The construction industry has its “green movement”, established to wean America’s future buildings from their dependence on fossil-fuel power.

Will the American transportation industry follow suit?

In the light of increasingly more costly, and less available, fossil fuel resources, and growing evidence that vehicular emissions contribute to global warming, using alternative energy to drive America’s vehicles is getting a closer look.

Renewable alternative energy fuels currently account for only 2% of the vehicle fuel purchased in the U.S. And the options to increase this figure significantly in the near future are limited.

Any short-term increases will come in the form of alternative energy biofuel production, which processes plant materials, and animal and landfill waste, into useable fuel.

Other solutions will require more time. Alternative energy electricity and hydrogen produced from wind and solar power could be stored in vehicle-operating batteries, but the technologies to do so are still in their infancies.

The majority of passenger vehicles in operation in the U.S. are designed to run on gasoline containing up to 10% ethanol–corn-based alternative energy biofuel.

But, possibly anticipating petroleum shortages, the “Big Three” of American car manufacturers, Daimler Chrylser, Ford, and GM, are building cars that can operate on gasoline containing up to 85% alternative energy ethanol. There were, according to a September 2006 World Watch Institute report, about six million such vehicles on America’s highways.

In an attempt to encourage a “green” mentality among America’s drivers, the U. S. government has allowed tax credits for the purchase of alternative energy fuelled vehicles.

Will we ever see alternative energy from wind or solar power being used to run our automobiles?

Maybe not directly, but there are electric cars available today which can be plugged in and recharged from a home outlet. It that home is using alternative energy power from a rooftop solar system, or lives in a part of the country with an electrical grid supplied by wind power, the car will indirectly be fuelled by renewable alternative energy.

Transitioning from a carbon-emitting, gas-guzzling nation to a green, alternative energy driven one may take a while. But America is on its way.