Are Fuel Options Truly Options?

Pull up to the pump, swipe my debit card, glug, glug, glug, look at my total for 10 gallons and promptly faint. $40 bucks to fill up my hybrid?!? This is insanity, this is more than insanity this is….this is….Hummer pay back!!! The fuel prices are bittersweet for me; my childish side says, “Neener, neener, neener…don’t you wish you were greener?” And my adult side says, “Ouch…there’s got to be a better way for all of us.” But are fuel options truly options?
If you are one of the few that can open your back door to a personal backyard bio-diesel processor and haven’t blown up your house yet trying to make it…you have options. If I wanted B99 I would have to drive 145 miles. Thankfully the bio-diesel retailer map shows more pumps per state than I first thought...so I may be out of luck but Missouri looks like BD heaven! (From biodeiselamerica.org: http://www.biodieselamerica.org/retailers)
For those wanting to opt for plug over pump you’ll be happy to know that just last week there was a conference in Washington, D.C entitled, “Plug in Electric Vehicles 2008: What Role for Washington?” (See the agenda at: http://guest.cvent.com/EVENTS/Info/Agenda.aspx?e=1ba5bcee-2991-4be2-b8cb-a994058fc5ce See the transcripts at: http://www.brookings.edu/events/2008/0611_plugin_vehicle.aspx) Dave Vieau, CEO of A123Systems, is telling me that for just over $10,000 I can buy a conversion kit which can turn my Prius into a plug-in electric car and turn my 45+ mpg into 100mpg! This is amazing and thank God I can dip into my retirement savings and live hand to mouth for a few years when I’m 67 because this is worth it! (For the full story check out: http://www.forbesautos.com/news/features/2008/plug-in-electric-vehicles-story.html) I wonder if Dave extends personal loans…
Diving into Hydrogen use I find it’s more befuddling than a Rubik’s cube blindfolded. Some might call Hydrogen over-glorified with all the publicity of zero emissions and Bush’s $2 billion dollar research plan…(check out: http://greenhome.huddler.com/wiki/hydrogen-cars) I still question…should we put all our alternate fuel eggs ($2 billion worth) into one atom splitting basket? Last for me to discuss is Ethanol which is here and now. (Check out: http://www.e85fuel.com/e85101/questions.php) Currently most of our gas is already 10% ethanol. On the market is E85 (85% ethanol, 15% gasoline) I myself would have drive 157 miles to get it…again with the unreachable alternative fuel pump…(Check out: http://www.e85refueling.com/) I would like to be more optimistic, but right now my options feel less like options and more like pipe dreams…