Tips to Reduce Your Fuel Consumption by 20 Percent or More1
- Driving at the posted speed limit is probably the single-most effective strategy to conserve fuel. It may now be legal to drive 75 mph on some open roads, but it costs about 15 percent more fuel than if you were to stick to around 60 mph.
- You can save another 2 to 3 percent of your fuel by properly inflating your tires. Think about it. Underinflated tires are flatter and therefore present a greater surface area against the road. That creates more friction, which creates more drag, which requires more energy to overcome the drag. Added friction also wears tires out faster, giving off toxic tire dust and resulting in more frequent tire replacement. This tip helps even more on large commercial vehicles. One study showed that a farm tractor using correctly inflated tires required 20 percent less diesel fuel than one with improperly inflated tires.2
- In hot weather, it’s tempting to keep your air conditioner running at its maximum much of the time, especially when you first get into the hot car. The higher settings on the air conditioner demand much more energy than the lower settings, so to save another 2 to 3 percent of your fuel, simply open the windows to get the bulk of the hot air out of the car before turning on the air conditioner.
- Jackrabbit starts – racing to beat the other guy when the light turns green – may cost another few percent, depending on how much city driving you do.
- Motor oils that have the “Energy Conserving II” label contain friction-reducing additives that can save another 1 to 2 percent of your fuel.
- Fuel needs space at the top of the tank to expand as it warms during the day. It there’s no space, it will discharge through the vents, so don’t “top off” the gas tank and do make sure the gas cap is tight after refueling.
- Travel light. A loaded roof rack or carrier increases aerodynamic drag, which can cut mileage efficiency by 5 percent, and an extra hundred pounds in the trunk cuts a typical car’s fuel economy 1 to 2 percent.
- A lot of gas is wasted when you car is idling. Try parking instead of using the drive-through at the fast-food place, and shut off the engine when you’re waiting at the curb to pick someone up at the airport.
- Telecommute to work or take public transit. Using mass transit even one day each month will save 5 percent of the fuel you use for commuting. Of course, we could do much more. The American Public Transportation Association tells us that if Americans used public transportation at the same rate Europeans do, for just 10 percent of their daily travel needs, we would save more energy every year than all the energy used annually by the US petrochemical industry and nearly equal to the energy used to produce food in the United States .
- Don’t waste your money buying high-octane gasoline, which also wastes the extra energy needed to make such fuels. Stick with regular octane unless your owners’ manual requires (not just “recommends”) the use of higher-octane fuel.
1Data for these tips and even more fuel saving information can be found at www.fypower.org/save_gasoline/.
2Overinflated Tractor Tires Waste Fuel, Reduce Productivity (Oakland, CA: California Agriculture, University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, March – April 1996).