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As the show Mean Green Machines has shown us, there is always a pessimist (naysayer) in every group of folk. We just can never get away from that no matter how hard we try to do the right thing. It has taken America decades to begin to make the switch to a cleaner source of transportation, and just when we do, a group of researchers steps in to tell us that we are doing wrong yet again.
This comment is coming from a group of analysts in France that are claiming that America's love affair with the Hybrid may in fact hinder technological development and handicap our ability to develop newer and better forms of transportation in the future.
They remind us that today's hybrid is nothing more than a band-aide, buying us more time to the inevitable extinction of fossil fuels. While we are busy putting our time and energies into adopting these into our system, we should be instead looking for a more sustainable option.
Of course, they have no idea exactly what that sustainable option should be...
What many folks question that have read these reports, is couldn't PHEV technology become a capable source of self sustaining energy at some point in the future? We have already demonstrated the possibilities of recharging such cell batteries using regenerative braking, solar panels, and wind turbine technology.
It is probably true that with the way consumer marketing works, once the hybrid is fully adopted by manufacturers, it will be difficult to introduce a new form of sustainable transportation without the same painful transition we have gone through to get to the hybrid. But is there a better alternative?
Do you think that we are making a mistake by pushing manufacturers to develop hybrids at this point? Should we hold off to see what new technologies appear over the next 5 years, or are we on the right track?
It's kind of like the chicken versus the egg dilemma. Did the chicken come before the egg, or the egg before the chicken? Can cleaner air and fuel savings come before the hybrid, or do we need the hybrid to get to the cleaner air and savings?
This post was inspired by Planet Green's show, Mean Green Machines.
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