A Green Hummer? (It Runs On Biofuels)

A green Hummer eh? Well, ZDNet reports that a biodiesel conversion specialist, Jonathan Goodwin, has retrofitted a Hummer to run on ethanol, hydrogen, biodiesel or natural gas. The car gets the equivalent to 40 miles per gallon. Goodwin's company is an alternative energy start-up, SAE Energy. The company is filling an unlikely niche in the clean tech market: making muscle cars green. He's already converted about 60 H2 Hummers from gas to diesel and about 100 H1 hummers, including a Hummer that can burn the whole menu of clean fuels.

A gas-to-diesel conversion boosts a Hummer's mileage from about 10 miles a gallon to between 22 and 24 miles a gallon. Additionally, the horsepower jumps from about 325 in the regular Hummer to 650, giving the car more power.

Author's note: I'm an advocate for transportation solutions that don't involve cars. Building more highways and larger bypasses is not a sustainable solution for our transportation need. Instead high-speed rail and car-free cities would be the most efficient. Also, for a Hummer to be truly green it would have to be made with low-embodied energy materials, that are easily recycled or biodegradable. It would also help if the trucks were assemble locally or at least in the same country. An electric Hummer that plugs into a renewable energy source would be green.

:: Via: ZDNet