>>>>>>>Too bad they can't make a hybrid (or any other high MPG vehicle) that competes with Toyota or Honda.
>>>>
>>>>Prius came my country last year. Sorry but it's so ugly car. Honda Civic hybrid we selling there from years. It's a more beatiful car.
>>>
>>>I got used to its look. First it looked like a tennis shoe to me. But then I liked the concept - this is not a hybrid car pretending to look like a regular car (as in case of the Civic), but a computer with engines and wheels, which proudly refuses to imitate a regular car. It's a car with an OS, no less.
>>>
>>>But it's still too expensive. I briefly considered it last time I was buying a car, and 1) there were hardly any used* ones for sale, 2) the ones that were, were about 50% above the price I eventually paid for a Matrix.
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>>I paid about 23K out the door for my Prius II new last summer. The gas savings make it a much better deal for me than a $5k less vehicle that gets 33% less MPG - I put a lot of miles on my cars.
>>
>
>I read a fascinating article yesterday about energy efficient houses. Not solar panels, way more radical than that. It's a German concept that takes energy conservation to the Nth degree. One house was featured. Foot thick walls. No furnace. When they need heat there is some gizmo in the kitchen that runs on pellets. Energy cost per year is $250. Yes, you read that right.

I've seen some examples of that. My wife and I intend to put up an energy efficient, and pretty much utility independant house as a replacement to our current one once we decide this house needs to go (still a few years off). The nice thing about living in the middle of nowhere on a bunch of land is we can do that w/o zoning/neighbors/etc getting in the way.