In January 2009, Catalonia Today published an in-depth report on hybrids cars, a technology that combines electrical energy with fuel-driven engines. Almost every big carmaker is offering a hybrid vehicle on its range and in the following months we will begin to see the emergence of all-electric cars, such as the Smart pictured. Catalonia is keen not to miss this particular train and the Seat factory in Martorell will soon be producing 20 electric cars every day.
We know that oil is getting increasingly expensive, as it becomes increasingly difficult to extract, forcing us to take more risks to obtain it, often with fatal consequences, such as the Gulf of Mexico’s disaster.
We are all worried about this problem, but we aren’t going to change our way of life. Governments push citizens to buy more cars, subsidising the industry and offering buyers tax breaks. Thus, electricity seems to offer the right answer. Instead of refuelling at petrol stations, we will be plugging our car in every night at home, just as we do with our iPods or our mobile phones.
However, I can’t help wondering if we aren’t solving one problem only to create another. How are we going to produce enough electricity to recharge car batteries? Most power plants are still using fossil or nuclear fuels to generate electricity. If fossil fuel, we are simply swapping the tank of the car for the tank of the power plant. If nuclear, we should keep in mind that the waste generated by nuclear plants is a hot issue in every country, especially here.
The answer could lie with wind turbines and solar energy but their contribution to the total amount of energy consumption is far from sufficient. We still wait to see how we will get around in the future.
