Alternative fuel cars: Who knew the wait for Chinese Democracy would be shorter?

First of all, let’s raise a glass to the fact that the price of gas has basically halved over the past couple of months. With that said, though, we’re still at the mercy of the pump because there are little to no alternatives. But why? We’re a relatively smart country. We put a man on the moon, we led the initiative to completely identify the human genome... but when it comes to alternative fuels, we’re like infant invalids, crying for help but refusing to graduate from the bottle to the sippy cup. Are we helpless, are we stubborn, or are the lobbyists just that good? Actually, all three cases may be true. Not only do we have to monitor oil barrel prices, but we may be helpless when it comes to the unstable prices of other fuels. For instance, I became up in arms recently when I saw a picture of a typical Brazilian gas station, which features a variety of alternative fuels for sale such as biodiesel, ethanol, and gasohol. Why aren’t we getting an alternative fuel buffet over here? Well, it turns out that cane-based ethanol was being produced in the 80s and thought to be a viable alternative to gasoline... until the price of sugar cane exceed the price of oil. Now Brazil claims to have a flex fuel that is a mixture of oil and ethanol, but questions arise as to whether this can be considered sustainable energy. Our stubborn unwillingness to change can be seen in America’s unfavorable opinions of diesel fuel. I admit that when I think of diesel, I think it’s a foul-smelling fuel primarily used by buses and clunky, old foreign cars. Why anyone would want to drive a diesel car is beyond me. However, in Europe, one out of every 2 new cars runs on diesel, largely due to the fact that they use a low-sulfur diesel compound. Not to mention that diesel has a 30% better fuel economy. So now that America has switched to the low-sulfur diesel, why are only 3% of cars and light trucks running on diesel in the U.S.?