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Politics : The Donkey's Inn -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TigerPaw who wrote (1908)	1/9/2002 12:18:22 PM
From: Kenneth E. Phillipps	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15516

The decision by Bush to abandon a promising program of developing hybrid vehicles is very disappointing. I think it invites higher and higher gasoline prices.

To: TigerPaw who wrote (1908)	1/9/2002 1:35:20 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15516

"The Bush administration is abandoning an eight-year, $1.5 billion program to produce highly fuel efficient cars in favor of a government-industry push to develop vehicles powered by hydrogen fuel cells." foxnews.com Fox News January 9, 2001 TP, do you know anything about hydrogen fuel cells? Would it be expensive?

To: TigerPaw who wrote (1908)	1/11/2002 3:56:22 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 15516

Bush gambles on fuel cells for cars Short-term pain may bring long-term gain See: Post 1915. It should have been posted to you.

To: TigerPaw who wrote (1908)	1/14/2002 7:46:02 PM
From: Mephisto	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 15516

Spencer Abraham's Dream Car January 14, 2002 The New York Times Editorial C oming from an administration fixated on producing more of the same old fossil fuels, Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham's promise on Wednesday of a major government investment in fuel-cell cars powered by pollution-free hydrogen seemed almost revolutionary. Yet environmentalists who have parsed the announcement are not turning cartwheels. And for good reason. Despite hydrogen's immense promise, the administration's plan is in fact a setback for greater near-term fuel efficiency, for reducing our reliance on Middle Eastern oil and for slowing global warming. It is also nothing new. The Clinton administration invested in fuel cell technology, both for mobile sources of pollution like cars and stationary sources like buildings. Fuel cells use stored hydrogen and oxygen to create electricity, emitting only water vapor. Yet there is no infrastructure in place for delivering hydrogen to cars, and a commercially viable vehicle with an on-board system for converting natural gas into hydrogen is, by many estimates, decades away. Meanwhile, the administration is getting rid of the only program that seemed to be making any headway - a joint industry-government undertaking begun by Vice President Al Gore called the Partnership for a New Generation of Vehicles. Mr. Abraham belittled the program because it had no chance of reaching Mr. Gore's lofty target of a commercially viable car that could get 80 miles a gallon by 2004. Nevertheless, the investment so far - $1.5 billion from Washington, at least that much from Detroit - has not only created useful technologies, but also contributed crucially to the development of a viable hybrid gas-and-battery-powered car capable of well over 40 miles per gallon. Detroit plans to bring hybrid models to market in the next two years; THE JAPANES ARE ALREADY THERE Any federal pressure on Detroit to proceed with this program and develop high-mileage family sedans in the near term appears now to have vanished. Yet the next 10 to 20 years are vitally important to anyone who cares about urban smog, about acid rain (vehicles contribute to that, too) and about global warming. Americans will buy 150 million vehicles during the next decade, and Mr. Abraham's program won't do a thing to reduce the amount of oil they will consume. Nor will it do anything to reduce America's near-term dependence on foreign oil, which was supposed to be one of the main objectives of the Bush energy program. One small source of hope is that the administration has yet to slam the door on a possible increase in fuel economy standards. Although the White House offered no support last summer when a group of moderate Republicans led by Sherwood Boehlert of New York tried to mandate higher mileage for gas-guzzling S.U.V.'s, Mr. Abraham may yet recommend some slight improvement in mileage standards, which have remained largely untouched for over a decade. Tiny improvements, however, are not going to arrest global warming. Mr. Abraham calls his new vehicle the Freedom Car, presumably because it will free us from fossil fuels and the countries that produce them. We hope he is right. In the meantime, though, the only people set free are the manufacturers, now relieved of the obligation (absent strong new fuel economy standards) to produce serious breakthroughs in the next few years. nytimes.com