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Web offers help to "fill it up"
Soaring gasoline prices are distressing for Western New Yorkers because we're so dependent on our cars for our transportation needs. Try BuffaloGasPrices.com (http://www. buffalogasprices.com/) to identify those gas stations in the area with the lowest and highest gas prices. Its slogan, "Consumers working together to save on gas," is made a reality because prices are posted by its registered members. Site users can search by specific areas, such as "Buffalo-South," "Cheektowaga" and "Williamsville," as well as by type of gas station, such as "Amoco," "Kwik Fill," and "Sunoco."
Naturally, many of us are budgeting for our gasoline expenses before heading off on a road trip. AAA makes that easier by providing a Fuel Cost Calculator (http://www. fuelcostcalculator.com) on the Web. Plug in your destination and the year, make and model of your car and you'll get the amount you'll spend on gas, based on today's prices. Buffalo to/from San Diego would cost $827.64 in a Toyota Land Cruiser if you left as of this writing. In a Toyota Prius (a hybrid electric vehicle), it would cost $275.88.
Obviously, there is a keen interest in fuel economy with gas prices surging and FuelEconomy.Gov (http://www.fueleconomy.gov), a Web site sponsored by the Department of Energy and the Environmental Protection Agency has useful information. For example, those shopping for either a new or used car can use the "Find and Compare Cars" feature, which allows you to evaluate cars based on miles per gallon, annual fuel costs, greenhouse gas emissions and EPA air pollution scores. The site also provides links to information about alternative fuel vehicles.
The alternative fuel cars many of us are most aware of are the hybrids. More Toyota Priuses and Honda Insights are appearing in campus parking lots by the day. You may want to learn more by clicking on Car Talk's (http://www.cartalk.com/< /a>) "Everything you always wanted to know about hybrids" page (http:// www.cartalk.com/content/features/hybrid/), which includes an active "bulletin board" of comments and queries.
While you are at the Car Talk site, why not take a break from your gas-price woes and check out its various departments, such as "Actual Car Information," "Shameless Commerce," "Time Kill Central" and "Our Lousy Radio Show?" (If you listen to Car Talk at 10 a.m. on Saturdays on WBFO 88.7 FM—UB's National Public Radio affiliate—you know it's a wonderful show that'll have you laughing along with its hosts, Tom and Ray, a.k.a. Click and Clack, the Tappet Brothers.) I especially enjoy Car Talk's "Links We Like" page at http://www.cartalk. com/content/links/, where one finds such sites as Car Dealer Lies (http://www.allpar.com/ lies.html) and the Old Car Manual Project (http://www.oldcarmanual.com).
So, go online and handle all of your car-care needs!
—Gemma DeVinney, University Libraries