Michael Bass

Michael Bass

Prof. Stephen Sills

11:45

 

                                    Reducing Emissions Internationally: Hybrid Cars Baby!

            The 2009 Canadian International Auto Show is an event every year to see the future of our auto market. Among many companies, environmentally friendly cars swept the show. Some of the cars were intriguing to visualize while taking in the environmental benefits. Honda is putting a new model of the Prius in showrooms this spring, which is supposed to be 22 per cent more powerful and seven per cent more efficient than the outgoing model.

Aside from the green powerhouse of Honda, who also revealed a concept car seeking to run purely off of a hydrogen fuel cell, other companies made their ideas known. General Motors revealed nine hybrid vehicles to the market this year. GM’s big car was the Chevy Volt for its car for the future. With the gasoline engine being used only to charge batteries and being able to plug into a wall outlet, it is competing to be the “green” auto company on top. These cars plus other big names, including Volkswagen, Chrysler, and Audi are doing their best to create hybrid cars at a lightning rate.

             The idea of lowering the emission level in our automobiles is something I look forward to with great anticipation. Dependency on oil and other fossil fuels is crippling both the international economy ad the environment. New forms of hybrid cars help recognize the need for awareness as well as competition to make better, more efficient environmentally beneficial cars to satisfy a growing market. I applaud General Motors for climbing the ladder of green success in a way to almost catch up, and possibly pass, companies such as Honda. Energy efficient cars is key to paving a better future for the planet and it looks as if the day is not far away from a widespread market of both economically and environmentally satisfying automobiles.