It's a novel idea but how do you expect people to get around?  A more realistic approach would be join a lobby group or support our representatives in Washington, which by the way are trying to make some headway by the news I've been reading lately.

Also, buying carbon offsets is a good way of helping cancel out the damage driving can cause. It is important to be realistic about how much you can do for the environment or it is easy to just get discouraged and forget it altogether. Most people have to drive, but there are ways to cut down on trips and walk when possible that are changes that anyone can make, city or suburbs.

A vegetable oil-powered bus made a pit stop in my town the other day.  The bus, sponsored by the NOLS (National Outdoor Leadership School) a Wyoming based organization, was promoting its solar and vegetable oil powered bus at a local school.   It's a diesel powered vehicle retrofitted to accept vegetable oil.   I didn't even know this existed!! It seems that any diesel engine can run on vegetable oil.  The bus gets its oil from restaurants and usually does not have to pay for it. What a great concept.  I wonder why we don't hear more about this?

I've been riding motorcycles for years, but since the price of gas shot up I've seen many new faces out on the highway. Not all bikes are loud, but most get an average of 50MPG or better. There's even a new electric scoot being released by Vectrix soon that will be able to go 60MPH for 2 hours straight. Not bad for a plug in!

   Oh yeah and please don't knock folks for driving Suburbans. I have a family big enough that we actually "need" it. And heck I've made a few improvements and got the mileage up to 17MPG. Not bad considering there's six of us with all of our stuff. Now to install the ram air kit and the hypertech chip and get it up to 21MPG! 

Observe the world as though you were a child and enjoy the wonder of it all.

You should check our the forum on hypermiling.  It's all about trying to get the best out of your car. They are here to stay and I wonder why the price of hybrids is so much higher than compared to other cars when we should be encouraging people to buy them.  While visiting Rome, everyone there drives vespas, even women in heels.  Cars are forbiddeb because of the lack of space.  I wonder of that would catch on in the US.

I think one of the main reasons hybrids are still more expensive is because they are being produced in limited quantity, but the good sign is demand is high and I am sure that this will eventually bring the price down as more units are produced and economies of scale come into play more.

But then there's always that maintenance issue, auto co's make a good deal of money from replacing parts etc. and I believe hybrids require less maintenance than your typical vehicle.

I was really thinking of purchasing a hybrid when I make my next car purchase, but my husband is worried about how difficult they will be to maintain.  They are so new, that they don't really have a track record yet on how they will last long term.  Have you heard any info on that? 

Not sure if you're looking for a truck or a car, but in the near future it might be possible to get a diesel electric hybrid pickup. Walmart it working with NAvistar to develop a diesel electric Class 8 big rig. It's the same principle as the railroad trains use and it's very effective.

If the big trucks start running this it won't be long before the heavy duty diesel pickups use the technology. Better yet diesels can run the biodiesel fuel made from leftover cotton seeds. Good green fuel without the impact on the food supply like the ethanol scam. 

Observe the world as though you were a child and enjoy the wonder of it all.

We are looking for a SUV, I know gas guzzle, but with two boys I need one.  Our neigbors just bought a hybrid camry, and they said it performed very good this past winter in the cold weather, but it's too early to tell how it will be long term.  That is what I mean.  How are they supposed to hold up and will parts be available in a timely manner. Why do you think ethanol is a scam?  I  have read good things about it.

I'm just old enough to remember the switch to gasohol when I was a kid. It was added 10% to lean out the fuel because all the old carbureted cars ran a little rich. Supposed to lean them out to reduce emissions. The drawback is that alcohol attracts and absorbs water( Hangover for us) or water vapor in a partially emtpy fuel tank condensing and getting into the fuel delivery system.

Now on a fuel injected vehicle the leaner mix is compensated for by the computer by delivering more fuel so in effect you are reducing your fuel mileage and increasing your emissions.

As far as the food chain goes..the main source of ethanol in the USA is corn. We eat it every day..Maybe it's starch added to your food, or the sweetener in your soda, but it's there. Livestock raised for our food eat the corn that is not good enough for us. If we start taking that corn to make alcohol for fuel it will, in effect, reduce the amount of avaiable corn for human and feedstock consumption. That will affect prices across the board.

Now if we switch to the ever increasing amount of clean biodiesel engines we can use up old, surplus cottonseeds which we cannot eat nor can the feedstock eat. The biodiesel burns clean, reduces emissions, and does not affect our food supply chain.

While I agree that we can get away from using so much crude oil for fuel, which might put me looking for work as I haul it every day, I think we have to be smart and not jump the gun on this. There's too much politics going on the enviromental forefront while the real innovators are keeping their heads down and their poweder dry until it all blows over. 

Just my two cents :-) 

Observe the world as though you were a child and enjoy the wonder of it all.

 I had a long reply, but lost it. Short version...fuel injection negates positive effect of adding alcohol to gas, by enriching the leaner burning mixture. Alcohol in the USA is from corn. That reduces the corn available to us and our feedstock which increases prices on food and drinks. Corn is in everything. Biodiesel is readily made from any oily bean or seed like soybeans, rapeseed (also known as canola.) and surplus cottonseeds.

Alcohol has a low energy content compared to biodiesel so you burn more to go a shorter distance. This in effect increases the emissions put out to go the same distance. Less energy also means a weaker engine output.

Observe the world as though you were a child and enjoy the wonder of it all.

Short version. Ethanol use affects the food chain which increases food prices across the board. Biodiesel can be made from throwaway cottonseed and used oils from cooking, which doesn't affect food prices. 

Observe the world as though you were a child and enjoy the wonder of it all.

LIME posted a forum on the benefits of using vegetable oil as a gas alternative last mont. Really interesing concept. And just recently did you see the article on the couple being held liable by the IRS for using it? Read below, it will blow your mind.

http://www.lime.com/planet/news_feed/8300/illinois_couple_prosecuted_for_vegetable_oil_car 

 

 

 

 

 

It's about normal for the tax collectors to want their cut. Did you hear about the electric roadster from Tesla Motors on The Lazy Environmentalist today? I've seen it online before, but it was cool to hear about it a little more in depth. It would be great to be sitting silent at a light a smoke a Corvette of the line with electric power!

For those of us who love our motorcycles there's a company called Vectrix that is starting production on a plug in electric motorcycle also. They're a little pricey now, but I'm sure they'll come down in price as the volume goes up. 

Observe the world as though you were a child and enjoy the wonder of it all.

That would be interesting plug in your bike like a wind up toy and let it rip!!

Now what would a "green" guy like you be doing lighting up?  

My only concern about using plug in vehicles is the lack of support for plug in's when you get away from home. Most storefronts have a plug for the coke machine and the "quarter horse." No place to plug your vehicle in so hope your batteries can go all day for now.

   I think that will change pretty quick if the vehicles become readily available though. Of course with battery tech getting much better we might not have to plug in until we get home. 

Observe the world as though you were a child and enjoy the wonder of it all.

That is a worry for any alternative fuel or energy source.  It is hard to get biodiesel fuel as well  I have heard and what do you do if you want to use vegetable oil. 

In a way, the country needs to catch up to all the new advances happening.