Friedman's Geo-Green Strategy

Sunil pointed me to this excellent editorial by New York Times Op-Ed columnist, and much celebrated writer, Thomas L. Friedman.

Outlining what he calls geo-green strategy he talks of ridding the American economy of its addiction to and dependence on oil. Most importantly he states that the technology to that utopia is already available, and a lot of it has already been commercialized successfully.

Plug-in hybrids can ensure that 50% of Americans do not use petrol at all for their daily use. Those that do will get a mileage of 100 miles per gallon (210 kmpl). Step two would be using flex-fuel cars that can run on ethanol, petrol or any combination of the two. So a hybrid running on an 80-20 mix of ethanol and gasoline will practically give 500 miles for every gallon of gasoline.

As Friedman puts it, "In short, we don't need to reinvent the wheel or wait for sci-fi hydrogen fuel cells. The technologies we need for a stronger, more energy independent America are already here. The only thing we have a shortage of now are leaders with the imagination and will to move the country onto a geo-green path."