DUDE... I GOT A HYBRID!

After a week of deliberating in the case of veggie fuel vs. hybrid I've made a decision and the result is a brand new 2008 Honda Civic Hybrid. Let it be known that this was not a decision entered into lightly. Furrowed brow and gnawed pencils were the order of the day for a good many minutes each day as I weighed the cost, convenience and of course, environmental benefits of the two options. It was a whisper-close decision in the end, but I chose the Civic and after driving it home from the dealership have not second-guessed myself once.

The choice wasn't so much between a veggie car and the Civic as it was between a particular 1983 red Mercedes Benz 300 series for sale on ebay that had been professionally converted to run on anything from diesel to biodiesel to vegetable oil to used crank case grease. When I was a kid the Mercedes, with it's cool hood ornament, represented the ultimate in driving to me, so there was an strong emotional tie to the notion that I could actually own a Mercedes, and for under $4000 no less. However it is yet a dream deferred. Maybe next year...

Four-Part Decision
I used an arbitrary four-part decision process in weighing my options. The first was cost. This was tied into my existing Civic lease. By upgrading through Honda I could get the company to absorb the remaining six months of my lease (which was over $1000), ignore the dings and scrapes (which would have been noticed and charged for had I not re-leased) and since the car was closing in on 48,000 for my extended four-year lease, I avoided paying overage charges of 15¢ per mile. While the Benz in question wound up going for only $3400, I could add at least the $1000 in unpaid lease fees for my Honda to it plus body damage expenses.

Environmental impact was another factor. The Mercedes got, according to its owner, in the upper-20's to 30mpg. The Honda is listed at 40 city/45 hwy. Yet while a review of hybrid and biofuel message boards left me somewhat inconclusive, I decided that if I were to primarily fuel the Mercedes with veggie oil it would be by far the cleaner option. If I used biodiesel maybe a bit better, and if I resorted to diesel, which I probably would part of the time since stations with biodiesel are few in L.A., then the Civic would be a greener choice.

Which leads to third factor - convenience. In speaking with the guy who converted the Benz I learned that processing used restaurant grease (a likely source of veggie fuel for me) was no simple process. First, you have to proposition restaurants, hoping a few will agree to give you their used grease on a regular basis. Probably not much of a problem, but there's a time expenditure there - stopping by Arby's or Szechuan Surprise weekly in search of veggie oil.

Once you get the oil home (in several 5-gallon containers), you pour the stuff into a 55-gallon drum, where you let it sit for a few days. After the oil settles you pump it through a filter into another 55-gallon drum. This then becomes your car's fuel. Since I rent an apartment I don't have the space for one, let alone two, 55-gallon drums, plus a pump and replacement filters.

At this point the Civic started to move way out in front of the green Benz. It was only Factor #4 that made it a horse race down the stretch.

It should be no secret to anyone that most of America's foreign policy decisions, and many domestic ones, revolve around our oil lust. We have let ourselves become inextricably tied up in one war overseas and are on the verge of another, all in the name of fossil fuel. And with all of the money we're pouring into the OPEC nations we're actually funding many of those who swear themselves to be our enemies. It's a twisted system of which we are fully responsible.

Biofuel presents a brilliant way in which we can not only eliminate our dependence on the Middle East, but create an entirely new export. Plus, a flourishing biofuel industry would bolster our farmers, essentially returning the power that is currently with OPEC nations, back to America's working class. And with clean-burning veggie fuel we'll lower greenhouse emissions to boot.

LESS IS MORE
In the end, after carefully weighing all factors in the balance I decided to go with the Civic, just barely, based on a single factor: time. I've committed myself to doing as much as I can to help make the world a better place. While driving a veggie-fuel car would certainly contribute to this goal, the requirements would impact significantly on my time, be it stopping at restaurants, filtering my fuel, finding a place to store the drums, or even driving out of my way to a biofuel station. While I could lessen my own carbon footprint with a biodiesel, I would become less able to carry out my work in reaching large numbers of people. In the end it became a numbers game. Less time spent maintaining my ride means more time available to save the world.

And the fact is, the Honda Civic Hybrid is a Near-Zero emissions vehicle. While it's not a perfect solution to either our environmental or geopolitical issues, it's a good step in the right direction. And it is a pretty slick-looking machine, if I do say so myself.

So while I've said "Yes" to hybrid, I by no means am saying "No" to biofuel. It is in my future, of that I'm sure, and the very near future at that.

-Shawn Perine