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.) To create your own hydrogen hybrid, there are a couple ways to go. You can go with a system that uses ordinary tap water (like from your kitchen faucet) or one that uses distilled water with an agent added in (such as a little baking soda.) Both work great and cost about the same to build and install.

I'll give you a couple links to get you started. First is the one I've used, that works with plain tap water. I picked this because I didn't want to be bothered with worrying about having distilled water on hand when I needed it. And I'm really glad I did. The results are amazing! "RunYourCarFromWater.com" is a good resource where you can buy the complete easy to understand instruction manual for $49, http://www.

RunYourCarFromWater.com. They guarantee at least a 40% increase in mileage using their methods. But once more, I got better than double that on my old pickup truck. Or you can go with one like "Water for Gas", which uses distilled water in its fuel cell.

The manual is $97 (which is still a bargain) and is available from http://www.Water4GasWeb.com.

Turning my vehicle into a hydrogen hybrid was the smartest thing I could have done. It runs cleaner and better than ever. Better still it only costs about half as much each month to run. Forget about 5 or 6 years to have a hybrid car payoff.

The simple system I use paid for itself in less than a month! I hope you have a chance to experience just how great it feels. Good luck!.

Scott Jason has spent years as an alternate fuel researcher for domestic and industrial power and entered the automotive research area in 2006. He shares his experience as on iMakeMore.com.