Archive for the ‘Travel’ Category
May 27th, 2008
Think You Can’t Afford a Hybrid?
Stumble it!
When I filled up my car this weekend with $4.09 gas (choke, gasp, sputter), I was sure glad I have a Toyota Prius and won’t have to fill up for another couple of weeks. But I hear from a lot of folks that they think they can’t afford a hybrid and they have to hang on to their sub-20 MPG cars. That got me to thinking about ways to find affordable hybrid options so folks can save money and reduce their contribution to global warming. Here is what I’ve found.
Buy a used hybrid! The Honda Civic Hybrid is probably your most affordable choice, as they are quite a bit cheaper than my beloved Priuses. (What is the plural of Prius? Priuses? Pri-i?) The Civic Hybrid gets 40-45 MPG and is a great all-around commuter car. I searched and found a 2005 Honda Civic Hybrid with 49,000 miles for $16,000 in Los Angeles. I found a 2006 model in Kansas City with 52,000 miles for $18,000. The only Toyota Prius I could find in LA for under $20K had 79,000 miles on it! You might also try looking for Ford Escape Hybrids– there seem to be many of those available around the country. You can search for used hybrids in your city by clicking here.
You can get a used MINI. The MINI Cooper is not a hybrid, but it gets pretty great gas mileage– it gets 32 MPG on the highway. From what I hear you don’t need to get the “S” model (S has 172 horsepower vs. 118 for the standard), as the standard MINI has plenty of pick up. Also, the standard gets better gas mileage than the S and it’s cheaper. You can get a good used one for $16-20,000 across the country. You’ll be saving gas, reducing green-house gas emissions AND look super-cute! You can find MINIs here.
Order a Smart Car. Like the MINI, the Smart is small but mighty. The base Smart fortwo starts at $11,600 and it’s a real mileage winner– it gets 33 MPG in the city and 41 MPG on the highway. Yes, there is a waiting list for these little dynamos: depending on the dealer and where you live it can be 2-4 months. But it’s a great economical option. Click here to learn more about the Smart cars.
How about an electric car? You can get a ZENN car for less than $16,000. Just plug it into the wall, charge up, and away you go. It only goes up to 35 MPH, so you need to be doing non-highway, intra-city driving. But it’s an amazing auto and you can be green-house-gas-guilt-free! Learn more about the ZENN here.
Or you can wait a bit longer for Honda to unveil it’s new “affordable hybrid.” Honda President Takeo Fukui announced last year that Honda would be releasing a new hybrid brand in early 2009 that would be cheaper than their current Civic Hybrid line. Honda has been tightly guarding the details about its next hybrid, but you can read more about it here.
And while you ponder your efficient-auto options, be sure to get the best gas mileage you can with these gas- and money-saving driving tips.
Popularity: 1% [?]
May 14th, 2008
Make Your Own Ethanol with a MicroFueler
Sick of paying $4+ per gallon for gas and also concerned about your carbon emissions? But perhaps you also feel that making your own biodiesel at home may be a chemistry experiment beyond your scientific abilities. Well we may have the answer for you.
A few times a year an eco-gadget comes along that gets us pretty excited. Enter the new E-Fuel100 MicroFueler. This machine has just been launched and it seems to allow you to make ethanol at home with very little hassle. (We say “seems” because we haven’t tried it yet– it’s available for pre-order but ships in Q4 this year.) This new device is both a an ethanol-distiller and a pump in one box. Check the photo out below to see the device in action.
According to E-Fuel, ”Our technological breakthrough significantly reduces the size and weight of traditional fermentation and distillation systems needed to produce ethanol.”
How it works: You simply load “feedstock” (sugar with ethanol yeast mix) into the fermentation tank and select the fermentation option on the control panel to begin the process. It will take between 10lbs to 14lbs of sugar to produce 1 gallon of ethanol. (Okay– that’s a lot of sugar!) The MicroFueler is capable of producing 5 gallons of ethanol per day once fermentation is complete.
You can also use booze! You can convert discarded beer, wine or distilled drinks into ethanol–any combination of discarded alcohol can be poured directly into the MicroFueler. Hook up with your local bar and get their leftovers. Heck, at the price of gas these days, buy some cheap beer and you may still save money.
The MicroFueler ain’t cheap– it’s $9995 now to get on their “priority pre-order” list, or you can put $3000 down now and get on the standard wait-list.
But hey, if you got everyone in your neighborhood together to invest in this device, you could save big bucks over time– especially as gas prices continue to rise. Or what if companies bought a machine for their employees? That would be a pretty great office perk. And just think of the emissions reduction your company could brag about!
And yet we remain a bit skeptical….here are a few questions we have about this device that we hope we can get the company to answer:
+ Distillation of sugar into ethyl alcohol is regulated by the ATF. Why isn’t this, or what do you have to do so it isn’t?
+ You’re not supposed to burn ethanol in non-FFV (flex fuel vehicles). Won’t this void my warranty?
+ Sugar costs around $0.50 / pound. Each gal of ethanol requires 10-14 pounds of sugar – how can this be cost-effective? They don’t explain much about their “carbon credit coupons”, which sound like a gimmick.
+ They are talking about shipping complex, $10K units in Q4 08, yet they’ve seemingly raised no outside capital. How can this be? Where’s their manufacturing?
Stay tuned for more on this interesting story…
Popularity: 1% [?]
May 1st, 2008
What Do You Think About Gas Tax Rebates?
We don’t often venture into the realm of politics, but sometimes we see things we’re forced to comment on. In this case we’re alarmed to see both a leading Republican and Democratic candidate for president proposing something troubling for the environment — the “summer gas tax break” supported by both Senators John McCain and Hillary Clinton. While we are certainly feeling the pain of high energy bills too, we feel this proposal won’t help in that respect and will continue to send the wrong message about how to cure our addiction to oil.
This plan is flawed on many levels. First, it would cut federal tax revenues by almost $10 billion at a time when we can ill afford any further government budget shortfalls. Second, and of greatest concern to us at Low Impact Living, it incentivizes Americans to drive more this summer — precisely when we are needing to encourage gas conservation and support lower carbon emissions. Third, it would very likely have no positive impact on American’s wallets — increasing demand for gas without increasing supply would almost necessarily raise the price of gas this summer. That would mean the savings would end up in the coffers of big oil companies and the OPEC nations, not American consumers. Finally, Thomas Friedman of the New York Times points out that at the same time all we hear about is this ill-conceived short-term plan, our government is actively stymying the long-term initiatives that will help cut energy prices and global warming long term:
“Few Americans know it, but for almost a year now, Congress has been bickering over whether and how to renew the investment tax credit to stimulate investment in solar energy and the production tax credit to encourage investment in wind energy. The bickering has been so poisonous that when Congress passed the 2007 energy bill last December, it failed to extend any stimulus for wind and solar energy production. Oil and gas kept all their credits, but those for wind and solar have been left to expire this December. I am not making this up. At a time when we should be throwing everything into clean power innovation, we are squabbling over pennies.”
Seems pretty stupid, eh? What do you think? We’d love to hear your perspective on the issue!
To read more please see this editorial from the LA Times, “Clinton’s and McCain’s plans for a summer gas-tax suspension won’t solve anything.” The New York Times also covered the issue, both in a Thomas Friedman op-ed piece (subtly titled “Dumb as We Wanna Be”) and in their editorial “The Gas-Guzzler Gambit.”
Popularity: 1% [?]
March 31st, 2008
How To Save Money on Gas and Cut Global Warming
As gas prices near $4 per gallon and artic ice shelves plunge into the ocean, there has never been a better time to save gas and help reduce your contribution to global warming. And hey, saving up to $100 per month doesn’t hurt either, eh?
There are many easy ways you can reduce your gas consumption, keep cash in your pocket, and be a better steward of the environment.
+ Use public transportation. Ride the bus, take the metro, ride your bike. Or, gasp!– walk.
+ Carpool. There is even a site that helps you find people to share with– eRideShare.com.
+ Telecommute. Could you work from home today? Got lots of emails and conference calls– consider doing them from home.
+ Combine errands and walk between stops. Can you go to the grocery store and the post office in one trip rather than two? Can you walk from the drug store to the tailor without re-parking?
+ Slow it down there, pardner. If you are driving, remember the faster you go the faster you burn fuel. And rapid acceleration is a big gas-burner too. Use cruise control when you can on the highway. Slow and steady wins the race.
+ Keep your tires well-inflated. Inflated tires help you get better gas mileage. It’s good to check your tires at least once per month.
+ Keep it light. Remove any un-needed weight from the car. Your fuel efficiency is highest when your vehicle is light and aerodynamic. Thus also remove any car racks you’re not using as they create drag.
+ Keep your car tuned up and change your air filter frequently.
+ Try to park in the shade. Gasoline evaporates out of your tank, and sitting in the hot sun speeds up that process. Parking in the shade also keeps it cooler inside, and you will need less A/C to cool off when you get back in.
+ If you’re in the market for car, please consider getting a low- or no-emissions vehicle. A hybrid can be a good option, or you can get a diesel and then use biodiesel fuel. To learn more about hybrids, click here. To learn more about biodiesel, click here.
+ Or what about a motorcycle or a scooter instead of a car? These two-wheel options are much cheaper than cars and they often get 70 mpg or better. You’ll save a ton of money over a car! Check out some cool motos and scooters here.
Popularity: 2% [?]
February 27th, 2008
U.S. Cities Pedaling in the Right Direction
Will 2008 be the Year of the Bike? Washington D.C, San Francisco, New York, Chicago, Arlington and Portland all have low cost bike-sharing programs in the works – with several set to launch in 2008.
Most U.S. bike-share plans will be modeled after Paris’ successful Velib program that is funded by advertising behemoth JCDecaux, who purchased the bikes as partial payment for Paris billboard advertising rights. On similar terms, Clear Channel Outdoor will run the bike-sharing programs in D.C. and San Francisco, according to the AP.
About 120 bicycles will be deployed in the first phase of the Washington D.C. program at 10 locations around the city. Details on membership pricing have not been announced yet. Apparently the bikes will be stored in user stations around the city and members can get access to the bikes using a special card. The launch date is not official yet but should be in in the late spring of 2008. (We hope!)
The simple efficiency of the bicycle, as a short distance mode of transportation, is amazing. If automobiles advanced to a place where they were soundless and ran on pollution-free, rapidly renewable fuel, they would still pale in comparison to a bike that offers low-impact exercise and is made with significantly less material. Ironically, the first widely popular “high wheel” bicycle came along in the late 19th century at the beginning of the Industrial Revolution.
Many turn of the century innovations were a catalysts to our current climate crisis, yet excellent solutions, such as the bicycle, were invented at the same time. When discussing tactical solutions to global warming, noted environmentalist Paul Hawken says, “The technological solutions are here. I’m not saying that stunning new things aren’t being invented all the time, but that’s not the obstacle. The obstacle, of course, is ourselves”.
Well, it looks like we may be stepping out of the way when it comes to utilizing the time tested efficiency of the bike. Kudos to modern cities for jumping on the bike-sharing bandwagon and getting big business to pay for it!
Popularity: 2% [?]
