Perspective: What's good for GM 'may' be good for the country

So all it took was for crude oil prices to approach the $100-a-barrel mark and warehouses to overflow with unsold gas guzzlers to convince the U.S. auto industry to rethink their assumptions about customer behavior.

But in keeping with my New Year's pledge, let's take the glass half-full approach and commend Detroit's best and brightest for finally getting a clue about how to extricate themselves from a mess--even though it's one largely of their own making. (Sorry for backsliding already, but I couldn't resist.)

On Wednesday, General Motors' Chief Executive Rick Wagoner described at the Consumer Electronics Show how a combination of fuel-cell technology and lithium batteries would power his company's upcoming line of zero-emissions vehicles.

Neat idea and a lot of people--including yours truly--hope it leads somewhere. In the early and late 1970s, there was a lot of chatter about how the U.S. must wean itself from a decades-long fossil fuel addiction. That moment in time quickly faded. Since then, the U.S. auto industry has dragged its heels to the point where the pessimist in me wants to dismiss Wagoner's keynote speech as yet another false start. But hope springs eternal and there now is another big factor in the equation lending urgency to finding a breakthrough.

The report describes a perverse competition between people and automobiles for food crops.

Oil demand from China and India is surging and gasoline prices aren't likely to drop significantly anytime soon. The corporate mandarins who run this country watch the same trend lines and they recognize that it's folly to pin the future of mechanized transportation on fossil fuels. Wagoner's talk was only the latest confirmation of a new way of thinking about this old problem. But given how little consensus exists about how best to proceed, any attempt at perestroika (American-style) is not likely to go smoothly.

To be sure, the auto industry's tentative embrace of fuel cell and other advanced technologies is good for a headline on a slow news day. Still, it's going to be a slog. The first GM models won't arrive on show lots for another two years and even then, who knows? Meanwhile the big bucks are going into agri-business's favorite cash cow: biofuels.

By pure coincidence, Wagoner gave his speech just as I came across a new report on global political and economic trends (PDF) published under the auspices of the World Economic Forum. If you're a pessimist, I wouldn't recommend it as bedtime reading.

The report describes a perverse competition between people and automobiles for food crops. Biofuels are expected to consume as much as 30 percent of our domestic corn crop by the end of this decade--and this at a time when prices on many staple foods touched record highs last year.

For some reason I don't get, this story still doesn't grab many headlines. We in the prosperous West still believe ourselves immune, but it's not just the folks in the developing world who are feeling the pinch. Consider that during the last year:

• Food prices in the U.S. rose at twice the rate of non-food, non-energy inflation.

• Food prices in the United Kingdom climbed faster than any time in the past 14 years.

• Food prices in China, the world's factory of choice, soared more than 17 percent.

The present often looks bleaker than it really is and I don't belong to the alarmists' camp. With a little luck and clever thinking, we usually find a way to muddle through. Still, if the United Nations is right, the world's population will surpass 9 billion people by the year 2050, making the need for arable land even more acute. I wonder how that will square with government policy makers around the globe who believe that biofuel production remains their best option?

Biography
Charles Cooper is CNET News.com's executive editor of commentary.

More Perspectives

[Vonmaxx]

Biofuel

You should never make food into fuel. When a mass crop failure <br />happens, People need to eat. Just remember about the Irish potato <br />famine. <br /> Look at the grocery store price for meat, milk and all bread <br />products. Thanks Biofuel.

[blsith]

energy per acre

The problem isn't biofuel per se, it's what we are forced to use to make it. Corn is a HORRID producer of Ethanol per acre. There are plenty of other crops, such as sugar beets, that per acre can produce much more fuel, more efficiently.<br /><br />Pork politics is causing the biofuel issue, not an inherent problem with the product. Several South American countries have been using Ethanol as their primary fuel for years, granted it's made from sugar cane I believe.

[Riger_25]

Sparks

The short answer is Bio has never been a long term fix. Most people realize this but being an electrical engineer I guess I'm partial to any solution that envolves my line of work. Solar tech improvements are on the horizon and wind power is a viable opt as well but wont supply the masses. Here is were I lose the eco guys Nuclear (o yes I said it) power generation does have significant advantages besides fusion which if developed then wins out over fission however its a process we earthlings have yet to replicate. Avoid the whole mess of spent fuel rods which by the way know hold the equivalent of 6.6 billion barrels of oil in energy and just install Advanced Burner Reactors then continue to develop the technology until you get isotopes that decay not in 100 or 200 yrs but within 50 or 25 yrs. Heck Mins would be nice as population increase becomes staggering...wouldn't it be nice

[K A Cheah]

Chasing after the "Wrong Technologies"

Nikola Tesla the Greatest Inventor of the last century had invented the Technologies to run cars &#38; power stations without fuel one Century ago and these technologies might still be classified top secret immediately after his death. It is time to resurrect Nikola Tesla's life-works to produce electrical power without fuel and sharing them as it was intended by the Greatest Inventor himself.<br /><br />Stanley Meyer had invented the Technology to turn Water into unlimited amount of fuel for making Unlimited Power Supply and to run cars and all internal combustion engines with HHO on demand basis, but unfortunately he was murdered. He had about more than 40 patents in this Technology. No one Car/Technology Company has pursued this technology further by buying up his technology and put them to good use to save our this planet Earth from Global Warming causing adversed climatic changes and disasters and hardship owing to unlimited and unrestrained use of Fossil Oils and Fuels, thus releasing &#38; emitting enormous quantities of green house gases into the atmosphere. I think some company like Google should buy this Patented Technologies from Stanley Meyer's family and make this open source technology for the world to improve on and make good use of this Technology to save our world call Planet Earth.<br /><br />Also those Zero Fuel Technologies invented by Nikola Tesla should be declassified and resurrected to run cars and power-stations to save our Planet Earth from destruction and doom owing to unlimited and unrestrained use of Fossil Oils and Fuels for the whole of last Century. Our World the planet earth must be saved from the exploits of greed of the vested self interests of the fossil oil &#38; fuels producers that pumped the unlimited amount of Greenhouse gases into our common atmosphere for the last century.

[open-mind]

What About Hover Cars?

Along with cars that run on water, I think Steven Spielberg's hover-car technology should be declassified and resurrected. Spielberg invented this technology in the early 80's for his "Back To The Future" movies, yet I still can't buy a hover car.

[jdzions]

Paranoid ravings

The tinfoil lining of your hat has slipped.<br /><br />You can't run cars and power stations without fuel. Energy has to come from someplace. (Unless you're claiming to talk about vacuum energy, which (a) still comes from someplace, and (b) hasn't been shown to be practical at anything even close to useful level of energy output.<br /><br />And the whole "run a car on water" thing is just sheerest looniness. See above - energy can't come from nowhere. The three laws of thermodynamics weren't passed by the US Congress or the UN Security Council; they're wired into the universe in which the sane people live. I dunno about the universe in your local vicinity.

[henryhayne]

The Companies get serious?

It has not been the auto companies that have have not been serious, but their customers. They have been supplying what the customer wanted. Big, safe, and powerful has been where the market was. If we, the consumer had wanted more gas frugal cars they would have produced it. It is the public that has gotten serious with $100 per barrel oil. The companies just try to provide us with what we want. The auto companies are just a convenient scapegoat.

[Steve Jordan]

Auto industry is an instigator, not a scapegoat

The auto companies were in the position to research, build and sell electric cars in the 80s. They chose instead to lobby the Federal govt to ease up on CAFE standards, allowing them to build and sell SUVs. Then they spent their money on Madison Avenue, convincing the public that SUVs were, in fact, what we all needed.<br /><br />They knew exactly what they were doing, and expertly pulled the wool over America's eyes. They did it so well that, 25 years later, the wool is finally rotting away, and people still believe there was never any wool there.<br /><br />Unfortunately, the American auto industry only has itself to blame for its troubles. They do not deserve our trust or support, considering how long they have been conning the American public, and whatever they try to say now, they haven't had and will not have my trust or support for quite some time.

[jdzions]

Chicken v. egg

15 months ago I went to dealers for all US-owned car manufacturers. "Do you sell a hybrid- or all-electric sedan?" "Hell no" was the answer. I wanted it; they didn't have it. You can't use sales figures to prove there was no demand, since any demand couldn't show up in their sales figures - they had nothing to sell.<br /><br />Demand sure as heck did show up in the sales figures of companies that HAD something to sell. Check the Prius sales figures for 2007 - Toyota sold more of them than Ford sold Explorers. (source - report on Marketplace radio program, segment during NPR's Morning Edition, Jan 11 2008)<br /><br />I bought a Prius 13 months ago. I would have been willing to pay more for a hybrid made by a US manufacturer. Sadly, there wasn't one.<br /><br />(Tesla Motors only had prototypes at the time, and I couldn't afford $75k for a spot in the waiting list for a car they hadn't shipped yet. 2008 models are already sold out; you can prepay $95k and up for a 2009 model. See teslamotors.com)

[BetterandBetter]

What we have is good for the Country and World <

We offer the answer to higher fuel mileage and way less pollution right now Any Vehicle, Any Year &#38; Make www.picctv.com/rockin69 Want 50 to 100 plus miles per gallon and little or no pollution ? What to witness History being made this July 10 and get Free Power ? www.Rockin69.com Saving USA and the World starting Jan 2008 .

[erickrieg]

being skeptical of high mileage claims

The ex convict behind the betterAndBetter high mileage claim has a long criminal record for scams like this, more info at<br />www.phact.org/e/dennis.html

[DigitalFrog]

The food fight solution is simple:

Convert all land currently being farmed for tobacco to biofuel production. It's a double-win for the fuel situation and the health care crisis.

[TomMariner]

I hope the idea has legs

For most of the automobile's life, the US led the world in innovation -- in design, in manufacturing, in management. The car companies used to be led by inventors and techies and because ultra successful. Once they got successful they turned over the reins to "managers" who knew finance and marketing but did not love their "wheels".<br /><br />But maybe, just maybe, this new religion of efficiency with safety will really prove to be a technological exercise rather than a sales gimmick. I remember the solar rebates and green incentives in the Carter era that evaporated as soon as gas fell from its mega high $10 per barrel.<br /><br />But this time it looks like the folks whose countries are located above rotten dinosaurs understand that the pools are finite and they can get anything they want to finance their global domination fight. So I pray that GM is serious about saving their company by doing the right thing for them and for us.

[libertyforall1776]

Ethanol destroys engine parts; Need to eliminate it from gasoline!

Use a search engine and find out about the corrosiveness of <br />Ethanol -- it is bad for engines and can hurt MPG/performance... <br /><br />I look forward to NO Ethanol in my gas!

[1wild bill]

ethanols fuel density

In a recent Rolling Stone Magazine there was an article on Ethanol. On Fuel Density ethanol is one third less powerful than gasoline so your goig to consume three times more fuel to match the power of gas. As for Fuel Balance the number of barrels of oil it takes to manufacture ethanolfrom corn is absolutly laughable. Check it out. Wild Bill

[Keith_C_A]

Alternate Power

Look, no matter what fuel you use in an internal combustion engine, it creates pollution. Fossil fuels have been used for ever, and its time we, the people of the current time need to move forward.<br /><br />World oil prices are making the cost of fuel approach being out of reach for the average person.<br /><br />When it rises its not just hurting us at the pump, it bleeds through to everything we humans rely on, including food, especially food.<br /><br />We need to look at creating an engine, that has little or no emmissions, is not a drain on ANY of our resources, will not have ANY serious ramifications on the future generations.<br /><br />Now you are probably saying Impossible you wanker well no its not. We do have the technology just the governments dont want to use it because they cant Tax it. Yes for thos of you who have a functioning brain in your head, its SOLAR power.<br /><br />Oh but we cant go as fast as we want to, well so what? Stop being in the live for now and Damn the future.<br /><br />Solar technology is on the up and sooner or later we will be able manufacture an engine that can produce reasonable power.<br /><br />Hey most roads around the world have speeds limits of 100kph or 55 mph, so whay are we producing cars that are capable of 200kph?? <br /><br />The governments need to wake up and smell the flowers, their greed and arrogance are killing this planet, killing its population. but hey who gives a toss?? in 100 years we will have destroyed the planet anyway and no one will be alive to give a toss.!!!

[dburr13]

The Price of Food

If you are looking for a demon in the rising cost of food...ethanol is not the problem...The rising cost of oil...now hovering around $100 a barrel is much more a factor than the price of corn...There is about 25 cents worth of corn in a box of Corn Flakes...Which is 10% or less of the price you pay at the store...The cost of food is going up...But most of the increases are coming from somewhere other than the commodities themselves...By the way farmer's expenses are going up like everyone elses...They have to buy fuel and other products that come from that $100 barrel of oil...<br /><br />Ethanol from corn is not the final answer to our energy problems...But it is the only energy source that is ready to help now...And that scares the hell out of the multinational corporations that are reaping record profits from oil...The more you know...the less you blame ethanol...and the more you'll suspect that this food vs. fuel controversy is just another ruse to suppress yet another alternative to oil.