Our automobile culture is devastating for the environment, but private passenger vehicles are unlikely to disappear from our roads anytime soon. Greener cars and fuels will be a necessity for many years to come.

Green Transportation Basics is a guide to greening your personal driving habits by dramatically improving the efficiency of an existing vehicle using simple measures such as trip planning and regular maintenance to improve fuel economy. This handy guide also explores the most promising new green carsand trucks, including electric vehicles, hybrids, plug-in hybrids, and natural-gas cars. And it critically examines sustainable fuels includingethanol, biodiesel, straight vegetable oil, hydrogen, and biomethane, evaluating each according to a set of established criteria. Each green fuel source must:

• be socially, economically, and environmentally sustainable
• have a high net energy yield
• be clean, abundant, renewable, affordable.

Don't let your dream of greening your transportation idle – Green Transportation Basics will guide you through the myths and misconceptions and provide clear options for the road to a more sustainable future.

Dan Chiras is a highly respected educator and the internationally acclaimed author of 30 books on residential renewable energy and green building including The Homeowner's Guide to Renewable Energy and Power from the Sun. Dan has studied and worked in renewable energy and energy efficiency fields for over three decades and is the president of Sustainable Systems Design and is the director and lead instructor at The Evergreen Institute's Center for Renewable Energy and Green Building (www.evergreeninstitute.org), where he teaches workshops on energy efficiency, solar electricity, solar hot water, small wind energy, green building, natural plasters, and natural building.

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