Interesting article ...."Run Cars on Green Electricity, Not Natural Gas"

Interesting article posted by the Earth Institute
"Run Cars on Green Electricity, Not Natural Gas"
http://www.earthpolicy.org/Updates/2008/Update79.htm
Jonathan G. Dorn

After reading the article "Run Cars on Green Electricity, Not Natural Gas", I agree with the author Mr. Dorn that we cannot rely on natural gas fired cars as a viable option for the future. We need to move away from dependence on foreign oil, and a switch to natural gas will not end this dependence. It's like switching from one addictive substance to another. If we don't remedy the problem, we will not be able to move towards energy independence.

I think plug-in hybrid electric vehicles is a great start, but we need to think about this in greater detail. As the author states, electricity comes from a number of different sources - coal, nuclear, geothermal, biomass, natural gas to name a few, and oil is typically the last source added to the grid.

However, the plug -in hybrid vehicle would not necessarily create a demand in green energy if these cars only need electricity to run, since electricity could come from a number of different sources. We need our government to implement a mandatory requirement that provides an incentive to purchase green energy - green electricity that is. And the only thing that we can do to encourage production of renewable energy is to work with the government on subsidizing green energy companies, and provide tax benefits to consumers of this renewable source of energy.

These cars may end our dependence on oil, but will not necessarily end our dependence on brown energy. We need to change the source of the problem.