Tuesday, February 5, 2008

Save gas, save the planet

Here are some ideas and measures that will contribute to lessening your automobile’s carbon load.

Buy a high MPG hybrid! Fill-ups will soon cost us $100.

Buy a fuel effi cient car that gets a combined gas mileage of at least 30 mpg.

Buy a smaller, lighter car (the Honda Insight is made of aluminum).Choose the smallest available engine.

Fuel waste is proportional to engine size.

Before you buy, review: fueleconomy.gov, safercar.gov, iihs.org and consumerreports.org.

Reduce your yearly mileage. The American average is 12,000 miles a year.

Plug in a passenger and double your effective gas mileage.

Ride a bus and get 1,000 mpg.

Turn off air conditioning and electric seat heaters.

Turn off daytime running lights; they have no proven effectiveness.

Use a bike or sneakers and leave the car in the garage.

Inflate your tires 10 percent above owner’s manual recommendations and then check them at least once a month with a locking dial pressure gauge. Do not rely on built-in sensors!

Use the lowest weight oil recommended in your car and change it regularly.

Avoid aggressive driving and aggressive drivers.

Take off the rack and the ski box when not using them.

Take the extra junk out of your car.

Use a manual transmission and try to keep your engine down to 1,000 rpm, 2,000 going up hills.

Drive as if you have a raw egg under your brake pedal.

Drive 5 mph slower—save 5 percent, and reduce your crash fatality risk threefold.

Make a shopping list and combine trips.

Do not idle for long—turn off your engine at long lights and for trains.

Do not use a higher grade gas than recommended by manufacturer.

Lobby your congressmen and political party for higher gas mileage standards!

Flex-fuel vehicles (and E85 ethanol gas) do not reduce global warming.

– Jim Adcock

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