And yes, I confess, I get a little lippy about how great my Prius is.

Here’s why: I just returned from a 2500 trip. Going west, (against the wind), I got 54 mpg (that’s an actual miles/gallons calculation).

I haven’t calculated the return trip yet, but the instrumentation said 60/58/60 mpg per day. I could have gotten 61 or maybe even 62 today, but a bad rainstorm in the middle of the mountains cut the mileage down. (For the record, calculated mileage is usually about 2 mpg less than instrumentation mileage).

Finally, I note that I used one tankful of gas each day. Most days I had 1 or 2 “clicks” left. This morning, when the warning light came on (the final “click” blinks), my mileage read 530 miles before I filled up. Today, after traveling almost 400 miles, I still have more than 1/3 of a tank left.

To ElMondo: I don’t look at the Prius. I drive it.

Perhaps so, but if Clinton hadn’t blocked drilling in ANWR 14 years ago, we’d have that estimated million barrels a day. That could’ve been very handly lately.

Just because something won’t provide instant results, it doesn’t mean it has no value. If we keep postponing or declining to do things because it takes time to come to fruition, we’ll never accomplish anything.

“We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon and do the other things, not because they are easy but because they are hard.”
- JFK

They don’t make Democrats like that any more.

I’d rather walk when I can, only drive when I have to, share rides when it works, and save energy other ways (looking at better windows and more efficient appliances like the fridge and A/C; already went CFL in my most used lights with the exception of one fixture that can’t use ‘em). If I want a fuel efficient car, I’ll get a different hybrid than the Prius – one that doesn’t try to advertise itself as one – or just go after a smaller car. But gawd… the Prius is the last car I’d choose. I’d sooner go after an old eighties diesel Rabbit or something than that car.

For my driving (22 miles to and back from work, through that dreaded 101 between Woodland Hills and Glendale), I get about 45MPG.

But TerryeL, we’ve been giving that “conservation thing” a try for over three decades. The first “CAFE” standards mandating improved fuel efficiency in automobiles was passed in 1975.

Likewise, we’ve been subsidizing the development of alternative fuels for roughly the same period of time.

Neither has succeeded in either reducing prices or reducing our usage of oil.

The solution is for government to get out of the way and allow capitalism to work. How many times does government intervention in the economy have to fail before people will realize its futility?

Verdict: Wow!

I drove 356 miles and it took 6.97 gallons of gas for a mpg of 51.07. This was a round trip from Manhattan to the Hamptons and back, so roughly half at around 65 and the other half around 35. I ran the A/C only for about two hours as it was unusually cool this weekend. Traffic going out was horrible so I crept along, electrically, I read a web site about how to get the best mileage, which worked well for the LIE. Accelerate very slow and the gas motor won’t kick in to around 27 mph, sometimes it didn’t start until high 30′s. Acceleration if you need it is brisk with both the gas motor and electric pulling together, especially apparent as you start due to the elec motor torque curve.

The car had 1400 miles on it, which is notable because Prius owners claim to increase the mpg around 10% after it is well broken in, north of 10k miles.

And I agree with Roger. We need to give that conservation thing a try. In capitalism the supply must increase or the demand must decrease if we are to see lower prices. ANWR would take a decade to get on line. Even the oil shale out west will take time and if it is eventually approved, it is an expensive process and will not be financially feasible unless prices remain relatively high.

Here in Indiana they are building a coal gasification plant at Edwardsport. They received their air permit from the state back in Jan. 2008, but it will still take a long time for them to come on line.

I was hoping that when the new oil field was discovered off of Brazil it would help ease market concerns, but it had no impact.

The Saudis should be nervous. More and more people are starting to think in terms of energy other than oil.

Recently Bush said that industrialized countries would have to move beyond carbon based fuels. The guys at Power line seemed to think that was some sort of betrayal, but it is just an acknowledgment that the world is changing.

Is global warming caused by people? I doubt it, but most people believe there is at least some connection. So maybe we need to think of ways of using that to serve another purpose. Besides, we all know what happens to a lot of that oil money..and I am not talking about Exxon here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiNA0cpCq4U

I get around 38-40 mpg in my camry hybrid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiNA0cpCq4U

I get around 38-40 mpg in my camry hybrid.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CiNA0cpCq4U

I get around 38-40 mpg in my camry hybrid.