| Top 15 Ways to Save Gasoline |
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Getting the most out of your fill-up at the service station takes a little thought, ingenuity and pre-planning. There are four basic areas of cost-cutting at the pump: how you maintain the machine (your vehicle), how you drive your vehicle, what purpose you use the vehicle for and ways that your vehicle doesn´t have to be used at all (or very little). See if you can apply these ideas, even on a small scale. Every little bit helps!
- Use your car only when necessary. Do not make small trips back and forth to the store, etc. Save and combine your trips and map out your route to get the most done with the shortest route.
- Use cruise control. Maintaining a constant speed over long distances often saves gas
- Consider walking, riding your bicycle or taking public transportation.
- Look into carpooling to work. Maybe you can work out a schedule with a co-worker. Even one day of carpooling saves you 20% of your workweek fuel consumption.
- The maintenance of your car is crucial to fuel efficiency. Having a tune-up, changing the oil and air filters regularly and keeping the tires properly inflated puts less effort on your engine, therefore using less fuel. Dirty air filters, old spark plugs and low fluid levels can worsen fuel economy
- Obey the speed limit. Every extra mile driven over 55 mph costs about one percent in fuel economy. As speed increases, aerodynamic drag on the car increases exponentially.
- Don´t warm up your engine in the morning. Newer cars are built so efficiently, that they don´t need to be warmed up.
- Avoid "jack rabbit" starts and hard braking at stoplights and don't rev the engine. Anticipating traffic and applying slow steady acceleration and braking may increase fuel economy by as much as 20 percent.
- Ask your employer to consider letting you telework one or two days a week. If the majority of your work can be done on a computer, this is an excellent way to stay out of your car.
- Don´t let your car idle for long periods of time (over one minute). If you head to a fast food restaurant, consider going in rather than sitting idle in the drive-thru.
- Roof racks, including ski racks, increase a vehicle´s aerodynamic drag. You´ll increase your mileage if you remove them when they are not in use.
- Avoid carrying heavy loads. Remove sand bags from your truck in the spring and pack lightly for long trips.
- Use air conditioning sparingly. When the air conditioner is on, it puts an extra load on the engine, using more fuel. The defroster on most vehicles also uses the air conditioner.
- Keep windows closed. Open windows, especially at highway speeds, increase drag and decrease fuel economy by as much as 10 percent.
- Buy a fuel-efficient car. Small vehicles with manual transmission usually provide great fuel economy.
For even more gas and energy saving tips you can go to the following Web sites:
www.fueleconomy.gov
www.epa.gov/oms/17-tips.htm
www.epa.gov/greenvehicles
http://Oregon.gov/ENERGY/TRANS/hybridcr.shtml
http://Oregon.gov/ENERGY/TRANS/altfuels.shtml
http://Oregon.gov/ENERGY/TRANS/transhm.shtml
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Curious About Gas Prices? This U.S.D.O.E. Brochure Explains Price Fluctuations
Ever wonder how much the cost of crude oil contributes to what you pay for a gallon of gasoline? Or how much of what you pay for gasoline goes to state and local taxes? Find out here.
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