, production, and lifetime use of each vehicle. Green cars achieve the “green” status through conservation in two significant areas:

Development of Alternative Engine Technologies:
More efficient non-internal combustion engines reduce the consumption of petroleum and tangentially succeed in reducing dangerous greenhouse gases and toxic emissions. The new technologies of these engines generally contain less moving and lubricated parts and thus less friction and “wear-and-tear” resulting in cleaner and longer lasting engine components.

Use of Alternative Propulsion:
Vehicles that use electric energy and renewable energy sources, such as biofuels, significantly increase savings in energy consumption of fossil fuels, such as petroleum, and money expenditure.

Choose Green: The Choices Are Many

Green cars are comprised of automotive technologies that reduce petroleum consumption. Two of the functional vehicle types, at present, have succeeded in earning the “green car” label:

Electric cars have boasted, and continue to improve, upon high efficiency technolgy. Battery powered vehicles are soaring in popularity worldwide due to significantly enhanced fuel economy than a conventional vehicle. Addtionally, electric cars provide a reduction between 55% to 99.9% in CO2 emissions

Hybrid cars are partially fossil-fueled and partially electric or hydrogen-powered. These green cars are generally more expensive than pure-electric vehicles but provide greater driving range and consumer benefit in fuel economy and recoups the added costs in roughly five years.

Green = Improving Existing Technology

A conventional vehicle can earn green status by utilizing a mix or blend of renewable energy resources. Most current gasoline-powered automobiles can operate efficiently using up to fifteen-percent ethanol. Enhancements to current engine designs, can enable the vehicle to utilize a mixture of up to eighty-five percent ethanol, or other bio-fuel.

Diesel-powered vehicles can often transition completely to biodiesel. There are still complications and problems requiring attention and additional innovation. Yet, still, biodiesel is the lowest emission fuel available for diesel engines. Diesel engines are, essentially, the most efficient internal combustion engines for automobiles. Biodiesel and vegetable oil fueled diesel-engine vehicles have been declared amongst the greenest in the US Tour de Sol competition.

A Greener World

The health, monetary, and environmental benefits of green cars cannot be ignored or denied.

National and international promotion includes the European Union is promoting the marketing of greener cars via a combination of binding and non-binding legislation. In the United States Greasestock is an annual event held in Yorktown Heights, New York showcasing and displaying green vehicles.