My wife and I don't own a car. We live in NYC so only use public transportation. But when we visit my family in California we rent a car and when we can we take the opportunity to rent alternative energy vehicles. We have rented an all-electric RAV4 (LOVED it), a biodiesel VW (loved it), hybrids (not as good as they once were...you used to really get 50 mpg, now they aren't nearly as fuel efficient as they were), and most recently a FlexFuel car.
A FlexFuel car can take regular gasoline, but it can also take up to E85 ethanol. We liked this because the carbon footprint is less, it relies on domestic fuel more than foreign fuel, and it is on average about 40 cents per gallon CHEAPER than regular gasoline. So we could reduce our environmental impact a bit, help the American rather than Saudi economy, and save money.
Both in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara we used Conserv Fuel stations, an independently run gas station that in some locations also offers alternative fuels. Even their regular gasoline is cheaper than the nearby competition, and when they offered it we bought E85 for our Flex Fuel car. Out near the Salton Sea we had to rely on Arco stations (which is actually BP but USED to be a reasonably good company) for E85, but it was still a much cheaper option compared with regular gasoline...and avoided the whole drilling crap.
Conserv Fuel Los Angeles:
11699 San Vicente Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Phone: 310-571-0039
Conserv Fuel Santa Barbara:
150 S La Cumbre Rd
La Cumbre Ln
Santa Barbara, CA 93105
Phone: (805) 964-0938
Don't get me wrong...even using ethanol for fuel has its problems. But it is much better (and cheaper) than gasoline. And Conserv Fuel is a better gas station option than the corrupt, big name companies.
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