Everybody can improve gas mileage by hypermiling

William Atkins
Wednesday, 05 November 2008 19:22

Science - Energy

The Christian Science Monitor provides tips for efficient use of your car at “‘Hypermiler’ driving tips”

Probably its two most important tips are:

Don’t idle your car—that’s zero miles per gallon

Don’t drive above the speed limit--that's more air resistance for your car and less money in your pocket

To summarize, some of the ways you can save money and gasoline (and be a better and safer driver) are to:

Do not drive at excessive speeds

Ease up on the brake and coast as much as possible to stop signs and lights

Use your cruise control to maintain a steady speed

Avoid weaving in and out of traffic

Do not idle your car (you are maximizing your fuel loss and minimizing your distance traveled)

Concentrate on your driving and not on your cell phone conversations or other wasteful and dangerous habits.

Jack Martin summarizes why he is a hypermiler when he states, "I've always thought thtat the most timely thing we could do is to develop new behaviours that we could use now. We have cut a million barrels of oil out of demand in the U.S. since April [2008] because people are not going out as much. If we could just average around 50 miles per gallon (4.7 l/100km), we could cut oil usage in half."

For more information on hypermiling, check out: http://www.cleanmpg.com/.