As environmental issues become more and more mainstream, consumers are looking closer at how their cars and their driving habits are affecting the planet.Various green technologies that apply to the automotive industry include:

• Bio diesel or biodiesel
• Solar cars
• Electric cars
• Hydrogen fuel cells
• Natural gas (CNG) cars

It used to be that only the most die-hard environmentalists would drive such vehicles. Today, however there are other factors pushing people into such alternative fuel vehicles - not just ideological or moral reasons. Probably the major driver is the price of oil. With oil reaching $147 per barrel in early 2008, Americans, and indeed people worldwide, panicked. In fact, this price spike resulted in reduced consumption and demand, which played a role in driving the price back down.Nevertheless, it spooked many Americans - environmental issues aside. As demand for these technologies increases, so too will the research and development of them. Finally there is starting to be a mass-market, large-scale economic need for such forms of transportation. Many look at it as a form of insurance, or buffer against price shocks of oil, and no perceptible end to conflict in the Middle East and other oil-producing nations.Texas oil tycoon T. Boone Pickens sees the future of alternative fuels, and has embarked on a massive campaign to introduce natural gas as the de-facto automobile fuel in the US. He is currently lobbying hard and has spoken with George W. Bush and Barack Obama about moving the US forward with this clean fuel. Some believe his ambitions are too lofty - even unattainable - but he aims to reduce dependency on not only foreign oil, but all oil.Only the future will tell which green technologies move ahead into the mainstream, but one thing is clear: when the status quo (petroleum) becomes economically unviable for the majority of Americans, such new means of transportation will emerge on an even larger scale.