Green Up Your Driving

The summer is a great time to travel but whether it’s a road trip to see and old friend or your summer sweetheart, transportation accounts for 67% of US oil use—mainly in the form of gasoline. Lucky for you there are many ways that you can improve your gas mileage and cut down on fossil fuel use.

• Idling gets you 0 miles per gallon, even on the coldest of days you don’t need more than 30 seconds of idling to warm up your car. The best way to warm up your vehicle is to drive it. Idling only wastes fuel and increases emissions.
• Driving aggressively (speeding, rapidly accelerating and breaking hard) can lower your highway gas mileage by 33% and city mileage by 5%.
• Avoid high speeds. Above 60mph, gas mileage drops rapidly.
• Clean out your car, the extra weight can decrease gas mileage 1-2% for every 100 pounds.
• Having a loaded roof rack can decrease your fuel economy by 5%, place cargo in your trunk in order to reduce drag.
• Combine errands into a single trip. Several short trips, each one taken from a cold start, can take twice as much fuel as one trip covering the same distance.

Story: EnergySavers.com

Image: SUVblogger.com