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Green Points of View
Eating 'Green' – What Are You Really Buying? by Sheila Newhouse
Read board member Chris Elam's interview with Jonathan Bloom, author of American Wasteland, a new book that looks at why we waste so much perfectly edible food.
Read How Hamburgers Pollute Our Water, by Research Director Renee Cho. The article can be found on Columbia University's Earth Institute blog.
Come See the Most Pollution-Free Car On the Planet
NEW YORK, NY, November 18, 2005: INFORM, a 30-year-old national non-profit environmental research and outreach organization has been analyzing the fuels and vehicles of the future for over a decade and findings clearly demonstrate that compressed natural gas (CNG) is the best fuel option currently available. On December 7th, in conjunction with INFORM's annual Green Holidays Reception and Sustainable Product Silent Auction, Honda will be displaying its natural gas powered Civic GX.With ever-increasing oil and gas prices, and future shortages predicted, the call has gone out, from government, industry, and environmental organizations to conserve energy and to advance the switch to fuels that are both cleaner and more plentiful domestically than gasoline and diesel. While no one fuel is going to be the lone solution to meeting this country's immense transportation energy needs, natural gas vehicles are the least polluting and most efficient on the market today. They are commercially available, and they use technology that puts us one step closer to the hydrogen-fueled vehicles of the future.
Several companies manufacture CNG vehicles, including: Honda, Chevrolet, Ford, and GM. Honda however, makes the only natural-gas-fueled car in the US. The Honda Civic GX dubbed the "cleanest production vehicle on earth" by the American Council for and Energy Efficient Economy has the lowest emission rating of any car on the market and as the only CNG passenger car available and produced in the US it is unique.
Why Natural Gas
The answers are simple: CNG vehicles run cleaner, cheaper, easier, and safer than their gas-fueled counterparts.
- Natural gas burns at a significantly higher temperature than gasoline, resulting in 98% fewer emissions of pollutants like carbon monoxide, and nitrogen oxides than traditional, petroleum-fuels.
- For light-duty vehicles, the average operating cost (including infrastructure and power requirements) is approximately 40% less than the gasoline it displaces.
- The intervals between oil and filter changes for CNG vehicles are much longer at 10,000 miles compared to 3,000 miles for their gasoline-fueled counterparts.
- Natural gas is a non-toxic fuel that does not require any cleanup neither pooling on nor seeping into the ground. In the unlikely event of a fuel leak, natural gas would safely disperse into the atmosphere.
The main obstacle to the Civic GX's use has been the lack of CNG refueling stations. An ever increasing number of CNG stations and the advent of a residential refueling appliance may mean that these obstacles have been overcome and for those interested in owning the cleanest car on the planet they may just find that it's convenient too.
About INFORM
INFORM is a national, nonprofit research and outreach organization that examines the effects of business practices, technologies, and products on the environment and human health. For 30 years, INFORM has sought practical solutions to the environmental challenges of safeguarding ecosystems from toxic chemicals, shifting to pollution-free transportation, and preventing solid waste. Combining groundbreaking research with strategic outreach, INFORM endeavors to turn findings into change. INFORM's objective and constructive recommendations have helped guide members of government, industry, environmental groups, and communities around the world in decisions promoting both economic and ecological sustainability.
