There’s an automotive revolution underway in this country and this time, it’s for real.

A recent Time magazine article reported that Chrysler dealers are having a tough time selling vehicles — mostly cars, trucks and SUVs getting 16 miles per gallon or less — while the company itself has a backlog inventory of 100,000 gas-guzzlers gently rusting away on car lots around the nation.

Things aren’t much better at Ford and General Motors.

Meanwhile, Toyota reported record third-quarter earnings on the strength of fuel-efficient cars like the gas-electric hybrid Prius and the gas-sipping Scion.

Car buyers have lots of choices and they’re voting to change both their driving habits and the cars they buy.

That’s the message of Susan Fahnestock, co-founder of the Green Car Company based in Kirkland. The company sells alternative vehicles that can achieve gas mileage of 60 miles per gallon or use no fossil fuels at all.

At Monday night’s Exchange — a periodic series of discussions on community issues co-sponsored by The Record and Goosefoot Community Fund — Fahnestock said that our society has become dependent on gas-powered cars, mainly due to the marketing skills of the car manufacturers.

“The end result is the danger of global warming and the inevitable resource depletion of fossil fuels, mainly oil from the Middle East,” Fahnestock said. “In this country, we contribute over 45 percent to greenhouse gas emissions compared to the rest of the world. That’s almost half.”

For years, carmakers have told Americans that bigger is better, added new features and convinced buyers to shell out big bucks for luxury items like a third row of seats in SUVs equipped with expensive DVD players.

But now that filling up a tank can run up to $100 in some cases, Fahnestock thinks it’s time to examine alternatives.

The first step when purchasing a car is to determine how it will be used, the length of the daily commute, and how many people will it hold.

“For the average American, 80 percent of trips are within 10 miles of their home and 40 percent are inside five miles,” Fahnestock noted.

Buyers should take a long look at the possibilities offered by hybrids, gas efficient cars, electric and solar-powered vehicles and bio-diesel powered cars, she said.

A gasoline hybrid uses an electric motor to keep the engine running, recapturing the car’s own braking energy to renew the batteries.

Cars like the SmartCar from Germany utilize an efficient, tiny 61 horsepower engine and can get 60 miles per gallon.

Electric cars use no fuel directly, but there is no current infrastructure to support the technology; most electrics are impractical except for short trips.

Bio-diesel, a domestically produced renewable resource derived from vegetable sources like soy beans, may offer the best ratio of power-to-energy, but diesel-powered cars are prohibited from import because of emissions problems.

“Biofuels offer one of the best hopes for a future energy source. We need to increase production, switch from corn-based to wood-based ethanol and find a way to make hydrogen fuel cells safe and practical,” Fahnestock said.

To back up her claims about the importance of considering a greener approach to car buying, Fahnestock quoted James Hansen, a lead climate scientist and director of the NASA Goddard Institute for Space Science: “I think we have a very brief window of opportunity to deal with climate change — no longer than a decade at the most.”

A brief test drive in Fahnestock’s personal SmartCar revealed some of the vehicle’s strengths and weaknesses.

Mated to a six-speed automatic transmission, the car was surprisingly peppy, with plenty of space for the driver and one passenger. Behind the seats is room for a single suitcase or two large travel bags.

SmartCar is equipped with a governor to prevent speeds higher than 85 mph, but on the highway it moved right along, albeit with a noticeable buzzing sound — the small engine is directly behind the seats.

Every car comes equipped with stability and traction control, front and side airbags and a protective seating system. But the core of the car’s safety is provided by the SmartCar’s “tridion safety cell,” an extremely strong steel structure that prevents anything from intruding into the cabin, designed to work in conjunction with the seats, the seatbelts and the airbags.

It’s hard to say if the SmartCar or electric-powered vehicles will ever realistically compete with Detroit’s finest, but the writing is on the wall.

Last week, General Motors announced formation of a new department devoted to alternative fuel research.