Why Not Go Green?

By Joe Whitaker

Going green has been a political and environmental issue since I was a kid. I can remember having a “hippie” art teacher in first or second grade that had all of her students make special environmental pin-on badges to wear them on “earth day”. She instructed us to observe people in our neighborhood that were doing things that could be considered unfriendly to the environment. Growing up in upstate NY, lots of folks in our neighborhood burned leaves in the spring and fall so I remember a few of us telling our neighbors they should stop. I don’t remember what their reaction was, but I’m sure none of them paid much attention to a couple of 8-year olds begging them to stop burning leaves and polluting our air.

Once I became a little older, I realized just how ridiculous it was to send little kids out to try and convince adults to change their habits. That teacher and her little anti-pollution exercise did, however, leave an impression on me. Along with the examples set by my parents I feel I did grow up to be fairly environmentally responsible - not throwing trash out my car window, not dumping oil into the soil, turning lights off when not needed, etc. As an adult I have come to understand what an economic and political football the entire environmental movement is. There are politicians and businesses on both sides of the issue with plenty to gain or lose based upon legislation or public opinion on the topic.

Consider hybrid or electric cars for example. When they were first introduced, like any new technology, their cost was prohibitive. Why spend $10,000 more on a car if it will only save you 10 cents per mile (considering an average cost of $2/gallon for fuel)? If you drive 20,000 miles per year, that hybrid will only save you $2,000 per year. Amortize that over the additional cost of the car and it will take 5 years for the car to pay for itself. Not such a good deal, especially if you drive only 10,000 miles per year. If the cost of fuel goes up to $4/gallon, all the sudden you are saving 20 cents per mile and that same car driving 20,000 miles per year will pay for itself in 2-1/2 years. Now that the cost on hybrids has come down and can be purchased for about the same price as a non-hybrid, the hybrid car makes a lot more sense. Unless, that is, you cannot see yourself driving a tiny, ugly car just for the sake of saving a few bucks and being more “green”.

How can this possibly affect your classic? We have been looking at several alternative fuel solutions to help power your classic Chevy to make it more economical and more “green” to drive. Since many of us only drive our Chevy’s 2,000 miles or so per year, the economics of going green with a classic really makes no sense at all. Let’s say there was a “miracle” fuel or injection system invented that would save you 50 cents/mile. If you drove your classic 2,000 miles per year the system or fuel would “save” you $1000/year. Like any new “miracle” technology, the cost of that technology may be $5000. Again, like the early hybrid automobiles, not really worth the trouble.

There is currently technology available and kits are for sale by various companies that allow you to add a hydrogen generator to your fuel system to “save” money on gas and go green. The kits consist of a canister to which you add distilled water and wires that supply 12-volts to the unit and some tubing to route the hydrogen gas to the carburetor or fuel injectors. The 12-volt current converts the water (H20) to hydrogen and oxygen gas. The gases are routed into the fuel system intake where they enhance the combustion process and improve the efficiency of the gasoline fuel. Typical improvements in fuel economy vary widely from 20% to 60% based upon the weight of the vehicle, driving practices, engine size, etc. Let’s go with the high side of average and figure that hydrogen injection would improve your fuel economy by 40%. So instead of 20 MPG all of a sudden your classic can get 28 MPG. If fuel climbs back to $4/gallon, you would go from a cost per mile of 20 cents down to 14.29 cents per mile. At 20 cents per mile driving 2,000 miles per year costs you $400. At 14 cents per mile driving 2,000 miles per year costs you $280; a savings of $276/year. If gasoline stays under $4/gallon, your savings would be less than that. If you drive more than 2,000 miles/year or gasoline goes over $4/gallon, of course your savings would increase. However, factor in the cost of the hydrogen generator kit (average units cost $1,000) and the cost of the distilled water ($4/gallon with one gallon usually needed per tankful of gasoline) and given our hypothetical  example above, it would take four years for the kit to pay for itself. A big ugly canister that I have to add water to with every fill-up that takes four years to break even on? I don’t think so. I’ll go “green” on everything else but my classic. That is, unless going green on everything else costs me more money. I think I will stay un-green for a while.