Three grown men, a global positioning system satellite navigation screen, and a map with directions. Seems like shooting fish in a barrel, right? Wrong. These fish apparently are wearing kevlar vests, you have a slingshot, and do I see a chain gun in the flippers of that sturgeon homing in on me?

That's what it seemed like while attempting the MPG Challenge, the residential/rural course in Madison, WI where hypermilers tested their skills against one another. Except, it wasn't the full course - we were, for the sake of time, only doing 9 of the 22 miles laid out on the route.

Our vessel for the treacherous voyage was the Toyota Highlander Hybrid, equipped with the same Hybrid Synergy Drive as the Prius, but instead of combusting the more planet-friendly amounts of fossil-fuels with an electric-assisted, asthmatic, chain-smoker-on-the-patch 1.6 liter four-cylinder, there is a 3.3 liter V6 aided by two electric motors.

Thankfully, in spite of numerous failed attempts at navigation, once the actual course was located and followed, we achieved an average of 44.5 mpg over those 9 miles. Tell that to the EPA.

Glad to be back in the blogosphere. Two more Hybrid Fest videos coming up, so stay tuned!

The second annual Hybridfest is going to happen July 21-22, 2007 at the Alliant Energy Center Grounds in Madison, WI. A local non-profit group called Hybridfest, Inc. organized the first event last summer and after a huge turnout decided to expand the event to two days this time around. The festival is actually growing beyond just hybrids this year to include other alternative fuel transport, like biofuels, hydrogen, and plug-in vehicles.

One of the weekend's activities is a 20 mile MPG Challenge course were drivers can take their un-hacked hybrids and see if they can beat the 73-150 mpg averages that drivers achieved last year. In 2006, 160 hybrids from 21 states and Canada turned up to participate and 2,500 people who attended the Dane County Fair also checked out the cars on display. Other activities that are planned for this year are test drives in hybrid vehicles, educational exhibits, and assorted speakers such as Sherry Boschert, author of Plug-in Hybrids: The Cars that Will Recharge America.

Related:

• AutoblogGreen Q&A with Sherry Boschert: why plug-in hybrids will recharge America

[Source: HybridFest]

On another recent episode of AmandaAcrossAmerica, Amanda Congdon interviewed Mayor Dave Cieslewicz of Madison, WI. During the interview the mayor discussed the efforts that Madison and many other cities around the country have taken to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Since the federal government is currently ignoring the problem, local municipalities are taking the initiative by changing things at a local level. Last year Mayor Greg Nickels of Seattle started trying to get local municipalities to sign on to the Kyoto protocol and Madison was the fifth city to do so. There are now over 300 cities and towns supporting the initiative.

Madison has provided a fleet of bicycles for city employees to get around town on. When employees need to go somewhere, they can just check out a bike and go. This can work really well in a city like Madison that has a fairly contained downtown area where cyclists can get around without too much difficulty, at least in warmer weather months. The mayor even has a dedicated bike to get around on.

The city has also allocated funds to purchase diesel electric hybrid buses for use by the Metro Transit System. Madison will be taking delivery of the first five buses in early 2007. They have also reached an agreement the University of Wisconsin-Madison to use three of the first five buses on routes around the campus area in the central part of town. The hybrid buses are expected to provide a 35% improvement in fuel economy and a reduction in carbon monoxide emissions from 3 grams per mile for diesel to 0.1 gram per mile for the hybrid.

[Source: AmandaAcrossAmerica]