Countdown to Earth Day: Wanna save gas? Here's how!

Countdown to Earth Day: Wanna save gas? Here's how!: "

Filed under: Etc., Green Culture, MPG

Everybody wants to save gas, right? Well, if you're one of the countless drivers looking to slash your fuel consumption, then you've come to the right place 'cause we've got some tips that should boost your vehicles miles per gallon.



Avoid aggressive driving (i.e.speeding, rapid acceleration and braking). This type of driving wastes gas and can reduce your vehicles fuel efficiency by up to 33 percent (!) at highway speeds and as much as five percent in city driving conditions. Furthermore, aggressive driving is often dangerous.



Observe the posted speed limit. Yes, we just mentioned this, but it deserves repeating. Each vehicle achieves its optimal efficiency at different speeds, but it's oftentimes accurate to assume that fuel economy drops off when a vehicle exceeds 60 miles per hour. The U.S. Department of Energy says that keeping your speed at or below 60 miles per hour results in a fuel economy benefit of up to 23 percent.



Remove excess weight. One hundred pounds of additional junk in your trunk can reduce the fuel efficiency of a vehicle by up to two percent. So, remove those unnecessary items.



If possible, avoid idling. Since an idling vehicle gets zero miles per gallon, it's simply wasting gas.



This list provides a few tips to reduce fuel consumption. For more on fuel-saving techniques, check out this Greenlings article in our archives.



Note: To mark the 41st anniversary of Earth Day* this year on April 22nd, we're running a series called Countdown to Earth Day that we want to be very welcoming to new readers, both in topic and tone. We'll be returning to our Greenlings series for inspiration here, and if you have friends who you'd like to introduce to AutoblogGreen, perhaps these introductory posts and the coming 'holiday' will be the spark to light their green car interest.



[Source: U.S. Department of Energy]



*Ironically, the apparent traditional gift for a 41st anniversary is land. Since land - earth - is something we can't easily create, how about we give ourselves the gift of stewardship of the land this Earth Day.

Countdown to Earth Day: Wanna save gas? Here's how! originally appeared on Autoblog Green on Tue, 12 Apr 2011 14:52:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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