A greener way of getting there by car, T or plane

Chances are you’ve seen more and more hybrid vehicles on the roads in recent years – and the increase is not your imagination. The state's Executive Office of Transportation recently released a list of green fun facts that are, well, green and fun. Here are some:

* There are currently 28,917 hybrid vehicles registered in Massachusetts - a 23% increase over Earth Day 2008.

A Prius couple (Globe photo/Erik Jacobs)

* 48,319 motorists hold the three charity license plates that have provided $16,170,660.05 in donations to the Environmental Trust Fund since 1995.

* License plates returned to the RMV produced 90 tons of recycled aluminum in 2008.

* MassHighway has 390 vehicles using 10% ethanol gasoline, 251 using compressed natural gas (CNG), 30 bi-fuel using both gasoline and CNG, 42 hybrid vehicles, and 844 using ultra low sulfur diesel and biodiesel

* MassHighway uses 135 solar/battery powered variable message boards.

* The T has collected 2,279 tons of paper since 2006, when the T began placing recycling bins throughout the transit system. That is the equivalent of 38,740 trees.

* Boston Logan is the first airport in the nation to use a more environmentally friendly pavement.

* Massport spent $6.3 million repaving Runway 4R/22L with so-called “warm mix’’ asphalt which is heated to a lower temperature. This reduced carbon dioxide by nearly 2,000 tons, saved 200,000 gallons of diesel fuel, and produced energy savings of 26.4 billion BTUs.

For more facts, go to http://transportation.blog.state.ma.us/blog/2009/04/earth-day-2009-transportation-facts.html