The whole “clean energy” thing is tricky. Kudos to Montgomery County and DC Metro for using hybrid buses- and for using natural gas- but is this really “clean” energy? No. It’s less polluting- but still far from “clean” or green or whatever you want to call it.
So much of the green movement seems to be so gimmicky. My friend w/2 kids got a monstrous Ford SUV. She knows I’m a staunch environmentalist and said guiltily- “Look- it’s got the FlexFuel symbol on it so we can run it on biodiesel!”
First of all, I’m sure she’s never filled the tank with biodiesel. 2nd of all, while kind of a neat concept, biodiesel isn’t very “clean” either. I suppose the case could be made that it’s better than petroleum, but not much when considering the entire carbon footprint of biodiesel.
Then there are the license plates of Virginia hybrid vehicles. For years, they’ve always said “Clean Special Fuel”. This is particularly strange to me. Does the State of Virginia not realize that Priuses (or is it Prii??) and other hybrids run on the same fuel as any other vehicle?
I look forward to the day when people start to seriously protect and restore the environment, rather than slapping the word “green” or “clean” onto a ton of stuff that substantially produces greenhouse gases.
