Conservation

I wouldn’t be surprised if gas hit $5.00 per gallon in the next year or two. I’m actually not complaining about it because I personally think it’s a good wake up call for America, but here are some ways you can conserve some of your hard earned money.

1. Slow down. It’s simple physics, folks: energy = mass x velocity x velocity. Slow down, you don’t burn as much gas. In addition, jackrabbit starts and sudden braking also use up gas more quickly.

Plus, if you slow down, the person behind you goes slower too. Think of it as helping enforce your will on others, in a subtle way—so subtly they barely notice it. If a few people get together and do it, you can save mileage not only for yourself, but also for that SUV behind you that really needs to conserve gas even more.

2. Empty your trunk. Remember the mass part of that equation? Same deal. Every 200 pounds of unnecessary weight reduces mileage by one mile per gallon. (Oddly enough, this is yet another reason for you to lose weight. Drop 20 pounds, and you save 3 gallons of gas a year.)

3. Inflate your tires. You might even consider over-inflating them by a pound or two.

4. Use cruise control. That helps you maintain a constant speed, so you don’t have to change velocity (see #1 again).

5. Stop wasting gas to drive to the cheap place to get gas. I’ve seen people drive 20 miles out of their way to get to “the cheap gas”—the savings are wiped out because they had to drive to get there.

6. Stop using the drive through window. Park the car and go inside. And stop driving around for a nearby parking space, just take one and walk a bit.

7. Avoid traffic jams. If you live in a major urban area, you burn a lot of extra gas just staring at the license plate in front of you—the average in this part of the country was 25 gallons or so a year. If you’re in a bad traffic jam, turn off your car.

8. Get directions. If you don’t get lost, you don’t waste gas driving around.

9. Get an oil change. Let a few months go between oil changes, have you? Get one. It’ll help.

10. Get a tune up. Your car might be using more gas because it needs new spark plugs, or your tires aren’t aligned.

11. Don’t be idle. Modern, fuel-injected engines do not need to be warmed up, and unnecessary idling wastes fuel. Just take it easy for the first couple miles.

12. Plan local trips and errands. Plan errands for maximum efficiency. This technique will also save you a lot of time.

13. Replace your air filter regularly. A clogged air filter leaves your engine gasping for breath and means you’re probably running with a “rich” mixture, that is, more gas and less air. Many department and auto stores carry air filters, and they are simple to change. A clogged air filter can cost you 1 mpg.

14. Use the air conditioner in your car as little as possible. It uses a lot of gas. Roll down the windows and get some fresh air!