Electricity, atomic energy, bio fuel, hydrogen, peanut oil, and alcohol: what do all of these have in common? The answer is that they have all been considered as a means to power those four-wheeled vessels that we use to go to the store and get our peanut butter and orange juice. All of these fuels have, at one point or another, been considered the future energy of the world, or at least a pleasant alternative to one of the more common types of fuels out there. And yet, for all of our research and development, our cunning and skill, none of these has produced a widespread and useful vehicle.
And I’m tired of hearing about it, too.
I’m certainly not trying to say that it isn’t important; it really, truly is. But how many decades are we going to hear about how peanut oil was SO last decade, and bio fuel is the future, and blah, blah, blah, blah. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep my mind intact when every other minute I am updated with the new same old news about an industry that is (pardon the pun) simply spinning its wheels.

Then, when it seems that all hope of something interesting on the green car front has waned into oblivion, a new and exciting glow has begun to ascend. While, at this point, I harbor little love for this type of news, I couldn’t unglue my eyes from the webpage.
The man bearing this light of hope is Guy Nègre, and his invention, the hope of my sanity, is the air car.
Currently, there are two models of C.A.T. (compressed air technology) cars for viewing on his website, the MiniC.A.T. and the CityC.A.T., which are designed for local and more universal travel, respectively. While the MiniC.A.T. is a purely air powered car, the CityC.A.T. features a duel fuel system, using compressed air up to 50 Km/h, and more conventional fuels (gasoline, bio fuel, alcohol) for higher speeds.

While they aren’t quite the perfect solution for zero emission, they are so vastly an improvement over the current situation, that I must confess they have stolen my heart. It is lovely to see a new spin on such a worn out topic, and I sincerely hope to see these cars crawling up and down my city’s streets in years to come.
For more information on the C.A.T. cars, go to TheAirCar.com and poke around. Enjoy!