The U.S. could cut its gasoline consumption to half by 2035 if the correct measures are employed by authorities and the population soon, says a new MIT study led by John Heywood, professor of mechanical engineering. Hydrogen, electricity and renewable fuel are the way to go if the impact cars nowadays have on the environment is to be significantly reduced. The main obstacles for these changes are the prohibitively high costs of fuel innovations and people's mentalities.

 

According to the research, American car-buyers would rather have the latest, strongest car available than spend their money on an electric hybrid or plug-in vehicle. A simple look at one SUV, for example, reveals that it consumes more fuel simply because it's heavier than, let’s say, a small-class vehicle. Some people drive their cars in a very aggressive manner, which only increases the greenhouse gas emissions of those vehicles. Heywood says that, at an individual level, buying fuel-efficient cars is the only thing people can do at this point.

 

Hydrogen cell-powered vehicles have been the goal of ecologists and the automotive industry for quite some time now, but are very expensive to make and environmentally unsustainable. Electric cars, on the other hand, have limited traveling ranges, after which they have to be recharged. Currently, hybrid engines are the most efficient way to travel, using gas to recharge onboard electrical batteries while on the move. But they still put up a large amount of carbon and other gases which make them only a temporary solution until other, more fuel-efficient types of propulsion are developed.

 

Another, more drastic measure authorities can employ is to severely increase the cost of fuels by adding more taxes to it. While this doesn't solve the main problem, it could give scientists some time to create viable fuel alternatives to be implemented widely. For example, water-powered engines were developed a couple of years ago, but their cost is so high that they could never be used widely, at least in the coming years. A major draw back in the race for fewer emissions is the fact that any measure developed countries employ must also be sustainable for developing countries, where living standards are not that high. Only through collaborative efforts can this be achieved.