Saab has issued a press release to tell us that people don’t understand green issues. It says, “consumers are unaware that biofuel cars such as the Saab BioPower, which runs on bioethanol E85, can reduce fossil fuel emissions by up to 70%”.
Eh? If you’re not using fossil fuels, of course you’re going to reduce ‘fossil fuel emissions’. E85 has a splash of petrol in it, but let’s imagine you were running your car on pure bioethanol, derived from wheat. You could then claim you had “reduced fossil fuel emissions by 100%” – hurrah – while ignoring any wheat fuel emissions. And that would be the case even if the wheat fuel were, in fact, emitting 10 times the CO2 (and other greenhouse gases) of normal petrol.
I am not saying this is the case. I am merely saying that Saab should be a little less smug about claiming that “36% of respondents don’t know anything about Biofuel technology” and then writing a load of balls which suggests that neither do they.
Most vehicle manufacturers must by now be fully aware of the various “green issue” benefits related to bioethanol fuels, and will at the same time be very much aware of their potential affect on the petroleum market.
And let’s not forget that motoring technology is lead primarily by Formula 1; which has been using bioethanol fuel successfully for at least the last two seasons, with substantially increased power outputs and radically reduced greenhouse emissions.
As a confirmed petrol-head I never thought I would say this, but I now believe (and hope) that within the next ten years, fossil fuel will be history.
AlfaMartini | 21 Dec 07 - 18:41