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The Sierra Club
The Huron Valley Group
of the Sierra Club
 
Roadway

News from the roadway:
The Current 'Clean Car' Scorecard

Our 'clean car' road tester, Alan Richardson, decided to purchase and drive a Honda Civic GX fueled by natural gas to lessen his impact on the environment. These scorecards track the running total of the economic and environmental consequences of his decision.

 

 

The current scorecard

By Alan Richardson
Fall 2008

Period covered: Purchase date (18 October 2000) to 2 October 2008
Distance driven: 116,163 miles
Fuel purchased: 3541 gallons gasoline equivalent (GGE)
Fuel economy: 32.8 miles/GGE
Fuel cost of CNG used: $4426
Average fuel cost: $1.25 per GGE
Cost economy: 26.3 miles per dollar
Savings over gasoline: $2,788
Economic payback mileage*: 76,440 miles
Economic payback date*: 1 May 2006 (Payback complete!)
* Payback of $4500 purchase premium for natural gas fuel option reduced by $2000 Clean Cities rebate and $2000 federal income deduction at 28% marginal tax rate.

The environmental impact:
Estimated exhaust emissions of different passenger vehicles driven 91,029 miles (in pounds)
  Average car California LEV** Civic GX
Hydrocarbons 716 19.2 0.77
Carbon Monoxide 5348 870 40.9
Oxides of nitrogen 356 51.2 5.12
Total 6420 940.4 45.79
** This estimate is based on the standards for a 'Low Emission Vehicle' passenger car required by California starting in 2001.

Past scorecards
Back to the 'Clean Car' index
Last updated by Suzanne Brucker Heiney, November 2008.
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