1/2 -- Transportation Projects

This page describes our massive and complex plan for cutting energy use for automobile transport -- we bought a Prius. Some things just turn out to be easier than you thought they would be.

The totals to date for Transportation Projects are:

23,900 KWH/yr energy saving

6.0 tons/yr reduction in carbon dioxide emissions

Total cost of projects $3000

First year return of 62%

Bought A Toyota Prius Hybrid
We bought a Toyota Prius hybrid more than a year ago. This has been our single most effective change. It accounts for more than a third of our total GHG reduction. And, It is a great car to own and drive. It has also a great investment. More information Hybrid Calculator
Energy Saving/yr	23900KWH	Initial Cost	$3000 *	DIY Labor	0 hrs
CO2 reduction	11900 lb	$'s Saved/year	$1880	DIY difficulty	0
Energy Source	Gasoline	1st Year Return	62%
		10 yr saving (10% fuel inflation per year)	$29950
Cost Estimate: The Prius replaced a very old Outback that was past due. I used $3000 as an estimate of the premium we paid for the hybrid feature (including some tax rebates). In a way, I'm not sure it was fair to charge this against the hybrid, because the other cars we were considering were just as expensive as the Prius, they just had different feature sets (e.g. 4WD instead of the Hybrid power plant). Dollar Saving: I did the cost saving by comparing what it would have cost to put the miles on our Honda Pilot (a relatively good mileage, car based SUV) instead of the Prius. This may or may not be the way some would do it, but for us it is reality -- if we don't drive the Prius we are going to be driving the Pilot. This turns out to be 324 gallons for the Prius for the year, rather than 951 gallons for the Pilot. A saving of 627 gallons, or $1880 at $3 per gallon. I used this Hybrid Calculator for both fuel and GHG saving. This is for 18000 miles per year, which is just about exactly what we have actually driven the Prius. * This is an estimate of the premium that we paid for the Prius hybrid features over a non-hybrid car. It includes the effect of the 2005 MT and federal tax rebates.

Drive Less
We drive to much, and we are trying to drive less. So far, we have not had a lot of success, but I do think we are headed toward doing better. Bozeman is getting transit (at last), and I am seriously thinking about doing some from of Don's electric PV scooter for little runs into town. More information
Energy Saving/yr	0 KWH	Initial Cost	$0	DIY Labor	0 hrs
CO2 reduction	0 lb	$'s Saved/year	huge potential	DIY difficulty	100
Energy Source	Gasoline	1st Year Return	huge potential
		10 yr saving (10% fuel inflation per year)	huge potential
Cost Estimate: Zero. Dollar Saving: The dollar saving could be huge, but, so far, nothing for us.

Green House Gas Emissions:

Green House Gas gas reductions were estimated like this.

DIY Difficulty:

In the project descriptions, "DIY difficulty" is a 1 to 10 rating of how hard the project is to do yourself: 1 being very easy, and 10 being "No chance I'm ever doing that again".

Economics:

There are a lot of ways to do a good job of calculating economic return -- Internal Rate of Return (IRR), Life Cycle Costs, ... I think most of these just go right over peoples heads, so I decided on three less accurate, but very simple indicators: 1) dollars saved in fuel in the first year, 2) first year rate of return, which is just (first year $ saving/cost of project), and 3) 10 year fuel saving with 10% rise in fuel prices each year. I think these give a pretty good feel for how good the project is economically without requiring an econ degree to understand? If you have a suggestion for a better way, I'd like to hear it.

10 Year Cost Saving:

The "10 year saving" uses a fuel inflation factor of 10% per year. This may be higher that what we will actually experience, but I used it as a measure of what would happen if fuel prices continue to go up at a high rate. If you would like to use another factor, here are some others:

For 15% per year increase, multiply the first year saving by 20.30

For 10% per year increase, multiply the first year saving by 15.93

For 8% per year increase, multiply the first year saving by 14.49

For 5% per year increase, multiply the first year saving by 12.58

For 3% per year increase, multiply the first year saving by 11.46

For 0% per year increase, multiply the first year saving by 10.00

Gary 08/02/06