May 2012
Get the Most Out of
a Tank of Gas
With the price of gas nearing $4 a gallon, and summer vacation time fast approaching, it’s time to revisit ways to make driving your car more efficient. Driving smart to improve fuel economy saves anywhere from $200 to $500 each year, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.
But price isn’t the only reason to drive smart. For every mile it travels, the average car emits about one pound of carbon dioxide, the greenhouse gas responsible for global warming. Given typical driving distances and fuel-economy, this translates into about five tons of carbon dioxide per car per year, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Each year your car emits more CO2 than your appliances, air conditioning, and trash output combined. Over its expected 120,000-mile life, an American–made midsize sedan emits the equivalent of 63 tons of carbon dioxide — 86% of which come from the car’s fuel use, not its manufacture or disposal, according to the University of Michigan’s Center for Sustainable Systems.
Driving smart is just, well…..smart.
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Slow down when driving. Every five-mile-per-hour reduction in highway speed reduces fuel consumption by 7%. Reducing speed from 70 to 65 miles per hour can save 19 cents per gallon in gasoline.
Sell your gas-guzzler and drive a fuel-efficient car. It used to be that the best way to minimize the carbon footprint of driving was to keep your car as long as possible, since junking it and manufacturing a new one produces pollution. No more. With the advent of hybrids and more fuel efficient cars, now it’s better to replace a fuel-guzzling car with a fuel-efficient one.
Pump up your tires. More than one-quarter of all vehicles have improperly inflated tires. The average under-inflation of 7 ½ pounds causes a loss of 2.8% in fuel efficiency, according to the U.S. EPA.
Check your car’s air filter. A clean air filter improves gas mileage by as much as 10%. Nearly one in four cars needs an air filter replacement, according to the U.S. EPA.
Telecommute when possible. If all commuters worked from home just one day a week, we could save 5.85 billion gallons of oil and cut roughly 143 billion pounds of carbon dioxide each year, according to the Environmental Defense Fund.
Check your car’s alignment. Poor alignment not only causes tires to wear out more quickly, it forces the engine to work harder, reducing fuel economy by as much as 10%.
Give your car a tune-up. A properly tuned engine can improve gas mileage by 4%, saving you 11 cents a gallon in fuel and reducing your carbon footprint.
Check your car’s gas cap. It’s estimated that nearly 17% of cars on the road have broken or missing gas caps. This not only reduces gas mileage, it may harm the environment. Putting this tip into practice can save two cents per gallon, according to The Daily Green.
Walk. Walking ten one-mile trips each week, instead of driving, keeps 500 pounds of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere per year. If 10,000 people walk five miles a week instead of driving, in a year we’ll eliminate the CO2 created by 240 cars, according to The Daily Green.
Drive smoothly. The more smoothly you accelerate and decelerate the better your gas mileage will be, with potential for 33% gas savings on the highway and 5% around town.
Lighten your load. Take anything out of your car you don’t need. Don’t forget to check the trunk. For every 100 extra pounds carried around, your vehicle loses 1%-2% in fuel efficiency. Every 100 pounds of weight removed can save 4 cents per gallon in gasoline.
Fuel early in summer. Heat increases evaporation. Cut down on gas emissions (which fill the air we breathe with ozone and contribute to global warming) by not buying gas during the heat of the day. Fill up either early in the morning or late in the evening when the temperature is cooler.
Ease up on the brake. Driving with one foot on the brake not only wears out brakes but can increase fuel consumption by as much as 35%. A lighter foot can save close to $1 per gallon in gasoline.
No idling. Idling wastes gas. If your car is stopped more than 30 seconds, turn off the engine. Idling for more than ten seconds uses more gas and creates more global warming pollution than simply restarting your engine.
Fill up at the grocery store. Half the pollution it takes to transport your food comes from driving to the store and back. Make every trip count by thinking ahead and buying what you need for the week. Even the time you spend parking can make you think twice about going to the store for just a couple of items.
Walk up, don’t drive through. Every time you use a drive-through, you burn about 18 cents worth of gas idling your car. When picking up food, going to the bank, or even filling a prescription, park your car and walk inside. The environmental arguments against drive-throughs are so compelling that a number of smog-choked cities, including Atlanta, are considering banning them.
Take the bus. Driving a car produces about three times more pollution than taking public transportation, and it also wastes money. The average two-worker household can save up to $6,251 every year by jumping on the bus or subway, instead of driving a car, according to The Daily Green.
Get the most out of each tank of gas. Always pull through a parking spot so that you’re facing outwards to leave. Parking the traditional way uses twice as much gas to get in and out of a parking spot.
Organize errands efficiently. Cars get their worst gas mileage driving around town. Plan ahead for how you do errands. Piggybacking errands into one saves time, gas, and reduces carbon emissions. Plan your route before pulling out of the driveway.
Drive 55 mph on the highway. You’re less likely to get into an accident, plus you save fuel. At 65 mph you're burning 10% more fuel than at 55, according to the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. At 70 you lose 17% of fuel economy, and at 75 it’s 25%. The numbers get worse from there.
Don’t warm up your car. It’s tempting on cold winter days, but don’t do it! A cold car produces more bad-for-the-earth emissions when it first starts up. Nix auto start remote on your key chain. Grab a hat and gloves instead.
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