President Obama recently unveiled his initiative for green fleets in a bid to help America change to a more clean energy economy. This initiative includes reducing dependency on oil, protecting the planet as well as boosting economic growth by more efficient and cleaner trucks and cars.

President Obama aims to also ensure that all of the new government vehicles will run on hybrid or alternative fuels or electricity by the year 2015. Following this declaration, the press secretary of the White House, Jay Carney was asked if the president’s limo ride which is nicknamed as ‘The Beast’ would be among these vehicles. Jay Carney replied that government limousines are commissioned, operated and run by the Secret Service of the USA.

The Special Agent of the Secret Service, Robert Novy is reported as saying to Fox News, that some specialized vehicles which have security and law enforcement specifications will not be entitled to the new directive, adding that the president’s limo would not be among them.

President Obama currently rides in a new, black, custom built Cadillac limo which was introduced during the inauguration of the president in the year 2009. Most details/ features of ‘The Beast’ which is also known in the White House as the ‘Cadillac One’ have been classified for security reasons. The presidential Cadillac limousine has been fitted with armor that is military grade, measuring around 5 inches in thickness.

The doors of the limo alone are as heavy compared to that of the Boeing 757 plane. Obama was asked last year, if his Cadillac limo would get any of the hydro-electric updates. To this, Obama had said at the energy event last year, that his limo has been quite heavily reinforced, saying that it weighs two or three times more than what an average vehicle weighs.

As a result of this, it is not possible to get the same performance, especially in regard to acceleration by relying on a hybrid engine. In a news report released last year, vehicles used by federal governments were stated as using the most gasoline compared to that in the past five years, however President Obama has promised about cutting down these emissions by 30 per cent by the year 2020.

A majority of this commitment will depend on the efficiency of the new vehicles purchased by the government. However, so far, it is not possible for the presidential limo, ‘The Beast’ to go the green way.