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With gas prices near or above $3 per gallon, many consumers are looking for ways to reduce their costs at the pump through alternatives to traditional gas-powered vehicles. But the options are dizzying, and many people are still very green when it comes to the various alternative fuel technologies. 

One of the most widely available and popular alternatives to gasoline-powered cars is hybrid technology.  Cars that run on a combination of two or more sources of power are considered hybrid.

According to the Bureau of Transportation, there are almost 200 million vehicleson the road, of which 133 million are passenger cars.  Of these, about 300,000 are hybrids.

Honda and Toyota spearheaded the hybrid market over the past few years, but others automakers have also joined the hybrid race.

Currently there are six viable model options and 10 total to choose from, said Bradley Berman, editor of HybridCars.com.

The choices

Generally speaking, hybrid cars run on rechargeable batteries and gasoline.

The type of hybrid depends on how the two sources of power connect, when each one is in operation and for how long, and finally, what portion of power is supplied by which hybrid component.

There are four types of hybrid systems:

Stop-start: shuts engine off when the car comes to a full stop and would otherwise idle.
Integrated Starter Alternator with Damping (ISAD): has the stop-start feature and an electric motor.
Integrated Motor Assist: The functions are identical to the ISAD but it has a larger electric motor for better performance.
Full hybrid system: cars generally run on electric power at low speeds with the gas engine kicking in at higher speeds.
Incentives

The incentives of purchasing a hybrid car could be philosophical, financial, or environmental. Berman recognizes that not everyone is willing to go completely green right away.

Other Considerations 
Fuel, purchase price, and tax incentives are not the only factors to consider. But other savings and expenses can be difficult to estimate. Insurance costs are generally lower for hybrids. Battery replacement and electricity usage expenses can tip the scale the other way. According to hybridcars.com, however, the hybrid battery packs generally last 150,000 to 200,000 miles.
 
“Everyone should take little steps,” Berman told LiveScience. “Buy the most efficient fuel car. It doesn’t have to be hybrid. If you don’t need an SUV, don’t get an SUV.”

Some car buyers might want to look at the decision from a purely financial standpoint. Here is an example of how one choice might work out:

The average American drives 15,000 miles each year, with 45 percent of that on highways. The traditional Honda Civic costs about $17,110, and it gets about 30 miles per gallon in the city and 40 highway. At $2.92 a gallon, this subcompact car costs $1,296 in gasoline in one year.

At $22,900, the Honda Civic Hybrid will initially cost a bit more, but with an average of 50 miles per gallon, a year of gas will cost $878.

In 10 years, taking into account inflation at 3 percent but not factoring in any possible changes in gas prices, the gas savings of a hybrid reaches almost $5,000.

Finally, a new federal incentive program allows you to receive a one-time $2,100 tax credit for buying a hybrid.

Tally up all the extra costs and factor in the savings—not counting additional incentives offered by some states—after 10 years, this hybrid will ultimately save you about $1,229.

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It runs modern society and fuels serious political tension. But where does oil really come from, and how much is left? The far-out possibilities might surprise you.

Nature has been transmuting dead life into black gold for millions of years using little more than heat, pressure and time, scientists tell us.

But with gas prices spiking more than $1 per gallon in the United States this year and some experts predicting that the end of oil is near, scientists still don’t know for sure where oil comes from, how long it took to make, or how much there is.

A so-called fossil fuel, petroleum is believed by most scientists to be the transformed remains of long dead organisms. The majority of petroleum is thought to come from the fossils of plants and tiny marine organisms. Larger animals might contribute to the mix as well.

“Even some of the dinosaurs may have gotten involved in some of this,” says William Thomas, a geologists at the University of Kentucky. “[Although] I think it would be quite rare and a very small and insignificant contribution.”

But another theory holds that more oil was in Earth from the beginning than what’s been produced by dead animals, but that we’ve yet to tap it.

How it works

In the leading theory, dead organic material accumulates on the bottom of oceans, riverbeds or swamps, mixing with mud and sand. Over time, more sediment piles on top and the resulting heat and pressure transforms the organic layer into a dark and waxy substance known as kerogen.

Left alone, the kerogen molecules eventually crack, breaking up into shorter and lighter molecules composed almost solely of carbon and hydrogen atoms. Depending on how liquid or gaseous this mixture is, it will turn into either petroleum or natural gas.

So how long does this process take?

Scientists aren’t really sure, but they figure it’s probably on the order of hundreds of thousands of years.

“It’s certainly not an instantaneous process,” Thomas told LiveScience. “The rate at which petroleum is forming is not going to be the solution to our petroleum supplies.”

The United States’ latest reminder of its petroleum dependency occurred when hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck the Gulf of Mexico, where the majority of the country’s oil platforms and refineries are located. Many analysts predicted gas prices would surge to $4 and $5 per gallon, but the fears turned out to be overblown. Many of the structures suffered only glancing blows and were operating again soon afterwards.
Still, the average price of regular gas nationwide is about $2.94 a gallon now, according to the American Automobile Association. It was $1.77 at the beginning of the year.

Alternative source

The idea that petroleum is formed from dead organic matter is known as the “biogenic theory” of petroleum formation and was first proposed by a Russian scientist almost 250 years ago.

In the 1950’s, however, a few Russian scientists began questioning this traditional view and proposed instead that petroleum could form naturally deep inside the Earth.

This so-called “abiogenic” petroleum might seep upward through cracks formed by asteroid impacts to form underground pools, according to one hypothesis. Some geologists have suggested probing ancient impact craters in the search for oil.

Abiogenic sources of oil have been found, but never in commercially profitable amounts. The controversy isn’t over whether naturally forming oil reserves exist, said Larry Nation of the American Association of Petroleum Geologists. It’s over how much they contribute to Earth’s overall reserves and how much time and effort geologists should devote to seeking them out.

If abiogenic petroleum sources are indeed found to be abundant, it would mean Earth contains vast reserves of untapped petroleum and, since other rocky objects formed from the same raw material as Earth, that crude oil might exist on other planets or moons in the solar system, scientists say.

Both processes for making petroleum likely require thousands of years. Even if Earth does contain far more oil than currently thought, it’s inevitable that reserves will one day run out. Scientists disagree sharply, however, on when that will occur. And, some say, a global crisis could begin as soon as increasing demand is greater than supply, a possibility that might be measured in years rather than decades, some analysts argue.

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Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez and Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said they were ready to spend billions of dollars (euros) financing projects in other countries to help thwart US domination.

The anti-US Presidents whose efforts to extend their influence have alarmed Washington met Saturday in Venezuela’s capital, the first stop on Ahmadinejad’s tour of Latin America that will also see him visit newly elected leftist leaders in Nicaragua and Ecuador.

The oil-rich nations had previously announced plans for a joint USD 2 billion fund to finance investments in Venezuela and Iran, but Chavez and Ahmadinejad said Saturday that the money would also be used for projects in friendly third countries.

“It will permit us to underpin investments … Above all in those countries whose governments are making efforts to liberate themselves from the (US) imperialist yoke,” said Chavez. 

“This fund, my brother,” Chavez said referring to Ahmadinejad, “Will become a mechanism for liberation.” “Death to US imperialism!” he said. Ahmadinejad called it a “very important” decision that would help promote “Joint cooperation in third countries,” especially in Latin American and African countries.

It was not clear if the leaders were referring to investment in infrastructure, social and energy projects - areas that the two countries have focused on until now - or other types of financing.

Before his meeting with Ahmadinejad, Chavez said in his state of the nation address that he had personally expressed hope to Thomas Shannon, head of the US State Department’s Western Hemisphere affairs bureau, for better relations between their two countries.

Chavez said he spoke with Shannon on the sidelines of Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega’s inauguration earlier this week, saying, “We shook hands and I told him: ‘I hope that everything improves.”’ Chavez - a close ally of Cuban leader Fidel Castro whom Washington sees as a destabilizing influence - has pledged billions of dollars (euros) of help to the region in foreign aid, bond buyouts and preferentially financed oil deals.  ‘Champion of struggle against imperialism’

Iran, meanwhile, is allegedly bankrolling militant groups in the Middle East like Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, as well as insurgents in Iraq, in a bid to extend its influence.

Ahmadinejad’s visit Saturday - his second to Venezuela in less than four months - comes as he seeks to break international isolation over his country’s nuclear program and possibly line up new allies in Latin America.

After Venezuela, Ahmadinejad will visit newly elected leftist governments in Nicaragua and Ecuador that are also seeking to reduce Washington’s influence in the region. Bolivian President Evo Morales, another critic of US policy, said he plans to meet with Ahmadinejad while both are in Ecuador Monday.

Chavez and Ahmadinejad have been increasingly united by their deep-seated antagonism to Washington. Chavez has become a leading defender of Iran’s nuclear ambitions, accusing the United States of using the issue as a pretext to attack a regime it opposes and promising to stand with Iran.

Ahmadinejad, meanwhile, has called Chavez “The champion of the struggle against imperialism.”

On Saturday, he congratulated Chavez on his December re-election and said the Venezuelan people were wise to choose “A person as important on the world stage, a person so wise as Hugo Chavez.”

The increasingly close relationship has alarmed some, and critics of Chavez accuse him of pursuing an alliance that does not serve Venezuela’s interests and jeopardizes its ties with the United States, the country’s top oil buyer. Venezuela is among the top five suppliers of crude to the US market.

Both countries are members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, Chavez said Saturday that they had agreed to back an oil production cut in the cartel in order to stem a recent fall in crude prices.

“We know today there is too much crude in the market,” Chavez said. “We have agreed to join our forces within OPEC … To support a production cut and save the price of oil.”

The two governments, which already plan to jointly produce everything from bricks to bicycles and develop oil fields in Venezuela, signed another 11 accords Saturday to explore further opportunities for cooperation in areas like tourism, education and mining.

Ahmadinejad is set to travel to Nicaragua to meet on Sunday with Ortega, a former Marxist guerrilla. On Monday, he travels to Ecuador for the inauguration of President-elect Rafael Correa, another outspoken critic of the administration of US President George W. Bush and Washington’s policies in Latin America.

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