Originally Posted by Emmerich

I might buy a Porsche 914 that gets 35mpg. Car costs 1200 bucks. Seems like a no brainer. Other vehicles (6.3 & 6.9) are a joke, my Jeep gets 20. For each gallon I burn, the 914 goes 75% further. Assume gas is $3.15 for now. If I drive 1000 miles I burn 50 gallons in the Jeep, 28.6 in the 914. I save 21.4 gallons, or 67.5 dollars. So after 17,800 miles the 914 has paid for itself.

Point being even though it is easy to find a car that is more economical that another, the total cost of ownership is important. For example, if you bought a car that gets twice the MPG as your old car, but costs twice as much, will it really pay out? Of course there are a lot of other variables, such as the fact you might be wanting to replace the car anyway, etc.

I remember seeing a news story on TV about a couple in East Texas who put a windmill on the farm to generate electricity. I think they said the might cut their usage by 1/3 to 1/2. But the windmill cost $55,000 and the pretty much knew it would never pay for itself.

I know they thought they are being green, but all of that comes at a price. This is why the U.S. will be on fossil fuels for a long time. Changing technologies will be EXPENSIVE, and we Americans don't like to be told what to do, much less having to spend more money to do it.