Look above. That used to be a yellow cheese school bus! Man, when I first saw this, I was too interested. I read all the steps, and looked at all the pictures of what Jake Von Slatt did. What he did was buy a cheap school bus (a little more than $2,000) and transform it into a beautiful, homemade RV. I like his homemade RV for a couple reasons:

1. He did it cheaply. The bus cost about $2,000, he did most of the work himself (or with his friends), and he got a LOT from the dump, craigslist, or freecycle.
2. He reused a lot of materials, thereby creating his RV in a very “green” way (reused bus, materials from dump, reused mess off websites).
3. You can see the process of the bus’s conversion. Seeing all the steps it takes is really interesting, and makes me want to (one day) attempt something like this. It’s really cool, so por favor take a look at it.

Anyhoo, enough with my thoughts. Enjoy this video of Von Slatt giving you a tour of his homemade RV that came from a lil’ ol’ cheese bus.

Here in North Carolina we’re in the midst of a good ol’ drought. As my backyard slowly turns into desert, I wonder if there’s a way to clean my car without using water.

Well now there is. It’s called Dri Wash n’ Guard. Apparently, you don’t need to use water with it, which means:

1. You’re saving water (and money)
2. You’re avoiding washing all the oil, dirt, and soap into the environment.

But how well does it really work? What if it’s a rip-off? Luckily, you can get yourself a free sample of Dri Wash n’ Guard here. I’m waiting to test mine out whenever I get it.

Over the last 100 years, we’ve gone from having very basic airplanes to landing on the moon. We’ve gone from using an abacus to handheld computers. We’ve gone from telegraph wires to cell phones. And yet, the Model T, waaay back in 1908, got more miles per gallon than MANY of today’s, modern, top-o-the-line cars. How is this possible? How have so many technologies improved so amazingly much, yet our fuel efficiency has barely changed?

By the way, 27.5 mpg isn’t the average mpg for cars — this is what the automakers have to get to by 2012!  We’re not even that far yet!

Next time you’re thinking about hopping in your car and driving somewhere, por favor consider riding a bike or taking the bus (if possible). Not only will you save money (it costs approximately 40 cents a mile to operate a car), but you’ll be polluting less AND helping to clear up congested roads. Plus, if you ride a bike, you’ll be getting swole at the same time from the exercise.

Here’s another example to make you think twice about skipping the bus and driving in yo’ car.

Everyone should know how many miles per gallon their car gets, but many people do not. I didn’t even know my car’s MPG, until today when I calculated it out.

How to Find Your Official Gas Mileage

If you want the quickly know your approximate mpg, the good ol’ U.S. government has set up this website where you can look up your car’s gas mileage or compare miles per gallon for different cars. And just recently, the EPA has changed how it calculates MPG to more accurately depict real world driving conditions.

According to their site, my car gets 24 miles per gallon (highway and city gas mileage combined). Based on an average gas cost of $3.01 per gallon and average annual driving of 15,000 miles, that works out to a whopping $1883 each year just spent on gas! That’s not even counting car repair costs, rotating tires, or oil cost.

How to Find Out Your Own MPG

To find out your car’s actual gas mileage, you just need to do some simple mathematics.

1. Fill up your car with gas, and reset your odometer to zero.
2. Drive like normal.
3. Next time you need gas, pull up to the gas station and write down how many miles you’ve driven since you last filled up.
4. Fill up your car, and write down how many gallons o’ gasoline it took.
5. To find your car’s MPG, divide your miles driven by gallons of gas. Voila!

Using this method, I divided my miles driven by gallons of gas (426.8 / 14.454) to get my actual gas mileage ( 29.5 mpg! ). Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.

Update: (June 2010) Sadly, I wrecked my old car about a month ago in a weak little accident. But, my new car (a Toyota Yaris), gets over 40 miles to the gallon! Hot diggity dog!

How many miles per gallon does YOUR car get?

What if there was a way to help the planet, your country, and your wallet all at the same time? Welp, there is. It’s called the Kurrent. It’s the weird-looking car to the left, and it’s now available in the U.S. BUT it’s not street-legal in all states, and in the states it is legal in, you’re only supposed to drive it on roads that have a speed limit of 35 MPH or less. Still, that’s the normal speed limit in most cities, so you could probably drive this around in your city. To be on the safe side, you can check to see if it’s allowed in your state by emailing localrules@getkurrent.com

How Does It Help The Planet?

I’m glad you asked. Since the Kurrent is “refueled” by plugging it into a standard American outlet, it doesn’t use up gasoline, which is a non-renewable resource. Less gasoline equals less drilling to get oil. Also, it is a zero-emissions vehicle, which means that no CO2 or smoke comes out of it. It just whirs around using electricity.

How Does It Help My Country?

I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there are more cars on the road now than ever before. Traffic jams are the norm now, and parking in cities has gotten so bad that people don’t even really expect to be able to find a parking space. But with this lil’ car, you don’t take up as much space, so you can maneuver in and out of traffic with ease, and fit into small parking spots.

Since this car doesn’t use gas, it means less of a demand for foreign oil. Less foreign oil means more money stays in the U.S., which is a good thing. It is a patriotic thing.

How Does The Kurrent Help My Wallet?

Excellent question. First, you can buy a brand new one for the low low price of $9,800. That right there is a pretty good price. But wait, there’s more. You won’t have to fill up at the gas station at all. No more money towards gas. Period. And it’ll only cost two cents a mile to run with electricity from your house, so that’s even more savings.

Also, if you own a Kurrent, you qualify for a alternative fuel/electric vehicle federal tax credit. That’s more money in the bank for you.

It can’t all be good news…

No, it can’t. First, this car doesn’t go much faster than 35 miles per hour, so it’s only legal (in some states) on streets with a 35MPH speed limit. You can’t drive this thing on the highways, just in cities and neighborhoods.

Another disadvantage for some people is its size. Although it has 7.5 cubic feet of trunk space (enough for trips to the grocery store), you won’t be able to pack too much into this car. Also, do not get this car if you are planning on towing big things, like boats or trailers.

All that being said, I wouldn’t mind getting a used Kurrent one of these days (or a used Smart Car). And if you do a lot of city or neighborhood driving, you should consider getting a small electric car. Not only will you have a really quiet, smooth ride, but you’ll be a money-saving, environmental, patriotic machine.