Recently, a lot of talk about cars have been about the alternative
green vehicles -- electric, hybrid, biodiesel, ethanol, biofuel, fuel
cell. We are served with ads after ads of car companies out competing
each other on being green. Even if you are not wondering when you can
buy it and are enjoying the positive vibe of these feel good ads, you
may be getting sick of them like me. However, perhaps we are ignoring
other critical issues, such as safety on existing vehicles. After all,
more than 42,000 people die on American roads every year, with traffic
accidents being the leading cause for people under 25.
A recent Newsweek article
expressed concern that “safety may be taking a back seat to green
technology.” According to Keith Naughton who wrote the Newsweek
article, green generates so much positive publicity buzz that new
safety breakthroughs are not being highlighted. The article mentioned
innovations in collision mitigation systems, lane-departure warnings,
and additional airbags that are being ignored in PR efforts.
Adrian
Lund, president of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety expressed
similar concern, saying that “Green is in right now and safety is
taking a back seat.” The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is an
independent, nonprofit, scientific and educational organization
dedicated to reducing the losses — deaths, injuries, and property
damage — from crashes on the nation's highways.
I was concerned
about this issue and ran a Google search on the term “green vs. car
safety”. It returned very few mentions and seemed to think I was
looking into whether green cars are safe. It returned no mention on
safety taking a backseat, except for the above article, but that does
mean it is not an issue.
On the eco-friendly car front, there is
some concern about the safety of new lithium-ion battery, due to
precedence of a small number of laptop batteries exploding two years
ago. However, this technology is not more dangerous than the gigantic
combustible gasoline tank we are driving around.
There is
also a lot of concern on the safety of hydrogen cars, as is usually the
case with new technology. However, in truth, there is little danger of
explosion too. Since H2 is the lightest element, leaked compressed H2
from fuel-cell cars will escape upwards at high speed, flashes, and
only burns upon contact (instead of creating a fire that radiates
outward at ground level like gasoline fuel will). The different
piping architecture for delivering compressed H2 to the fuel cell
compared to gasoline combustion-transmission systems however, means
that automakers rolling out such vehicles have been training emergency
first responders how to safely work with such cars. H2 is combustible
at a wider range than gasoline, so bringing it into contact with heated
extraction equipments is not a good idea.
Car safety is of vital
importance, I am sure, to every single person out there. Hopefully all
these money and effort devoted to developing and marketing the green
car future to save the planet will not ignore the fact that humans are
needed to drive the cars of today.
Marn-Yee Lee
Contributing Editor
AskPatty.com
Marn-Yee Lee is pursuing an MBA in Sustainability at the Presidio
School of Management in San Francisco. After spending a decade in I.T.
and on Wall Street, she is now pursuing her passion for the
environment. She sees business as a partner for creating innovative
solutions to pressing environmental issues. In her spare time, she
writes a blog to inspire others to consider the impact of their daily
lives on the environment at busythinking.blogspot.com.
alternative green vehicles
