Alternative Fuel Sources

            In today's society I constantly see large SUV's rumbling down the road sucking up the valuable petroleum products of this country. I am not against the use of SUV's but I do feel that the Automakers in this country need to focus on fuel methods other than gasoline. Although most environmentalists would argue that we need to switch all vehicles to electric, I think that automakers should look into putting diesel engines into more cars and trucks.
             Although cars with electric motors in cars such as the Honda Insight have the best miles per gallon numbers with up to sixty eight miles the gallon around town(EPA), I feel that there are better alternatives with better performance and without the expense. There are compromises in the works between the Big Three auto makers, the United Auto Workers union and environmental activists are negotiating to try and come up with a joint proposal for what they have come to conclude is the most realistic way to improve the fuel economy of the U.S. automotive fleet (Ball 1).
             For Environmentalists, the realization is setting in that a severe toughening of the federal government's fuel economy rule is going to be a political uphill battle. So some of them are concluding, the only way to get substantial improvement in the fuel economy of the U.S. fleet is to start a market demand for more efficient cars (Ball 1). Although this could prove to be a tough task, in this country where gas prices are at a historically low level. This is precisely the tactic the auto industry has been endorsing for a while now to avoid spending the money in alternate fuel types.
             Instead of spending an insane amount of money on an entirely new engine why not use one that has been used for years and is proven to have lower emissions than gas engines. The diesel engine has been used in medium duty trucks since 1984 and in tractor trailers for much longer than that (Ralovski 120). The diesel engine has also been used in smaller applications for cars such as the Mercedes and Volkswagen and many other European cars with great success.