New ways to get 150 mpg

Are you cutting down on driving?  Finding ways to save fuel?  Here's the latest.

1. Build a whole new city. China, working with a British consulting firm, is building a whole new city that is eco-friendly and will not contribute to global warming, CO2 pollution, and so on.  No gas guzzling cars.  No petrol/gasoline. It will be mandatory for people to work in the same community in which they live  (Nine Shift becomes the law!)

2. Reconsider electric cars.  Two of my great aunts had electric cars. My mother remembers the great leg room available (no engine), plus how quiet they were.  Shelby Anderson of The Lakeland Times did a story recently on one electric car owner.  He can drive 100 miles on $2 worth of electricity. That translates to 150 miles per gallon! 
   This week Julie tried out her brother's new hybrid auto. Lots of computer-ish dials, she reports.

3. Share a car. Join a "car club" for $50 a month. Get a car off the lot anytime you need one, just $8 an hour. You don't pay for insurance, not even gas!  One shared-car takes 15 other cars off the highway (combine errands, only important driving done). Photo of electric car, courtesy of Shelby Anderson

Are you changing your driving habits? Tell us your thoughts on saving fuel - - and the world.

Comments

[ANNE]

I bought a PRIUs

[Lisa]

I have changed my driving habits a bit, but not much. I live in a rural area where there is no mass transit and retail (food, clothes, etc) is 10-15 miles or more a way. The university where I work is 7 miles away which is the closest thing I can drive to.

Because there is a shortage of child care in our area, I have to drive 10 miles away from where I work to take the kids each day and my husband picks them up. His work is 15-20 miles away.

My husband gets the more fuel efficient car. When we traded in our van recently, I wanted to get something more fuel efficient, but they don't have a hybrid van yet and SUV hybrids aren't a great improvement on gas mileage. The small wagons like Vibes and Matrixes don't have enough room for three kids in the backseat when 2 are in some sort of car seat. Mini-vans are stillr eally the only option and at 20 miles per gallon, that is not great.

I make fewer trips to the mall which is an hour away and I have bought more online, but day-to-day driving is hard to cut back on.

I get so frustrated when I hear the President say we are addicted to oil and we should conserve in ways such as: car pooling (my nearest car pooler would be more miles out of the way) or ride a bike (that would be interesting with three kids on board). My only other option is to trade in a car for a horse and buggy! Where are the real solutions?

[lekshe]

Now if China's human rights policies would just catch up with their eco-ideas.

Since 1950, an estimated 1.2 million Tibetans have been murdered by the Chinese government. China has ratified a number of UN conventions, including those related to torture and racial discrimination, and yet has repeatedly violated these in both China and Tibet.

The Chinese government has forcefully replaced Tibetan with Chinese as the official language of Tibet. Young Tibetans are being "re-educated" about their cultural past, with references to an independent Tibet being omitted.

The 1982 Constitution of the People's Republic of China guarantees freedom of religious belief, but China restricts the numbers of monks and nuns entering monasteries and discredits the religious authority of Dalai Lama. Monks and nuns have been tortured, killed and made to kill each other and their religious teachers. Many existing monasteries are populated to serve tourists' interests, and no longer practice their authentic and traditional practices.

Mandatory controls--even ones that support virtuous activities like ecologically sensitive lifestyle--should be carefully considered and used.