Try 51 miles per gallon, city and highway combined. Not counting the cost of the electricity.

(my emphasis in bold)

Unfortunately, the easier solutions are not popular solutions, and may require a fundamental change in lifestyle. Change may be good, but it also can be painful. Most of us will fight it with all of our might. Take for instance carpooling, public transportation, biking, or walking to work. Granted, urban sprawl has made these last two options impractical for many, at least when it comes to traveling to the office, but many who could employ one or more of these alternatives would rather drive to work alone.

What I'm getting at here is that rather than focusing exclusively on technology to provide solutions, we need to look more closely at our individual choices. Many times I've seen neighbors jump into their vehicles for quick runs to a nearby market for cigarettes or a six-pack of soda. I could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea: one easy way to reduce vehicle operating costs and help the environment is the simple expedient of driving less.

Furthermore, as a society, we need to re-evaluate some of our institutions. Specifically, I'm thinking of busing. Many kids who could walk to a nearby school are instead bussed across town. If busing worked, I'd be more tolerant of it, but like many well-intentioned (I think) ideas, this one has proved to be not only counter-productive, but also very expensive. Think of those fleets of yellow buses and all the attendant costs, and yes, I'm thinking specifically of our flabby, ignorant youth as one.

As for cars, was it not long after the CAFE standards were mandated that Detroit started pushing SUVs? Many folks have the curious idea that bigger vehicles are safer, and surely, if you get into a head-on collision with some poor soul's Yaris in your Escalade, well, somebody's going to get squorshed (go away spell-check) and it won't be you. But what many don't consider is that you might very well have a much better chance of avoiding a wreck in a smaller, lighter, more nimble little car like that Yaris, than in a hulking, top-heavy, turn-over prone SUV. SUVs also have the dangerous characteristic of blocking lines of sight on the highway. As you may gather, I detest them, not so much because of what I've mentioned above, which is plenty, but because they became so popular and hence, so numerous. It seems that once something becomes a craze, there's just no stopping it.

Finally, I'll wind up my rambling rant by closing with the observation that superficial green solutions may be easy to sell but ultimately counter-productive once total costs become clear and are included in the equation.