Sorry…I promise I’ll stop.

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/ let’s you do side by side comparisons of car emissions based on year and model. Devin’s new car is significantly more efficient than his 1994 one. He’s getting roughly 30% more miles to the gallon and his carbon emissions have decreased by over 1.5 tons/year.

I can see the argument progressing to something along the lines of “it’s an improvement, but look at it compared to the Prius.” Admittedly, the Prius swings for the fences when it comes to fuel-economy statistics, but I believe that looking at the situation economically makes a difference.

A bit of online price shopping showed that a Prius with the roughly the same options package as Devin’s Sentra would be roughly $6,500 more than the Sentra. If you go back and look at fueleconomy.gov, it gives estimates of the average fuel cost per year for each car. Comparatively, you’d be spending roughly $1600/year for gas on the Sentra and $900 for the Prius, or saving about $700/year. So if you net out fuel savings for 2 years, you are still paying over $5100 more for the Prius. In fact, it would take you over 9.5 years of fuel savings to break even on the increased cost of the car. And yes, please take number that with a grain of salt because I didn’t include fuel cost inflation…sue me, it’s a blog comment…:)

So I guess my overall conclusion is that Devin made a pretty solid decision in my book. Another conclusion I have reached as I write this is that it is perhaps a good thing I don’t have many nights of insomnia, because this is slightly ridiculous…

I considered it, ask Rachel, but I can’t drive a car like a Prius in Colorado. There’s a trade-off between power and efficiency and mountains need power.

I’m an accountant, I have a grasp on my financial decision. ;)

The problem is the economic incentives to switch aren’t strong enough. There absolutely is a demand for environmentally friendly products… that’s why it (organic food, organic clothing, hybrid cars) costs more. Look to your government or corporations, they’re as much the culprit.

It’s such a pain.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m very concerned for the environment. I think there are bigger things we can do though. I’m the kind of guy who looks at recycling and realizes two milk jugs a week does nothing.. even collectively. Maybe I will look into some credits, Rachel; good thinking.

Nicole: I envy you. Some day I hope to live where I can walk/bike to work every day. So, yes, my first job requires a commute from Broomfield to south Denver. :(

But, 50 mile commute? Ouch. Are you still in Boulder and commuting to Denver?