I don't have the answers yet, but I have learned enough to be dangerous, and ask better questions..

As opposed to gettting off on it, I suppose, which you could still do any time you're stuck in the ol' dentist chair too long. "hey doc, this cleaning's taking a little long...how bout some of that there gas to help pass the time? I might just find myself laughing my way into the arms of George Clooney....ahhh sweet George...I just knew you were this hot..."

I bought a hybrid. Yes, I really did. I am not sure why I did, just felt the urge to be more....green somehow. I had a nice Mercedes, and it was billed to get 30 mpg highway. But I found my results, going 80mph most of the time, hovered more around the 25mpg mark. Not too good.

So what kind of hybrid you ask? Well, a Ford Escape hybrid. And not without doing considerable research first. I really have to say, 6 months later, that I am still pretty impressed with it. It was supposed to do 36 city and 32 highway (that's mpg, NOT mph, but there is a complaint, pretty valid, that we hybrid drivers take rather a lot longer to accelerate). It actually turns in a slightly better performance than that. Around the city, 36 mpg is pretty standard. However, on the highway, I have been able to nudge it to 40 mpg.

And that's an SUV. Pretty cool. Plus it holds my big dog, my kid, her friend, and loads of camping gear. It can drive totally in electric mode for about 25 miles, and goes up to 40 mph totally on electric. Do I plug in? I do not. The friction generated from depressing the brakes recharges the engine, so stop and go traffic is this puppy's forte. But if I am not depressing the brakes much, the gas engine charges the battery. It's pretty neat. Only downside: going up steep hills, you're on gas only, and the gas engine is a hog, I think. It gets 10-15 mpg going up hills, not normally a problem until I hit that 3 mile hill in Camarillo. Then it rots. Driving in electric is neat - like driving a giant golf cart.

I've also been checking out the whole biodiesel thing because while I am enjoying cheaper and fewer fill ups than many friends, I realize eventually I'd like to get completely off petroleum if possible. And apparently it is possible. I discovered America is producing the stuff like crazy, off soybeans, and fleet trucks are using it. It comes in a couple of grades - as a blend of 20% biodiesel with 80% petroleum diesel, and it also is sold as 100% biodiesel. My understanding is that it runs in regular diesel engines - no conversion needed, but it acts as a solvent and may result in needing some fuel filter replacements and other things.

Here's the cool part, though. With some conversion of lines, diesel engines can run 100% biodiesel and emit half the junk petroleum kicks out now. I think Nitrous oxide emissions go up about 10%, so that will have to be dealt with. But the CO2 is halved, and even better, is the kind of CO2 plants can digest and turn back into oxygen.

And where does one buy biodiesel? Here in Santa Barbara, they have TWO pumps, and it's cheaper than regular diesel.

Even cooler.

I met a couple Saturday who tried to get me to sign numerous petitions, one on alternate fuel exploration. We started talking about biodiesel, and I learned that they had converted their 62 VW van to run pure biodiesel, and actually spent $500 or so making it happen. Then they drove that bus across the country using....fryer grease they siphoned out of restaurant garbage.

Get out. No, they did it. And there are more and more of them.

That's for me.

Not siphoning grease out of trashcans necessarily. That could be fun to explain to the nice policeman. Nor do I want to get in competition with other siphoners, and get into eco-battle kind of situations. No thanks. But I am totally ready to get off fossil fuels, and get into a future that looks a whole fricking lot more green.

I think investing in companies that produce diesel engine replacements for cars, conversion kits for biodiesel, and biodiesel producers and distributors is probably my next step. Get green, and rich.

Cool.