After months of dealing with a poor quality hosting service Dump It In The Pump is back online and fully operational.  We want to thank our readers for sticking with us through this difficult time.

In addition to our usual posts, we are looking for guest participants to contribute on our blog.  If you are interested, feel free to comment on this post or email us at dumpitinthepump |at| gmail.com.

Guest bloggers will have an open forum to share news, stories, rants and raves for all things related to the energy crisis, green energy, solar energy, oil supply, gas prices, etc…  We’re looking forward to hearing from you!

Blogging is hard. Sometimes there’s just nothing worth while to write about. And some people write about nothing anyway. Or sometimes you’re just busy doing more important things than adding minuscule content to the internet.

At any rate, we’ve been on a slight break. It seems most other blogs in our realm have been too, except for those with tons of unpaid writers throwing up content for them.

So what’s new in the energy/green/oil world?  Terrorism, Tidal, bleak alternatives.

Thanks to those participating on our new Forum - The more suggestions for topics the better!

As gas prices are at an all time high and the economy has slowed to a snails pace, vehicle sales have dropped considerably and U.S. Automakers are fighting for survival.  G.M. reported a second quarter loss of $15.5 billon on Friday due to the drop in U.S. sales.  Ford also reported a Q2 loss of nearly $9 billion as sales fell by about 13% in July.

There is no question that this is a difficult market for automakers.  We are coming from a recent strong economy where consumers couldn’t buy a big enough gas guzzeling giant.  In only a couple short years, oil prices have gone through the roof and the economy has slowed dramatically.  Consumers are looking to save however they can.  That might just mean buying a foreign car that performs better on gas.

I think it will be interesting to see the transformation that the U.S. automakers are forced to go through if they want to stay alive.  GM, for example, already has plans to reduce truck production while increasing production of more fuel efficient cars.  Chevy is attempting to be nimble with the market by bringing the Beat to the US market by next summer.

Looking for an alternative fuel source that can save you a lot of money?  Walk, run or ride a bike.

This is a simple solution that is becoming more popular each day as oil and gas prices continue to surge.  Aside from having no direct cost associated with it, there is also the added benefit of causing no harm to the environment as well as getting your body into shape.

Many people consider obesity to be an epidemic in the United States.  With such a high cost to operate a car, what better time than now to start walking, running or biking.  In addition to burning fat, these activities are also known to reduce stress.

Some may complain that it takes too much time to ride a bike to work, however, this may not be true for all.  Consider traffic and road congestition that you hit in your morning and evening commute.  With a bicyle this can potentially be avoided.  Also, go ahead and cancel your gym membership.  Even if it takes longer to bike home you can skip the gym and save on the monthly membership fees.

Obviously this may not work for everyone, particularly people who live too far from their job but it still doesn’t mean you can’t take advantage.  If you integrate exercise like this into your normal routine after work you are less likely to get in your car and more likely to get into shape.

Top score given to the Hyundai Elantra in the July 2008 edition of Consumer Reports.  The Elantra SE is a 4 door, 5 passenger family sedan.  Prices for the SE start at $16,325.  It is a great choice for the commuting consumer or anyone looking to save at the pump.  The car is equipped with a 2 liter 138 horsepower engine that achieves 24 mpg in the city and 33 mpg on the highway.  A five speed manual transmission comes standard, however a four speed automatic transmission is also available as an option.

Consumer Reports noted the transition of Hyundai over the last decade.  In previous tests, Hyundai was found to be unrefined and scored low in areas related to interior and comfort.  The 2008 Elantra SE seems to break the mold.  It received high scores on all aspects from comfort, interior, braking, handling and of course fuel efficiency.  With a starting price at $16k this is also extremely affordable.

We are all for alternative fuel options at Dumpit, but the consumer marketplace doesn’t seem to be quite there  yet.  I haven’t seen many alternative fueling stations in my neighborhood.  With that said, a small fuel efficient gasoline powered sedan is probably the right choice for many considering the 2008 economy.