ABSTRACT
During the 1930s, the total amount of surfaced roads doubled, to more than 1.3 million miles, while mass transportation languished. As the auto met America’s need for transportation, cars released people from train and streetcar schedules, allowing them the freedom to travel at their own pace. Early electric cars were popular for a while but they would lose their popularity to the wider driving range of the gasoline car. The modern suburban home with its car, lawn and undetached house uses mostly nonrenewable fossil fuels. While smaller cars may use less petroleum, they are not inherently more efficient. The post-Second World War years brought cheaper, mass-produced cars which seemed to have the same features as earlier luxury cars. Fuel cells promise an efficient, combustion-less virtually pollutionfree source of electric power. The Space Shuttle Orbiter has various fuel cell power plants onboard which are all reusable and restartable.
