Your Questions About Green Living

The Expert answers:

Well cars are not so bad. No one would buy a “all eco friendly” car because it would suck or be to expensive.

The Expert answers:

There are two *very* simple ways for the US government to encourage consumers to buy eco-friendly cars:

1) Provide tax breaks for cars that achieve more than X miles per gallon of fuel economy. Conversely, place a special “gas guzzler” tax on cars that get less than Y miles per gallon. The gas guzzler tax actually already exists for cars that get ridiculously low gas mileage – like Ferraris – but it could be changed so that any car that gets less than 20 mpg is hit with an extra tax, while cars that get more than 30 mpg get a tax rebate.

2) The other easy way is simply to raise gasoline taxes. As we’ve saw in 2008, when gasoline is very expensive, people drive less and also buy more efficient cars (like the Prius). As the price of gas has dropped, so has demand for the Prius. Relative to Europe, US gas taxes (around 18 cents/gallon) are ridiculously low. According to Wikipedia, the Netherlands has a fuel tax of about $3.50 per gallon. That’s just the tax. It’s no wonder therefore that the Netherlands has some of the highest rates of bicycle usage, plus I’m sure most people who buy cars there prioritize fuel economy very highly.

Hope this helps! Reducing our dependence on foreign oil and weaning Americans from gasoline would be great for the environment, our trade balance, our national security and probably our health too!

– Aaron Dalton, Editor, http://1GreenProduct.com

The Expert answers:

Oh but they give them the warm and fuzy and feel oh so good

The Expert answers:

I have a pickup truck..i carry hay..gravel,,feed,,fencing…its 4 wd…if and when they have something affordable and as useful ill stick with what works..so for now….NO

The Expert answers:

The car you are speaking about is the Honda Clarity – it is a hydrogen / fuel cell powered vehicle. I’ve seen quotes that put its’ pre-production value at $100,000 – thus the big lease payment.

Honda is including all the hydrogen fuel in the price, which otherwise would be hard to come by. I’ve heard reports that they were considering also providing home-installed hydrogen generation equipment as part of the lease.

All these expensive prototypes would have huge price tags if offered for sale.

GM and Chevrolet are lending their hydrogen fuel cell CUV to 100 consumers for a three month “free” trial – fuel included. Likewise, the 2008 estimated purchase price would be about $100,000.

I know there are many people who have made electric or alternate fuel vehicles for prices in the $1,000’s – not $100,000. All these “conversions” require lots of hard work, some knowhow and acceptance of the compromises.

The compromises are: recharge/refuel range, speed, convenience and the obvious fact it is normally not a new car 🙂

There are some companies that are doing new car “conversions” but the final prices are at least twice the original purchase price.

Most automakers are working on EV, or Series Hybrid EV’s (where a small gas/diesel/ethanol engine recharges the batteries). The first versions of these will cost 2-3 times a gas powered car of the same size but will use much less fuel and will an impact on the environment for day-to-day use vs. Similar gas only vehicles. The Zenn, Aptera and Think! Vehicles are good examples.

By choosing to drive less or driving a home-built EV you can have the desired environmental impact and not go broke in the process. Just don’t wonder too far from a friendly wall socket.