Unemployed Ben

King County, was awarded a contract today for the purchase of up to 500 buses, which will be powered by General Motors. The five-year contract is between King County and New Flyer Industries, which is provided its hybrid system from GM. This will increase the fleet of alternative fuel buses to more than 700, saving an estimated 1.1 million gallons of per year.

This announcement makes some wonder why GM is seemingly focused on buses instead of its consumer automotive division which has been taken to school by the Japanese hybrids that eclipse them by some 80% of Miles Per Gallon efficiency. In the recent documentary “Who killed the electric car” GM seemingly was made out to be a culprit in what were odd choices in the production of the EV1 in California. They actually hired a firm to attack their own product in the media and went out of their way in promoting all of its shortcomings.

However the actual owners loved their cars and were forced to give them back or face criminal charges even if they were willing to pay for them. After GM reclaimed the vehicles, promises of donating them to colleges for research and recycling every part, proved untrue as they were crushed in the Arizona desert.

As gas approaches $4.00 a gallon in this area, some might wonder what might have happened if the program was expanded and an American car company would have been the dominate presence in field. The Japanese companies were only reacting to all the US car makers that were seemingly making a huge switch in tactics from their combustible engine successes. Just a few years later the same US companies had virtually abandoned their programs and Toyota came out with the Prius, and the rest they say is history.

In Seattle you are just as likely to see a Toyota Prius at a red light than a SUV. Which is somewhat surprising because this is one of the few locales where people can actually be justified in owning a four-wheeler in all good conscience, due to the weather and the outdoor activities that are so readily available. In the movie Singles a theme that arises a few times is the fact that Seattleites love both their coffee and their cars.

This fact has accounted for a massive increase in traffic buildup and the lack of any type of mass transit system being built. And yet this town is socially conscience and makes a concerted effort to lessen its impact on the environment. Case in point its bio-diesel production has increased from barely a thousand gallons some four years ago to over a million gallons today. Biodiesel is now used by governments to run ferries and buses and by several thousand Puget Sound drivers.

On the other hand no matter how much progress is made on the alternative fuel front, in regards to Hydrogen, one question is asked above all others. Is it safe? A question that doesn’t have a simple yes or no answer and that is disconcerting for some.

Some seven decades after the May 1937 explosion of the Hindenburg halted the development of hydrogen as a fuel, the shocking images still resonate to this day. The now infamous words heard on the live radio broadcast of “oh the humanity” now take on a different meaning as the increase of hothouse gases are having a direct affect on humanity as a whole.

Proponents of the alternate fuel point to the fact that Hydrogen is clean, non-toxic, is less flammable than gasoline, and disperses quickly in the atmosphere. And yet Hydrogen is still a highly explosive gas, which can cause massive destruction. Some worry that cars filled with this fuel could wreak untold damage in high speed accidents.

Whatever the arguments for or against, it is up to all of us to decide that technological advancements can make our lives better not only for ourselves but our children as well. This will require both awareness and intelligent use no matter where you live.