The 1st Annual Alternative Car Expo, hosted in Santa Monica, was probably the best automotive show I've attended in the US.  If there could be one common theme, its that the hippies of 2006 design, manufacture, and drive alt fuel cars... And the cars are good.

Let me clarify. I find something to enjoy from anything between the North American International Auto Show in Detroit, Michigan to a cruise-in at Fuddruckers in Lake Forest, California.  Heck, even SEMA shows rank high with me.  But the one thing they all lack is intellectual stimulation.

You'd be hard pressed to take two steps at the Alt-Car-Expo without being hit square in the head with a plethora of reasons why we need to drive Ethanol, Propane, Hydrogen, Natural Gas, Solar, Battery, Bio-Diesel or Human powered vehicles NOW.  Guess what, they are all correct.  Whatever we do, we can't continue to fix our Petroleum addiction anymore.  Its only going to get worse, and unless you've been living in a cave for the last 20 years, you already know this.

Clean Cities please start reaching out to the public more. Multiple day seminars devoted to fleet purchasers and industry insiders aren't going to help Steve, my next door neighbor, to understand what alt-fuel cars can do or where to buy them. Use the Alt-Car-Expo model.

Now, if you've found this forum as I have, you're either a CNG champion or a Petrol addict looking for an answer to The Big Question.   The Big Question is of course, "What is the ideal form of human transportation."   The answer is obviously Natural Gas powered individual vehicles! Right? Uhhh WRONG.  Any form of transportation that relies on combustion is incredibly naive.  The unnatural rate of pollution (not to mention consumption) cannot even remotely be sustained.  In the end, our global quality of life deteriorates.

The Answer:  Mass transportation powered by renewable sources.  And when I write renewable, I mean solar, wind, hydro, and geothermal. Check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy to get educated.  So right about now you've got to ask yourself, why aren’t we there yet?  The knee jerk response might include finger pointing towards our government.  You'd only be pointing at yourself.  Its still We The People, Right?   Yes it is and therein lies the problem or solution depending on how you look at it.  We The People don't know  that alternative transportation is better or that it even exists.  That leaves you and me to promote Ethanol, Propane, Hydrogen, Natural Gas, Solar, Battery, and Bio-Diesel. We The People must be cognizant that a renewable mode of transportation is superior to Petroleum.  Until then, CNG is my Modus Operandi.

So now its time to enjoy some eye candy:

NGV Of The Year^TM:  2007 Honda Civic GX, My last Civic was a '96 EX that I retired with 186K miles on the odometer. It was a great car...  the '07 Civic GX blows it away.

Didnt see the Tesla, but the Univeral Electric SPYDER made up for it. $70K starting.

... And the co-stars from Who Killed The Electric Car.

Awesome! Show me more Pics or email them too me! I won't miss this show next year. I can never seem to find these green car shows until after they have passed.