now, where were we?

A while back, we touched upon several popular alternatives to burning fossil fuels for our automobiles. Each had their pros as well as cons, but I do not doubt that they all have potential to improve our future. The reason this topic is so relevant to our car blog is the fact that as car enthusiasts, I feel it is our responsibility to ensure that our passion is not a detrimental practice. It makes me uncomfortable to think that our love for driving subsequently causes harm for current and future generations. So, that is why we must find a solution to this very difficult problem. Today, we will look in depth at two promising alternatives. One of which seems to have everything going for it, but falls short of a truly revolutionary ideal. The other however, might just be that solution we have been searching for. Now, let us see why.

Biofuels
Biofuels can be separated into two subcategories: bioalcohol and biodiesel. Bioalcohol consists of ethanol obtained through fermentation, whereas biodiesel is a vegetable or animal fat based alkyl ester (for those who care). Now what is interesting about these fuels is that they are completely renewable, since they are made from things like soy, wheat, sunflower, and corn. They are also cleaner to burn than fossil fuels. Surprisingly, biofuels were not discovered recently. In fact, the very first biofuel powered car was created more than 100 years ago in 1908 and it was called the Ford Model T. So basically, biofuels are cleaner, completely renewable, and they have been around for quite some time. I would expect that they had replaced fossil fuels by now, but they haven't. And I am not the only one who thought of this either. Only a few years ago, there had been a worldwide movement to promote biofuels as the main source of fuel to render fossil fuels obsolete. But what seemed so perfect in theory did not live up to expectations.

However much we would like to think that the food in our supermarkets are easy to come by, they are not. That corn we are using to make fuels have to come from somewhere, right? Yes, and it came straight from the mouths of starving children all around the world. That was the biggest flaw of this magnificent plan. The world could not produce enough food to feed all the nations and fuel our cars as well. You'd think that our world leaders would see this and be sensible enough to stop right there. Wrong. Instead, they ordered a "full speed ahead." Many forests were cut down to create farm land, because I guess trees are not really that important anyways. Hmm, what was our purpose for biofuels again? I believe it was to reduce toxic emissions, not increase it. And by cutting down trees, I believe they are doing just that. Furthermore, the process in creating the food takes energy as well. When I think of farming, I think of plows and shovels, but modern day farming requires quite a large array of heavy machinery. It uses massive amounts of fuel and you can bet it emits a whole lot of toxic waste. At this point, one would question whether or not biofuels is even worth the trouble. The end product of biofuels is an alternative that could have saved the future, but the means of achieving that product would very well destroy it.

At this time, some of us may be thinking, well what's the point of talking about all these alternatives if none of them work? Just get to the point. So, I realized I have been a bit of a pessimist, always talking about the bad points of every prospective energy source. But I believe that as my readers, you have the right to know the truth. Nonetheless, I will get to the point. After all that we have covered on alternative fuels, everything really boils down to our next contender. Yes, it is that good.

Hydrogen 
It is the single most abundant element in just about anywhere in the universe. Hydrogen makes up our air, water, planets, and now, they can power our cars. Not surprising though, since even the colossally large Sun uses hydrogen as its main form of energy. Driving an engine should be a piece of cake then. And unlike in biofuels, synthesis of liquid hydrogen would not be as problematic. Let's see how it works.

This is the FCX Clarity. Now don't let the Honda exterior fool you, because it may very well be the future of automobile engineering. Oddly enough, it has under its hood the same electric engine that we looked at in fully electric cars, but the difference is the electric generator that uses hydrogen to make electricity. Hydrogen cars have it, electric cars do not. Recall that fully electric cars need to be given electricity directly from an outlet in order to run, which means dealing with that charging for 6-8 hours nonsense. We really need to appreciate how much importance lies in such a minor detail. In the FCX Clarity, hydrogen acts as a form of stored electrical energy just as gasoline is a form of combustion energy in most cars today. The science of it is pretty fascinating because of how it utilizes very simple chemistry. However, I won't bore you with the technical stuff. The reason this car is such a revolutionary success is not because it completely changes the way we think about cars. Rather, it tweaks what is already a winning formula and makes it even better. Gasoline engines have been around for quite some time now and there has to be a reason why. It is both convenient to use everyday and cheap to run. Hydrogen powered cars one ups that by having all those conveniences without any of the drawbacks. You know what is emitted from its exhausts? Pure water. How awesome is that? In terms of being environmentally friendly, it does not get any better than that.

The Honda Clarity is only the first of what will be a game changing breed of cars for the future. Nonetheless, it is not without problems that need to be worked out. From what I see, the main obstacle standing between this car and a cleaner environment lies in the processes involved in the production of liquid hydrogen. But that's a concern for another time. Thank you for reading folks. Let me know what you think about hydrogen cars and whether or not you believe it has what it takes to inherit the world of gasoline engined cars. If not, let me know what alternatives you believe in. Comment down below and as always, all comments, questions, and ideas are welcome.

bringing sexy back

Okay, so when we think of station wagons, what comes to mind first? Personally, I find myself picturing a car like the one in the photo above. I'll be honest, it is not very pretty. It's seems to me that the design team got this brilliant idea from a box. But what a useful car they made. Station wagons are the legends of American automobiles. During the middle of the twentieth century, wagons were so popular in fact, that it was rare for someone not to own one. Everyone you knew had one of these and it was easy to see why. Station wagons are so versatile. It gives you the ability to transport all the things your heart desires and still have room left over. However, they are not that much heavier than their sedan counterparts, therefore they maintain a similar gas mileage. It might sound silly today, but wagons were even considered a cool car back in the day. So, my question is: what ever happened to this breed of cars?

Unfortunately, station wagons have been replaced by crossovers and sport utility vehicles (SUV) of the modern era. These multi-ton monsters have a certain cool factor to them because of how rugged and capable they are on both paved and unpaved roads. I understand that because they can go off-road, they are more useful, but most people don't need that function (99% to be exact). But for that 1%, it's okay if you don't like wagons. For the rest of us, however, I'm here to say that wagons are just as capable as SUV's and perhaps just as cool. I believe that their decline in popularity was not because they were bad cars, but because of the inescapable lineage of being characterized as a "parent's car." What this means is that since so many people owned these cars, their children eventually saw that it was a car that only parents drove. And we all know that whatever our parents drive is not cool. My purpose here is to give wagons a fair fight when people consider buying a car. Who knows? We might be missing out.

I was not always so fond of wagons probably because I was just brought up not to like them. What eventually changed my mind was actually this 1994 Audi RS2, a very awesome car. It was produced only as an Avant (wagon) and had under its hood a very powerful engine, which got me thinking. This car is as versatile as an SUV, drives like a sport car, and looks good doing it. What don't people like about it? I think it's brilliant.

Now, if you are still not convinced about whether or not you like wagons, I will include that they are very popular in Europe. I think that bringing wagons back to the US would not be a bad thing. They're  efficient, useful, attractive (like the E-Class Estate shown above), and we would be reviving an important part of America's automotive history. So to the readers, let me know what you think. Would you ever buy a wagon? Do you think it will ever be as popular as it was decades before? Why or why not? All questions, comments suggestions are welcome.