Summer vacation? Traveling on a plane or car?

A recent article analyzed the fuel efficiency of airlines and found they get 60 to 75 seat miles per gallon of fuel in 2009.  Better than the 50 mpg of a Toyota Prius hybrid automobile. Alaska, JetBlue, Southwest, and Continental were best.  The most fuel efficient planes were the Boeing 777-200ER wide body at 82 mpg and Boeing 737-900 at 99 mpg.  The Airbus A320 at 77 mpg is their best.

Want to go a step further? We noticed a Climate passport kiosk in the airport.  You can pay to offset your airplanes emissions. A 2,000 Miles (4 hr flight) generates 1,869 lbs of  CO2, and costs $11.44 to offset.  The money goes toward:

“The Carbon Offsets purchased through the Climate Passport Carbon Footprint Calculator are sourced from the Garcia River Forest, a conservation-based forest management project located in Mendocino County, California. The project achieves multiple goals including: increased sequestration and storage of carbon in native redwood forests, wildlife habitat restoration, and a sustainable supply of certified wood products.”

Tripbase has a CO2 Emissions Calculator that’s been made to help people out with being a bit more green and socially responsible when it comes to flying.

RFQF6F74RYC6 It is hard matching EPA estimates for any car, especially hybrids. I found some helpful Prius Mileage tips, some of which are counter intuitive.

“..rapid acceleration to speed followed by cruising is actually more efficient, though counterintuitive”

“, keeping the windows open is more economical. The rationale: Battery drain from air conditioning uses more gasoline than aerodynamic drag caused by open windows.”

This one will have everyone passing you: “Remember that for every mph above 55 in a Prius, you could lose up to one mpg, mostly due to atmospheric drag — even with its advanced aerodynamic body.”

“..motor-generators (MGs) reach their maximum rpm at about 42 mph, which forces the engine to run to prevent damage to the MGs. So at speeds above 42, the engine must run, which creates added friction. This must be compensated for to maintain speed, causing a reduction in fuel economy.”

Source: CNNMoney.com

CNNMoney.com has a nice analysis of how fast a hybrid pays off. They compared a buying a new $24,548 Toyota Prius Hybrid vs a conventional $19,635 Toyota Camry.

You can see that it takes 4.5 years to break even with gas at $4, 6 years at $3. Some hard numbers that should help prevent you from paying a crazy markup for any hot new green hybrid or electric vehicle.

Kiplinger’s has a Green Car Calculator that compares two cars costs and 5 year overall costs.

Remember that it takes a LOT of energy to build a car, so it may be more eco to keep what you have or buy a used fuel efficient vehicle. A hybrid still emits about 20 pounds of carbon with each gallon of gas you burn up.

Check out our hybrid driving tips.

Edmunds.com has a new Gas-Guzzler Trade-In Calculator that helps you figure out the pay back period and fuel saving associated with trading in a vehicle for a new more fuel efficient one.

“A common example demonstrates the potential pitfalls of ditching that SUV: A consumer trades in a four-year old GMC Yukon, worth $13,483, for a new $21,647 Toyota Prius. The difference is $8,164. If the consumer drives 1,200 miles per month and gas costs $4.07 per gallon (national average), the monthly fuel savings will be $201.34. While this may seem attractive, it will take 41 months to pay back the additional cost of the Prius over the trade-in value of the Yukon.”

Considering a Prius would probably cost more than $21,647, the pay back time is even longer especially if gas prices fall. Consider regular high mileage compacts such as the Honda Fit.

Also consider a recent (2 or 3 year old) vintage fuel efficient preowned car.  The biggest cost in owning a car is depreciation at almost 50%, followed by fuel costs at near 20%.

A recent article on Car Sharing Services reminded me that these services are great ways to get rid of your car and save money.  You need to fall within the car share service area of a firm and need to adjust your lifestyle.  Urban dwellers with access to public transportation for daily commuting are most compatible with Car Sharing, making it green commuting.

Because the car is not as convenient, you will almost automatically consolidate trips and reduce unnecessary journeys.

No gas, car maintenance, payments, insurance, garaging to worry about! Most charge an application fees then from  $5.95 an hour.

You also get a different cars to drive..  Mini coopers, Prius, Scions, etc

Making money on it is another story. ZipCar has been unprofitable over its 10 years of operation.