This is really more of a question than anything else.
First of all, the Senate voting to require autos to get 35 mpg in the name of setting the United States free from the power of the OPEC Cartel is like trying to put out a raging fire with a thimble of water. But really, what did anyone expect out of Washington? Leadership? Ha! For one thing, making cars more fuel efficient is mainly done by making them smaller and lighter. That gets people killed in auto accidents. But what’s a few lives when you can claim you “did something” even if it’s basically irrelevant?
Frank Gaffney wrote Victory via Fuel Choice comments on this and raises some interesting points. Mainly he alerts readers to a great new book on the topic: Energy Victory: Winning the War on Terror by Breaking Free of Oil
The main point is this… we could be well on the way to fuel security simply by mandating that every car sold new in America be a Flexible Fuel Vehicle. That would pave away for the free market to do through innovation and investment what bureaucrats are too constipated and addicted to their own power to do.
If every car could run gasoline OR hydrogen OR on battery power OR on ethanol (or at least a combination of two) there would suddenly be a market for alternative fuels that would encourage their retail distribution. Right now, how many potential customers are there for gasoline stations who might want to dabble with alternative fuels? Basically none. If such a law were passed, there’d be millions of potential customers and incentives for the market to find out in practice what works and makes money. Let the market decide if it’s electric hybrids, hydrogen, or ethanol that is best.
Now, how will home businesses benefit?
Everybody, including home businesses, will benefit from the market forces at work if this ever comes to pass.
Can home businesses get ahead of the trend and benefit?
There are “Flex Fuel Adapter” methods that can be installed (already). Here’s another kit. To date these seem to involve ethanol or bio-diesel.
Probably a “home based” mechanic could do that, but as the technology gets higher, then you’re going to go to a “regular” mechanic with overhead.
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