Okay, So Everybody's Talking About It...High Gas Prices

High gas prices got you low?

A lot of people are taking steps to heighten their fuel efficiency. Some people are even going so far as to buy new cars! But for those of us who can't afford a new car or a Vespa (oh, how lovely that would be...) there are other alternatives.

The alternative that's gaining the most attention lately is called hypermiling. It's a combination of several driving tricks (some safe, some unsafe) in order to squeeze the most mpg (miles per gallon) out of your gas tank. You can even squeeze a large number of miles of out old cars this way, although you might have better luck with a newer car, if you have it.

For those of you who can't give up driving completely (like me), here are ten of the easiest hypermiling tricks, courtesy of http://www.ecomodder.com :

1) Clean junk from your trunk! The additional weight you carry in your vehicle doesn't ride for free. It takes energy to move it around. Removing unnecessary stuff from your vehicle saves fuel.

2) Remove unused roof racks. If your vehicle come with a roof rack and you don't use it, remove it. Same holds true for bike racks. Doing so will reduce aerodynamic drag, resulting in better fuel economy.

3) Check tire pressure regularly. Make sure that your tire pressures are, at minimum, set to manufacturer specifications. The higher the pressure, the less rolling resistance. Remember that pressure is affected by ambient temperature. As temperature drops, so does your tire pressure, so keep track as the seasons change.

4) Leave early, and DON'T RUSH! The enemy of efficient driving is finding yourself in a rush. Leave for your destination a little early so you don't feel pressure to drive faster, brake later and otherwise fall back into bad habits. Driving efficiently can be much more relaxing than the typical person's driving style, but you need to allow a bit of extra time.

5) Avoid drive thrus. They lead to excessive idling, therefore wasting gas.

6) Drive when it's warm. If you have the flexibility, time your trips to coincide with warm temperatures (ie. middle of the day) rather than cold (night/early morning). Cold tires and drivetrain experience more rolling and mechanical resistance, and a cold engine is less efficient.

7) Combining errands: do the longest leg first. When combining multiple trips into one journey, go to your farthest destination first, and work your way back. This ensures the vehicle is warmed up as much as possible before subjecting it to multiple starts and stops.

8) Rolling stops...When approaching a red light with a sensor, slow down early so you may not have to completely stop or brake hard before you go, especially if there's a car in front of you that can trip the sensor. When approaching stop signs, right turns on red, or a "stale" green light, slow early so you approach the stopping point as soon as the person in front of you leaves it, minimizing your braking.

9) Windows up! When driving at high speeds, leave your windows up to reduce drag and use the flow-through ventilation system. When driving slowly, feel free to roll your windows down and turn off the air, since since AC uses gasoline, too!

10) Cruise control...knowing when to use it and when NOT to use it.
Set the cruise control if you're the type of driver whose speed creeps up higher and higher the longer you're on the road, or if you have difficulty holding a steady speed (it wanders up and down). But realize that cruise control is just a band aid for those behaviours. Generally it's less efficient than constant throttle driving, and much less efficient than "driving with load" / "target driving".
Only use cruise control on flat roads. On hilly roads, cruise responds to changes in grade - by feeding in more throttle on the uphill and releasing on the descent - in the exact opposite way an efficient driver would.


For those of you who CAN buy new cars...make sure you research before buying and look into which cars have the best gas mileage and are in your price range. Remember, however, that hybrids aren't always best! It has been suggested that the amount of fuel and energy it currently takes to make a hybrid car might outweigh the gas benefits it provides unless the car is kept and run for a few years. Same goes for ethanol: it's difficult to make AND it's contributing to the food shortage.

More tips later. :)
PS - An idea I had: make kind of like "theme" weeks, where I post on a particular subject for a week. Yea/nay?