Your Green Life

One of the easiest things that you can do to go green and save money at the same time is to take some basic steps to get better gas mileage for your vehicle. By getting the most out of every mile that you drive, you will help reduce climate change by reducing the amount of carbon dioxide (CO2) that your car creates and will reduce your overall carbon footprint. It will also help reduce the country’s overall dependence on oil while at the same time increasing our energy stability by using it wisely now.

Green Life Guide Tip #1 – Drive Smart

When you drive aggressively it wastes gasoline. This includes speeding, stop and go driving, and rapidly accelerating. When you drive in this manner, your gas mileage can decrease up to 33 percent when on the highway and by 5 percent when driving in town. You’ll see savings between 13 and 88 cents a gallon when gas is around $2.65 USD a gallon.

Green Life Guide Tip #2 – Drive Under the Speed Limit

Each vehicle has a little bit different optimum speed to achieve the best fuel efficiency. As a general rule of thumb, your car’s gas mileage will decrease at an exponential rate as you increase speed over 60 mph. Every 5 mph that you drive above 60 is equivalent to paying about a quarter more per gallon for your gas. The potential savings are between 19 and 61 cents a gallon.

Green Life Guide Tip #3 – Get Rid of Extra Weight

Now we’re not talking about removing permanently installed seats here, but every 100 pounds of excess weight in your car or truck will reduce your fuel efficiency up to 2 percent. The smaller your car, the greater the impact will be. The savings you’ll see will be between 3 and 5 cents a gallon.

Green Life Guide Tip #4 – Use Cruise Control and Don’t Leave Your Car Running

When you use cruise control on the highway, you keep your car going a constant speed and will save gas from not continually accelerating and decelerating. Similarly, when your car idles, you are not getting any fuel efficiency out of your vehicle. The bigger your car or truck, the more you need to pay attention to excessive idle times to increase your gas mileage. At the same time, if your car has an overdrive gear, you should use it. It keeps the vehicle engine speed at the lowest RPM necessary, reduces wear and tear on your engine, and saves gas.

Green Life Guide Tip #5 – Tune Your Engine

If you car is not properly tuned or is not passing required emissions testing for your state, then you could be losing up to 4% of the potential gas mileage from your vehicle. You do have to realize though, that if you improperly tune the car this can get even worse. If you have a bad O2 sensor you gas mileage can suffer by up to 40%. Your overall savings by keeping your car properly tuned can be up to 11 cents a gallon.

Green Life Guide Tip #6 – Keep Your Tires Pumped Up

This tip was made most famous by President Obama, but you can increase your gas mileage up to just over 3% by maintaining proper tire inflation. Every 1 PSI that your tires are under-inflated results in a .3% decrease in gas mileage. If you don’t know what the right inflation pressure is, most cars have a sticker that is located on the driver’s side door jamb or in the owner’s manual for the vehicle. This can differ from the rating on your actual tire, so it is worth checking what the recommended rating for your car is supposed to be. You can save up to 8 cents a gallon with proper tire inflation.

Green Life Guide Tip #7 – Use the Right Motor Oil

Its not a huge improvement in gas mileage, but if you use the proper grade of oil for your car, you can save 3 to 5 cents a gallon. A good example is if your car engine is rated to use 5W-30 and you use 10W-30, you will lower your gas mileage up to 1 to 2 percent.

Green Life Guide Tip #8 – Effectively Plan Your Trips

When gas was under $2 USD a gallon, most Americans did not do a lot of route planning like our European friends do. If you take a little fore thought and plan to combine trips into one long one then you can save a significant amount of fuel by avoiding starting your car multiple times from a cold start. You can end up using twice the amount of fuel by starting your car from a cold iron state. When you are taking a long trip and have been in the habit of using a roof rack, see if you can fit your luggage inside of your vehicle. By using a roof rack, you can decrease your fuel efficiency by up to 5%.