Power-to-burn. Cheap on gas. Proven technology. Gasoline-electric hybrids are winners, and now virtually all the major U.S. and Japanese automakers are scrambling to get on board. Is the model you want available as a hybrid? Ask your dealer. It might be soon.

Copyright 2002 GM Corp. Used with permission, GM Media Archive

You've probably heard about the fantastic mileage that hybrids are getting. Well, the same tricks that help a small car get 68 miles per gallon can also help a sports car accelerate 0–60 in three seconds. The only reason you never hear about hybrids winning Formula One races is that the sanctioning body banned them as having an unfair advantage on the track.

Hybrid power can be rugged too. The Army plans to purchase 30,000 hybrid trucks by the end of the decade. And Dodge will introduce a hybrid Ram pick-up that doubles as an electrical generator for running camping equipment or power tools at a remote job site. In case of a blackout, it could even power your home.

"Smells like French fries," was the most frequently heard comment when the city of Berkeley converted its recycling trucks to run on biodiesel. That's because their fuel is made from waste vegetable oils -- the stuff restaurants use to deep fry foods. Just one-fifth of the used restaurant grease in New York City would be enough to power its transit system.

Releasing far less CO2 and a fraction of the air pollutants of regular diesel fuel, biodiesel is a great solution for the thousands of soot-spewing trucks and buses on the road today. Converting them to run on biodiesel would require few or no modifications. In fact, the diesel engine was invented to run on peanut oil!

It may sound like something you should see a doctor about, but biomass gasification is actually a promising energy source. It works by taking wood waste, or other plant matter, and heating it in chamber that's short of oxygen. The result is a flammable gas that burns cleanly and efficiently. Other sources of biogas include sewage plants, landfills and dairy farms. Studies at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory also indicate that "power crops" for gasification, such as switchgrass, could be produced cost-competitively without eroding soils or competing with food crops.

Trading free-flowing rivers for energy-producing dams has come at a steep price in lost fish and habitat. Similar problems have plagued an older generation of tidal power systems -- they block fish passage and are expensive to build and maintain.

But new types of hydropower are aiming to tap the rivers and tides, and a range of companies are competing for demonstration projects to show that their technologies are cost-efficient as well as environmentally benign. Some designs feature revolving door-like or double helix-shaped turbines that allow easy fish passage. The HydroVenturi system considered by San Francisco's Department of the Environment has no underwater moving parts at all, but creates suction that runs turbines on the nearby shore.

Put some solar panels on your roof, feed any excess electricity that you generate into the grid, and run your power meter backwards -- that's net metering in a nutshell. Already in use in thirty-six states, net metering is one strand in a growing "energy web" that's beginning to revolutionize the electricity market. By supplementing large electric plants with power from smaller and more diverse sources, our electricity supply will be cleaner, more reliable, more secure, and more efficient as well.

The U.S. Department of Energy says that policy changes should aim to remove barriers to such distributed energy generation nationwide. Many European countries, for example, require utilities to purchase solar or wind energy from customers at near-retail rates. In the U.S. we sorely need a similar national law. Each rooftop and backyard is a switch waiting to be flipped.

Fuel cells seem almost too good to be true. They capture the energy of the most plentiful stuff in the universe and their only by-product is water -- clean enough to drink. But there's a catch. Hydrogen isn't really a fuel so much as a carrier of energy -- it's only as clean as the source of power it carries. That makes it a great medium for converting the intermittent flow of wind and solar into reliable power that's on tap when we need it. On the other hand, making hydrogen from coal or nuclear power just puts a green face on dirty energy.

While fuel cell cars are still several years away from the showrooms, some of the bumps on the road to a hydrogen economy have been overplayed in the media. The Economist says that hydrogen's reputation as dangerous is "undeserved," and that estimates of $100 billion for a nation-wide distribution system are "outlandish."

Good News About Some Old Friends:


Energy from the heat of the Earth already accounts for 6% of the electricity generated in California. Now technological developments are allowing companies like ORMAT to offer smaller facilities that tap geothermal resources at lower temperatures, in the 200-250 degree Farenheit range.

Photovoltaic (PV) cells -- which convert sunlight into electricity with no moving parts -- have dropped tenfold in price in the last 25 years, and materials researchers in several areas are all hoping to find the next breakthrough. One promising development at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory would utilize the full spectrum of sunlight to nearly double the efficiency of the conversion process.

"The fastest growing game in the power business," according to Business Week magazine, wind energy is now price competitive with both coal and natural gas. Vast potential for wind development exists in many states -- Oregon could generate more electricity from wind than it currently consumes.