Hybrids, new news, and the looks

Some interesting news on hybrid cars today. First Toyota has announced a prius model that you can plug in, its currently in testing and development, but it will help usher in the electric car era again. http://www.batteryvehiclesociety.org.uk/wordpress/?p=216&sid=

On a different note, Marla and I have been approached by a variety of people that are admiring our new car, they either think its a great color, or mention our license plate "go gr33n", or they ask about the hybrid part.

It is usually positive or negative, I want to get one of these hybrids, or are they really saving you money?

Business week just did some rough calculations of how much oil has been saved. Not even a days worth of oil, but still, the hybrid market is small right now, we're getting there.

http://www.businessweek.com/autos/content/jul2007/bw20070724_501871.htm

Our car is currently getting around 26 miles per gallon, which is the same as some standard cars get without the hybrid engine. But we're driving an SUV, and its summer time with our A/C running it lowers it. Wait till winter time.

We also dont have to get the oil changed in the car as often, only every 10,000 miles. Normal cars are every 3,000. That is about 60-150 dollar savings depending on how much your oil changes cost.

Honestly, I have two things I like about our hybrid. One sitting in the drive thru line at starbucks with our engine off, slowly coasting forward knowing I'm not polluting the environment while I'm in line, and two it has made driving more fun again. I like to try to keep the MPG indicator at 30 or above. Instead of speeding, I'm trying to build speed slowly, and brake effectively.

So to those people who are negative about hybrids, I have this to ask you. I am trying to do my small part to save the environment, what are you doing?

Wind and sun power have to be the way of the future. I mean even if we can get corn or other products to produce 100% energy, I don't think that we can produce enough energy today to give every person on the planet the same comforts that I am used to in my daily life.

http://www.inhabitat.com/2007/07/17/flying-wind-turbines/

Wind turbines dreamed up in that article may just be one of the ways of the future. If they can get past government regulation and the oil company lobbyists.

Eternal Reefs - seriously update your final plans.

Well, I guess my wife and I haven't been doing such a great job of keeping our Go Green blog updated. We'll have to try a little better.

Lets see what is our update. Our hybrid Marinier is getting around 26 miles per gallon, I'm expecting it to go up even more once we get into some cooler months and stop using the A/C so much. We had our first oil change at around 6700 miles. Its been about 3 months since we got the car, and although the manual says every 10,000 miles. I was still curious if the 3 month rule applied.

The people at the Ford dealership who changed the oil though are more or less clueless. I'm not sure if this is their first hybrid or not, but they said every 10,000 would be fine, but weren't sure about the time frames. And then they put the little sticker in the upper left corner of my window with 3,000 miles more, instead of 10,000. So I've got a call into their manager to figure this out the right way for me.

We've planted some raspberry bushes outside in various places, with the hopes of growing tons of those, since they are my wife's favorite thing to eat, that should help the environment in the long run, less packaging, etc.

We have also been watching "Big Ideas for a Small Planet" on the Sundance channel. They just ran a very interesting show on how Religious Faith can be a major key to helping the environment.

My favorite part of that show was the Eternal Reefs (http://www.eternalreefs.com/), I think that is a fascinating idea, but would want to investigate the costs a little more. Of course I'd want the biggest reef available, and a super nice plaque, perhaps even a GPS option or a webcam, but I'd guess those aren't feasible yet. Either way I think it is a much better idea than anything else I've ever seen.

What are your thoughts?

-Bryan

The Perfect Starbucks Mug

Today we went out on a hunt for the perfect reusable starbucks mug. Starbucks will give you 10 cents off any drink they sell if you bring in your own cup and have that filled instead of a paper or plastic one.

Which is great. My wife and I are fond of the Iced Blended Cremes, zen tea, apple cider, and of course hot chocolate.

So what is the perfect mug? With or without a handle? Insulated or see through? We went through all the shelves at Starbucks and didnt find any we really liked. So on to a hunt online. When we find one that will work good for both cold and hot, has room for a straw or not, we'll be sure to let the masses know.

-Bryan

Our First Green Post

It is our goal to use our new domain name, gogr33n.com as a way of documenting Bryan and Marla's progress towards helping to save the planet.

From small things like not using so many napkins, to larger things, buying a hybrid car. We'll talk about the ups and downs of it all. Hopefully motivating everyone who reads to do their small part in helping too.

I'm not sure where we first got started, but I'd say we definately started taking more action after we finished watching Al Gore's movie the Inconvienent Truth.

-Bryan