Saving the Environment With Green Technology: The Benefits Of Driving A Hybrid Car

Are you driving a hybrid car?

Hybrid cars are the latest rage in modern automobile technology. Since the early 1990's many car manufacturer's have realized the potential market of green-sensitive consumers, and the growing demand for environment-friendly and cost-efficient vehicles. With the record-high prices of gasoline and other fossil fuel products today, the foresight of hybrid-car developers and the results of their efforts have not come at a much better time, than now. Consider also the fact that most of the green technology today, have been aimed towards meeting a fundamental criteria in the improvement of the human condition. Most scientists have regarded that, by using products that are safe for the environment the human population will also benefit in the long run.

The human race today is experiencing an unprecedented rise in population numbers, that would crucially underline the rapidly decreasing resources of the planet. Add to the fact that the society today thrives and competes with modern machineries that have contributed more to the pollution of the planet, than at any other moment in history. Hybrid-Car technologies are opening new promises to the already booming market of green technologies, and offers respite to the environment, battered by continuous pollution and abuse.

Why should you use a hybrid car?

One of the important factors about hybrid cars is that allows for better fuel efficiency with its dual capacity to run on both gasoline and diesel engines, as well as on electric motor. Think of how much money you can save when you can easily switch to using either electricity or gasoline on the road. It is no surprise either that most consumers nowadays prefer to drive fuel-efficient vehicles like hybrid cars, because of the quickly-rising fuel prices, pushing the demand for more conservation, and more effective use of alternative fuel energy sources.

The battery electric drive component of most hybrid cars release zero emissions of carbon and other harmful gases. There are also hundreds of locations in the United States and in other parts of the globe, where you can easily plug your vehicle directly to a power grid for quick recharging. This is an 'icing' on the 'green-technology cake'. Renewable fuel is most certainly one of the high-growth sectors of green technology, and the influx of demands will leave manufacturers and entrepreneurs a solid market to sell and promote green technology to.

With the continued use of hybrid vehicles, consumers patronize a strong argument against the continued use of gasoline and the continued support for the research on other sustainable alternatives of green fuel technologies. Some hybrid cars today also run on Hydrogen, which as a fossil fuel, is one of the cleanest known to man. There are also plenty of options on the use of bio-diesel, from soybeans and biomass, that can help augment the demands for cleaner, and renewable fuel.

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As China bids to become a sustained world presence it's clear that at the top of the agenda lays clean technology. Clean technology investment in the country reached $34 billion US dollars in 2009, that's twice the investment that the United States had made in the same time frame, and far outstrips the spend in the rest of the world.

The rumours from local news sources are that as the next 5 year plan becomes clear, there will be a total investment in clean energy of $738 billion over the next 10 years in clean energy technologies by the Chinese government. Much of this money is expected to be focused on Tier 2 cities.

For those looking to take advantage of these opportunities it's worth making it clear that there's no official definition as to what exactly a "Tier 2" city is (unlike in India where this is defined by government) but it is likely to include most of the provincial capitals and up to another 200 large sized cities throughout the country. Most of these will be in close proximity to state capitals and deal with "overspill" from these more expensive (from a residential standpoint) locations.

Chinese cities tend to specialise around specific economic areas rather than applying an "across the board" approach as more commonly seen in the West. Though there are exceptions to this rule, such as Qingdao (home of Tsing Tao beer, one of China's more famous international exports) which is building a broad base of industries and thus is outperforming other cities (Qingdao and the local province was third fastest growing regional economy in China in 2010).

So given this it's sensible to focus on those cities where clean technology is an emerging industry in its own right, but keep in mind that where one city leads in China many others will follow. Zhongshan is already trying to capitalise on the success of Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Dongguan where there's been substantial progress in clean technologies and in particular LED/OLED production.

Wholly owned foreign enterprises don't usually qualify for Chinese state support so to take advantage of government investment in this area you'll be expected to partner with a local company which can come with a fair share of cultural headaches to overcome. Commonly these include both sets of employees (both local and expat) having stronger loyalties to their own parent company than the venture itself, and of course the "face culture" clashing with a more open Western one.

However with an expected 1 trillion RMB output in 2011 from these industries and clear and obvious massive growth potential those companies that overcome these hurdles will be well placed to join the world leaders of clean technology.

Nick Kellingley is the managing editor of China Strategic Monitor, [http://www.chinastrategicmonitor.com]

CSM is a newsletter and consulting service for finance and technology companies looking to invest in China. We offer insight into key verticals; New Energy, Automotive and Coal & Steel as well as bespoke reporting services and consultancy.