Gas

There are 23 million vehicles running on natural gas throughout the world but only 175,000 in the USA Natural gas is very clean and the only byproducts are carbon dioxide. Burning gasoline creates harmful byproducts like nitrogen dioxide (causes acid rain) carbon monoxide (poisonous) and benzene, and formaldehyde both are carcinogens. In addition natural gas produces 23% less carbon dioxide. The cost of natural gas in cars is about half the price of gasoline and it runs cleaner meaning less wear and tear on the engine. Switching to natural gas for all cars and light trucks could be done quickly and cost effectively and would be an good interim step while moving away from fossil fuels. The US is current emitting the same amount of CO2 it did in 1984 while the population has increased from 235 million to 335 million. Much of this was do to replacing coal in power plants with natural gas and the same kind of reduction could happen if cars and light trucks switched to natural gas. The up front cost for a car running on natural gas is higher but with volume this difference would be negligible. The average car stays on the road for 12 years so it would take than long to replace most of the cars. An added benefit is that fuel could be added at home if the home uses natural gas for heating.