We have a truck.  It is a shiny black Ford F150 with an extended cab for our dog. It is old now, made in 1996, and has lasted well carting our loads (artwork and woodwork) and through numerous road trips east and west.  Our truck has two tanks for gas. If one tank runs out, we flip the switch and move to the second. On long trips we can usually drive for half a day without stopping. I could get to my mother’s house in 24 hours.  We are now wondering what we will be driving next and doing so with a new set of values.

Ford asked me to test drive the 2010 Fusion Hybrid and here are my thoughts.

Again, I love Ford. I like the feeling of being in a car made here. The fact that the new hybrids pollute less, tugs at my heartstrings. These are progressive treats that make things feel hopeful for our world. The hybrid starts on a battery and hums when turned on. I liked the safety features (backup projection with alarm, side view mirror signals to assist with the blind spot.) There is a flower icon on the dash that grows greener as your fuel efficiency improves (we took a 3 hour trip and averaged 37 mph.) The interior is “eco-responsible” and was one of my biggest interests since I love fabric and learning how things are made.  By researching production journeys, upstream and downstream, I can better evaluate the impact.  Online I found assorted information promoting methods explored by Ford:

•    Post consumer recycled material
•    ‘Suede’ fabrics made from pop bottles
•    Soy-foam seat cushions
•    Recycled resins from used detergent bottles
•    Recycled resins from used tires
•    Battery casings recycled into splash shields
•    Battery casings recycled into radiator deflectors
•    Nanotechnology
•    Plastic derived from corn, sugar beets, sugarcane, and switch grass

I don’t know what is true or not. I want to admire green attempts of any company, yet I don’t want to be naïve. In the perfect green world information would flow easily, from the source, for all to understand. I wish Ford would create a green section on their website just for me. I want to see data. I want to see pictures. I want read a FAQ section.   I have a dream for the perfect car and I hope that Ford can move quickly, daringly, and with the truest set of values in the forefront; the earth and how it supports life. As a stepping-stone into the future, this a good start.

So, I was hot for the hybrid. I drove about town and chatted up a storm about it. I was left with one question. When is the NEW FORD FULLY ELECTRIC CAR going to hit the production lines and be available?

Photo: Our road trip to Michigan.

Shopping for the right car can be really difficult and time consuming.  But shopping for a car that also treads just a little lighter on the earth and addresses environmental impact concerns, can be down right frustrating!  So what’s a green girl to do?  Luckily Greenopia.com (http://www.greenopia.com/USA/) has heard your cry and has done some of the heavy lifting for you by creating the newly-released 2009 Automobile Guide.

Of the 100 cars that made the list, the Toyota Prius, Honda Civic Hybrid and Jetta Clean Diesel got top billing for burning cleanly and for their incredibly high gas mileage.

Surprisingly Audi and Mazda also performed well, with a descent showing on Greenopia’s Automaker Guide (which rates the overall performance of auto manufacturers), and a statistically large number of cars that met at least the minimum criteria for the Automobile Guide as well.

Of course driving less, or not at all is the best way to reduce your carbon footprint, but if you simply must drive to get to where you’re going, using the guide could help you choose wisely.  The guide uses Greenopia’s EPA-recognized 4-Leaf rating system, and  evaluates fuel-efficiency, manufacturing materials, EPA SmartWay vehicle emissions and proxy data representing manufacturing processes to come up with the ratings.

And not only will driving a fuel-efficient car be better for the planet, it has fringe benefits too!  Veteran hybrid owners and those considering buying one should check out the US Department of Energy to see if your car qualifies for an energy tax credit ranging anywhere from $1, 950 to $3,400.  Also, driving a hybrid is a good way to meet like-minded people.  There are Meetup groups for hybrid owners all over the country and discussion forums such as Priusonline.com.  Or, you could start or join your local neighborhood idle reduction campaign, and show up wearing your “hybrid driver” T-shirt from the We Add Up Campaign which will donate part of the proceeds to environmental organizations around the world.  In the long-run, driving a greener car, might just do your social life, the planet, and your bank account a world of good!

Ladies if you have never been to a car show then may I suggest you high tail it to the next one that comes to town.  It’s pretty amazing to see what’s up and coming in the automotive world and not to mention fun (plus the place is just swirling with men!).

I was lucky enough to be a guest of General Motors at the Los Angeles Car show a couple weeks ago.  Myself and other green bloggers (Hank Green of EcoGeek.org, Justin McHale of Planet Green/Treehugger.com and Nick Aster of Triple Pundit.com and the magazine Mother Jones), along with a number of auto-bloggers, were given the opportunity to preview most of GM’s vehicles before the show opened to the public.  This gave us a chance to get up close and personal with the cars and the team of engineers.

While walking around with all the guys and doing some comparative shopping, one of the guys actually said it must be hard writing about cars for women?  I giggled (like a girl) only because I felt the question was a little awkard.  Was he implying women could car less about cars because we are….well women!

I told him no, actually it’s not, in case he hadn’t heard women buy cars too!  It was also pretty exciting to see two of GM’s engineers who were working on the hybrid technology and the battery for the Chevy Volt where women!!

The car show proved General Motors is the leader in automotive technology.  In fact I had heard from a luxury car maker that many are waiting to see what GM comes up with as far as alternative fuels ESPECIALLY concerning the Chevy Volt (an all electric car).  GM is putting the most money into research and development.  Say what you want about coporate giants like GM, but we have to recognize that the building industry and transportation are the two largest contributors to global warming so we need to be happy when they join the environmental agenda.  Besides the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid didn’t win Green Car Journal’s Green Car of the Year 2008 for no reason!

(In case you’re wondering who judged the competition it was a very distinguished panel.)

I’m not surprised they won considering they had the most cars nominated out of any car maker.

As much as we would like to see less cars on the roads, lets face it that’s not going to happen anytime soon.  So all we can do is make sure the vehicles we are buying are the most fuel efficient if not fuel free (the Volt will be!), because at the risk of sounding too girly there are so many other things I could be spending my gas money on….like shoes!

A couple weeks ago I received an email from a communications firm asking if I would like to fly out to the  Detroit, MI area to view General Motors new line of Hybrid vehicles as well as others that will be debuting in 2008.  Of course I immediately assumed this was a joke.  I was wrong!  It turns out GM was actually reaching out into the blogsphere in order to alert the world that they’ve heard our pleas (for more fuel-efficient cars)!

Before I begin describing my trip I must commend General Motors for being one of the first major car manufacturers to recognize bloggers as a serious voice in media and two for paying all my expenses for the trip.  The food was delish and the hotel was gorgeous, now on to why I was really there….

I along with other eco-bloggers, started off our visit with a dinner that allowed us to ask General Motor’s top level managers anything we wanted!  It was wonderful to hear how GM is coming out with some great new hybrid vehicles and they are expanding their efforts in producing cars that run on E85 fuel (ethanol derived from corn), but what I really wanted to know was, “are they a company that practices what they preach?” Terry Rahdigan, Director of Chevrolet Communications was able to answer that question for me.  General Motors focuses first on eliminating waste then recycling waste that can not be avoided. I was surprised to hear this as this is something MANY people and companies here in the US have not caught on to yet.  Recycling and re-using is great but first we must try to reduce our consumption in the very beginning.  General Motors currently have eight facilities that have achieved zero landfill status.  These facilities send no waste from production operations to landfills.  They recycle or create energy from all waste materials from daily operations.

It’s not just GM North America that benefits from their efforts, GM Europe have achieved many of the same standards.  I know we have a huge United Kingdom readership, and over there GM has received an accreditation from the Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme (EEAS) for their energy saving initiatives at the Ellesmere Port facility.

I have to admit car manufacturers and the construction industry are seen as two of the biggest culprits to global warming and the depletion of non-renewable resources; yet many consumers such as you and I are unaware that the leaders in these industries are actually trying to change that around.  I could speak till I’m blue in the face about the huge advancements in the green building industry since this is my trade, but because of my job, I’m forced to drive, everyday – a big truck at that!  And would you believe it’s a Chevy Silverado.  Chevy trucks are the best on the market, hands down, even its competitors have to admit that, yet I just couldn’t believe they haven’t yet come out with the hybrid truck!  Mickey Bly, Director of Engineering for Hybrid Integration informed me that late 2008 we will see the new hybrid trucks!

Since I had Mr. Bly’s attention at lunch I used that opportunity to inquire about GM’s commitment and efforts in producing fuel efficient vehicles.  There are over 350 engineers in the US and over 900 worldwide working on improving hybrid technology for GM.  They are committed to being at the forefront if not the leaders in fuel efficiency, hybrid technology and later using hydrogen fuel cells.

After speaking with all the nice folks at GM it was time to actually experience first hand what we’ve been talking about…..(to be continued)

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Next time, I’ll write about the driving lessons they gave us on safety maneuvers and about all the cars we were able to drive around Black Lake!  THIS WAS FUN!!!

[If you want to learn more about hybrid vehicles check out my column this week at Bellaonline.]

I am literaly jumping up and down here – I found a reference to purchase a green car on Clean Green Cars

So if you’re thinking about a new purchase – take a look at this guide first… wonderful