Record-high gas prices have commuters rapidly considering smaller cars and hybrids. But in the race to wean ourselves off overseas oil, environmental advocates say some alternatives do more harm than good. A report from the Natural Resources Defense Council and Environment Ohio, among other groups, says plans under consideration to import Canadian oil shale to produce fuel and another proposal to convert coal into liquid fuel are misguided. Amy Gomberg of Environment Ohio says those technologies actually produce far more greenhouse gases because they’re so energy-intensive to produce.
GOMBERG: We need to be thinking of alternative fuels that are part of the solution. We can’t just be inventing new fuels that are a whole ’nother problem.
Instead, Gomberg says, the emphasis should be on electric cars and hybrids that can be plugged into an outlet.