Reducing Use of Gasoline

 

Roscommon/Crawford Chapter

Since we have learned that the transportation sector in the United States has surpassed electricity generation as the leading cause of carbon dioxide pollution, we need to focus on changes to reduce air pollution from that source. Here are some tips for reducing the amount of gasoline used when you need to travel.

Drive less

• Burn fat instead of gas by walking or biking when you can.

One of my favorite memories of a work-related trip to Sweden some years ago was the image of middle-aged woman on her way to town. I passed by her while in a vehicle on the way to the factory that I was scheduled to visit. It was snowing and the stylish lady was carrying an umbrella to shield her attractive dress and hat from the wet snow. She seemed entirely nonchalant as cars passed by her bicycle that she pedaled alongside the busy street, steering with one hand and avoiding the accumulating snow with her umbrella. She was not alone in her use of a bicycle in the village that I visited during the sudden snowfall.

• Use a bike-share program if your city or town has such a thing as do many larger cities, especially those in Europe. Urge planners to make our Michigan communities ‘bike friendly’.
• Take public transit when possible as it is invariably more efficient than personal transportation or use ride-sharing services.
• Carpool with friends instead of driving alone. Take the initiative and ask neighbors if they would like to ride with you or share rides on regular trips and errands.
• Plan ahead to make the most of your trips and ‘trip chain.’ If your grocery store is near other places you need to visit, make sure you complete all your errands in one trip. When you have multiple stops to make, travel to the farthest one first and then the closer ones later. This will make your engine warm-up faster allowing it to run at maximum efficiency for the largest part of your trip.
• Work from home if your job allows and consider vacationing by using the bus or train, avoiding airline travel since air travel is by far the least efficient use of fuel.

Drive wise

• Avoid aggressive driving since speeding, rapid acceleration and unnecessary braking wastes gas, lowering your gas mileage by roughly 15% to 30% at highway speeds and 10% to 40% in stop-and-go traffic. In a test by Consumer Reports, speeding up from 55 mph to 65 mph dropped the fuel economy by 4 to 8 mpg, while speeding up from 65 mph to 75 mph cut fuel efficiency by an additional 5 to 7 mpg.
• Get in the habit of driving at the speed that provides the best gas mileage for your vehicle. This will be achieved by using the highest gear and driving at the slowest speed for that gear, often slightly above 50 miles per hour for many vehicles. Do this cautiously if this speed is slower than the bulk of traffic on your roadway.
• Use your brakes sparingly when traffic allows. Let your momentum carry you forward until you reach a slower speed for turning or stopping, but don’t shift the transmission into neutral during this maneuver since its unsafe and doesn’t help save fuel.

Choose fuel efficient vehicles and don’t idle

• Unnecessary idling of cars, trucks, and school buses pollutes the air, wastes fuel, and causes excess engine wear.

·         Reducing idling from diesel school buses prevents children from being exposed to diesel exhaust, reduces greenhouse gas emissions, and saves money on fuel. The EPA has a Clean School Bus Program that includes information and resources that can help reduce school bus idling in your community. Check to see if your school is aware of this program.

• Many new vehicles have features that shut off the engine when the vehicle comes to a complete stop, thus saving fuel. When the driver presses the accelerator pedal, the starter motor is automatically engaged and the engine fires, ready to run and move the vehicle.
• Consider purchasing a more fuel-efficient vehicle. You will find the added cost of the fuel-efficient vehicle can save you money in the long run. Think electric, diesel, or a smaller, lighter weight vehicle that fits your needs.

Maintain your vehicle for improved fuel economy

·        Keep your vehicle tires at the maximum allowed tire pressure.

·        Use only regular gas including those gasolines that contain ethanol added to the gasoline. Keep in mind that ethanol has less energy than gasoline, so you might see a small dip in your fuel economy even though you are helping prevent air pollution by using a renewable fuel.

·        Follow recommendations in selecting motor oil; consider use of lower viscosity oils modified with friction-reducing additives that are claimed, and do, help improve economy.

·        Don’t use your vehicle as extra storage space – remove unnecessary things from your vehicle to save weight and improve fuel economy. This means removing any rooftop storage devices (a wind drag) and golf clubs from your trunk (unnecessary weight) when these items are not used.

·         Don’t waste energy by unnecessarily operating a heater or air conditioner. Keep in mind that lowering your windows also costs fuel since the aerodynamics of the vehicle are compromised. Testing shows that below 55 mph, open the windows and leave the a/c off. But at 60 mph or higher, keeping them closed and the air conditioning running will burn less fuel.

Some of these tips will save only small amounts of gasoline for each driver. However, if you multiply these small amounts by 200 million drivers in the United States, we can prevent huge amounts of air pollution.