Cover Story

Have Green, Will Travel

Cost of gasoline taking a bite out of your budget? Here are 10 ways to fix that.
With gasoline prices still high, manufacturers are making their green cars bigger and better. And that means there are more green-leaning options on the market. Confused by all those new options?

Cost of gasoline taking a bite out of your budget? Below are 10 ways to fix that.

With gasoline prices still high, manufacturers are making their green cars bigger and better. And that means there are more green-leaning options on the market. Confused by all those new options? Your job just got a little easier, thanks to the editors of Kelley Blue Book's KBB.com, the website of the country's largest automotive valuation company, who highlight the wide range of green vehicles available in hybrid, electric and "high-efficiency gasoline powered-vehicles."

Now if you're really serious about scaling down to save the environment, you might want to consider a smaller electric vehicle, like the GEM Car from Scooter Bruce of Bruce's Auto Sales on Jefferson Street. These low speed (feds limit them to 25 MPH), battery-electric vehicles, more commonly known as neighborhood vehicles, are legal on Lafayette streets with a 35 MPH or less speed limit. GEM cars have a range of up to 30 miles on a full charge and are a terrific means of traveling around neighborhoods.

Below is KBB.com's "10 Best Green Cars of 2012" and the estimated combined city/highway miles per gallon from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. Department of Energy's Fuel Economy Guide:

Source: list courtesy of kbb.com http://www.kbb.com/car-reviews-and-news/top-10/10-best-green-cars-2012/mpg estimates from U.S. EPA and U.S. Department of Energy's Fuel Economy Guide; www.fueleconomy.gov