The British car magazine “What Car?” has crowned the Volvo S40 diesel the Green Car of the Year. It beat Japanese hybrids with its low emissions and 72.4 mpg fuel economy.

But, according to James Howard Kunstler, a fuel efficient Volvo ain’t gonna be much of a help for our future:

…no combination of solar, wind and nuclear power, ethanol, biodiesel,
tar sands and used French-fry oil will allow us to power Wal-Mart,
Disney World and the interstate highway system — or even a fraction of
these things — in the future. We have to make other arrangements.

The public, and especially the mainstream media, misunderstands the
“peak oil” story. It’s not about running out of oil. It’s about the
instabilities that will shake the complex systems of daily life as soon
as the global demand for oil exceeds the global supply.