I mentioned recently in Purposeful Pondering Ezine * that one of my values that I share with my family is to be ‘earth friendly.’ Like most values there is an endless number of ways to explore and express this value. So, while we’re doing many things to save on energy and to reduce our environmental ‘footprint’ we realize there are many more steps to take.

For example, we have replaced most of our light bulbs with energy efficient florescent bulbs. It’s been a relatively painless process. Each time a standard light bulb burns out, we install a florescent one in its place. We also recycle our cardboard, plastic and glass, and we grow some of our own vegetables in the summer.

However, one area that we’ve been concerned about both economically and environmentally of late has been the automobiles we drive. Ann drives a 1996 Ford Windstar and I drive a classic 1985 Mercedes. They’ve both been good cars for us, being relatively maintenance fee and also, since they are older models, we were able to purchase them without having a car payment, something we both like very much.

But, neither of them are particularly kind to us or to mother Earth when it comes to making visits to the gas pump, averaging around 18-20 miles per gallon. Not as bad as many of the SUV’s and trucks that are so popular here in the North Carolina mountains but far from fuel efficient. So, we’ve been doing our research looking for an automobile that would be a better fit for our values. Meanwhile, in the back of my mind I’ve wondered how much buying a more fuel efficient car would really help since that would mean passing along the Mercedes to someone else who will continue to drive it for at least a few more years. Am I really improving matters? Well, I guess it’s better for at least one of the two parties concerned to be moving to a more Earth friendly vehicle. Yet, it still bugged me a bit.

Recently, Ann and I stumbled upon another alternative — one that we’re exploring along with a growing number of other people. It goes by various names but basically it’s a grass roots technology that allows you to use water as your fuel, thus turning your car into a kind of hybrid.

Now, I know I was skeptical about this at first myself, and for sure the jury is still out on just how effective this truly is. But I’ve read some pretty strong testimonials that are claiming anywhere from 20% to 70% better gas mileage, and it appears that the technology works particular well on older vehicles.

So, we’re giving it a try, not only for our own benefit and not only because, if it works, it’ll be consistent with our values, but also so I can share it with you. You can check out the information site I’m using to explore this by GOING to Water4Gas .

And I know even as I write this that the idea of running your car off of water sounds… Well, too good to be true. In actual fact, the proponents of this aren’t saying you can run your car completely off of water, least not yet, but that it can help reduce your dependency on fossil fuel and that it’s something we can do now, rather than 5, 10 or 20 years down the road.

And remember, I’m exploring and experimenting with this, so if you’re skeptical, stay tuned. I’ll let you know what I find out and then you can make your own decision. For me the next step is to make an ‘electrolyser’ which is one of the chief components that will convert water to HHO and which then combines this gaseous form of water with the gasoline and air mixture which is supposed to make the gas burn more efficiently. I plan to install or have installed one of these in both of our vehicles and to then measure our mileage, so check back often and I’ll let you know how it’s going.

In the meantime, here are a few tips for saving on gas from Wiki-How:

1. Don’t drive. Don’t drive a car when you don’t have to. Ridesearch.com or Carpool, walk, take the bike, or take a bus. These will not only save gas, but also will help save our environment and may be better for your health. Do you really need to drive to the store that is only a couple of blocks down the street?

2. Drive Conservatively. Avoid jackrabbiting, and driving too fast. The faster you drive over 60 mph, the more gas you use. Try going the speed limit for a change.

3. Get a better air filter. More efficient brands of air filters cost a little more but will pay for themselves in most vehicles in fuel savings.

4. Get Low Resistance Tires. Some tires, such as Michelin Energy MX 4 Plus are supposed to increase gas mileage.

Learn more at WikiHow.com

(Life On Purpose Institute has been publishing Purposeful Pondering ezine since 1997, making it one of the longest running ezine publications on the net. You are a subscriber right? If you want a regular dose of insights and inspiration for living on purpose, you can Subscribe Here.