A moveable feast of 'green' vehicles: sooner than later, we will all be motoring green.

• Author: Rundles, Jeff
• Position: PLANET-PROFIT REPORT

It's been more than 30 years now since the Arab oil embargo sent the first shock waves throughout the United States that heightened awareness to our dependence on foreign oil.

Back then, in the early 1970s, people who had scoffed at small cars, particularly the dinky, and ugly (by American standards), foreign jobs like the VW Beetle and the Honda Civic, began investigating miles-per-gallon like university professors, if for no other reason than to avoid long gas-station lines. This awareness led to the EPA rating system now ubiquitous on automobile window stickers: MPG city/high-way measurements are now a way of life.

For the better part of the last three decades, however, while we were keenly aware of fuel efficiency, or the lack thereof, we've been on a mad dash for more horsepower and bigger vehicles. Even the foreign automakers, which came to these shores with a small-is-beautiful, efficiency-essential message, have gone big and fast to satisfy the American appetite.

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Tastes change. Like the middle-aged man with a health scare who suddenly gets religion about dietary restrictions, the United States driving public as a whole seems to have, overnight, seen the light on conspicuous consumption and is ready to accept all things green in their motoring lives.

The cynic says it is all a response to record-high gasoline prices, and the prospect that we have truly seen the last of cheap gas. But it's clearly more than that. The environmental movement, which ironically was born at about the same time as that early 1970s embargo gas scare, has finally gained credence in mainstream America, pushed by the growing evidence of global warming caused, in part, by our use of fossil fuels. For whatever reason, people all across the country have made it clear they would prefer more choice, and more healthy choices, in their automobile fare.

As luck would have it, the "green" car buffet line is getting longer all the time. Indeed, as the 2008 models begin to roll out to showrooms, we are seeing the onset of a virtual smorgasbord of high-tech, lower-emission vehicles to meet an all-new appetite for higher gas mileage and a smaller "carbon footprint" on the world.

Hybrid gas/electric vehicles have, of course, led this moveable feast, but now on the menu are a growing number of plug-in electric cars, a new breed of diesels designed to run on biodiesel fuels and blends, vehicles made to use renewable agricultural-based ethanol fuels and blends, and even fuel-cell vehicles powered by hydrogen.

For those drivers thinking of finally taking a bite out of global warming, there will be plenty on the menu of automakers this year and in the next few model seasons to feed anyone's fancy, from the budget-conscious to those whose tastes run more exotic. Bon auto-tite!

Hybrids

Of course, there have been fits and starts at getting green cars going for decades, but nothing really met the definition of "green" while at the same time having a shot at mass production until the Toyota Prius, a hybrid, made its debut some 10 years ago.

The beauty of the Prius--other than the fact that it was rated nearly 50 mpg in combined driving conditions--was that it was the...