On this morning's news there was a story about how to find and buy the best hybrid cars. Now with even the cheapest gas at about four dollars per gallon, and rising, there have been a lot of stories like this. Even yesterday (Sunday June 1, 2008) Good Morning America featured a segment on the subject, and even included a half dozen hybrids lined up with an expert to discuss the good and bad of each. While this is valuable information, it really gets me that it seems like nobody bothers explaining how you can double your mileage, with ordinary tap water and a couple hundred dollars, without buying a new car.

The basic technology of extracting hydrogen gas from water has been around a long time but it wasn't until gasoline and diesel started getting really expensive that regular people like you and me started hearing about it.

I can't speak for anyone else butI'll share my own experience. A while back I got really fed up with gas jumping in price every single time I filled up so I started hunting for an alternative solution. After a couple months of scouting I found that Hydrogen from water seemed the best solution. I originally planned to buy a kit for $1,500 It looked simple enough. I would just have to refill the fuel cell every few months with distilled water. But then I heard about a kit I could build myself for about $100 ($49 for the instruction manual and $56 for the parts from a local hardware store.) Long story short, I tried it on my 1995 Isuzu Pickup truck and went from 21 mpg to 39 mpg and better! Another nice little side effect was that my emissions became a lot cleaner (no more nasty smell when idling at traffic lights.)

I'll admit I was kind of scared to get under the hood and do the actual installation so I asked my brother in law to help me install it. I was a little embarrassed when he opened the manual I gave him, used a couple tools I keep under the kitchen sink, and did it in about 20 minutes. But I'm sure not embarrassed now that I only go to the pump half as often. I love it!

Regarding the question of safety, I've heard people say "Isn't that dangerous?" Again, being a bit of a worrier I had the same concerns but then realized if anything it's the safest solution I could find. Not to mention the cheapest. Because all the hydrogen gas is generated, as needed, in very small volume, it's no more dangerous to me than having a bottle of spring water in the car. And for that matter, the hybrid expert on TV left us viewers with some sobering thoughts about purchasing a hybrid, chief among them being safety. Here are a few that stood out to me...

1.) Due to their special lightweight designs most hybrids tend to be less safe than regular vehicles.

2.) On average a hybrid costs 50% more than the same all gas powered vehicle.

3.) Even with rising gas prices, a hybrid typically takes 3 to 10 years to pay for itself.

4.) Some of the best hybrids that used to qualify for a government tax break, don't anymore (like the Toyota Prius.)

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