At the turn of the 20th century electric vehicles outsold all other types of cars in America. The electric car had many advantages over the gasoline powered car.

The diesel engine was invented in the 1890's by Rudolph Diesel. He presented the engine at the World's Exhibition in Paris in 1900 as an engine capable of running on peanut oil. Yet it is only in recent times, more than a century later, that the benefits of biodiesel are being realized.

After struggling for years on the design of the combustion engine in the late 19th century, Rudolph finally invented what was to be called the diesel engine. But it didn't run on fossil fuels. It was his ambition to show that peanut oil was a far better fuel than the steam engines powered by coal and other fossil fuels.

One year before his death in 1913, Diesel said "The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become in course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time." Convinced by Rudolph Diesel's peanut oil technology, Henry Ford started up a factory to begin mass production of bio-fuels. Henry Ford was so enthusiastic that the Model T Ford engine was designed to use various bio-fuels. Unfortunately, peanut oil was expensive to extract, resulting in high production costs. The same could be said for soybean oil. Along came hemp.

"The use of vegetable oils for engine fuels may seem insignificant today. But such oils may become in course of time as important as petroleum and the coal tar products of the present time." --Rudolph Diesel, 1913

Hemp grew naturally in the United States and it was soon found that it was the ideal substance for creation of biodiesel products. At the same time, oil entrepreneurs were getting rich from oil exploration and production. They began to spread rumors to discredit hemp oil producers by referring to hemp as Marijuana in newspapers. William Randolph Hearst, through his publishing empire, fueled fears that resulted in the introduction of the Marijuana Tax Act. This prevented anyone from owning marijuana without a government certificate. The hemp-based biodiesel industry failed soon after.

Biodiesel is now resurfacing as a viable solution for our carbon dioxide emissions problems. As most of us know, carbon dioxide is one of the most significant greenhouse gases contributing to climate change / global warming, and as with so many things, people are looking to the past for a better future.

by Steve Auger, Author of the environmental blog Blog On Smog.

Experts have predicted that 4 out of 5 cars sold in the year 2020 will be fuel efficient hybrids as a result of increasingly tougher emissions standards. If you are in the market for a new car and are environmentally conscientious then you might want to learn the Hybrid lingo before checking out the car lots. By appearing knowledgeable, you may be able to work a better deal from the salesman. Here are some of the “must-know” terms:

Hybrid Synergy Drive
Hybrid Synergy Drive is a refinement of the original Toyota Hybrid System (THS) used in the 1997–2003 Toyota Prius. The name was changed to accommodate usage outside the Toyota brand. Toyota describes HSD-equipped vehicles as having E-CVT (Electronically-controlled Continuously Variable Transmission).

Two-Mode Hybrid System
Most 2008 hybrids do a good job in stop and go traffic but not highway usage. The Two-Mode system increases fuel efficiency above 40 mpg by use of a re-designed automatic transmission. GM introduced this technology on the Chevrolet tahoe and GMC Yukon 2008 hybrids with more models including the Chrysler Aspen hybrid converted over.

Integrated Motor Assist
Integrated Motor Assist (IMA) is Honda's hybrid car terminology, first introduced on the Insight in 1999. It uses an electric motor mounted between the engine and transmission. The implementation employs a parallel drivetrain.

Super-Capacitor Hybrid
A variation of the gas/electric design is being developed by BMW. Instead of using a stack of rechargeable batteries, BMW is investigating use of super-capacitors, making the car lighter, faster and more fuel efficient. As with the original hybrid concept, energy is recovered by regenerative braking. But instead of charging batteries, super-capacitors are charged instead. The capacitors store less power but unlike rechargeable batteries, all 100% of what is stored can be utilized. A 20% improvement in fuel efficiency has been reported with this technology.

Micro-Hybrid
The micro-hybrid is an initiative similar to the HEV, but without the large battery. The micro-hybrid, also called “stop-start”, causes the engine to stop idling during car slow down and stop conditions. This fuel efficient technology saves an estimated 5% - 15% for city driving and comes with a much lower price tag than full blown hybrids. Stop-start was introduced by Peugeot-Citroën on the Citroën C3 in 2004 and will be installed on most Peugeots and Citroëns in the EU on or around 2010. One big advantage of the micro-hybrid is that it is easier to implement and less expensive than other hybrid technologies. It is now also being combined with other fuel efficient hybrid technologies.

by Steve Auger
Author of the environmental blog Blog On Smog

"Gasoline is growing scarcer, and therefore dearer, all the time... Automobiles cannot use gasoline for all time, of that I am sure, and alcohol seems to be the best substitute that has yet appeared." (US House and Senate hearings on the "Free Alcohol" bill, 1906)

This statement could easily have been made today. High quality oil was becoming scarce by the 1920s and lower grade oil was being brought onto the market, resulting in engine knock in automobiles. As a result there was a great deal of research into the usability of low quality oil in automobile engines.

Eventually GM selected tetra-ethyl lead (TEL) as an anti-knock gasoline additive. This solution, known today as "leaded gasoline," was the most profitable alternative and therefore GM would lead the public to believe that it was the only alternative. Other viable additives were available, including ethyl alcohol which was not patentable. Certainly there was pressure on GM research to come up with a patentable solution.