It’s hard to believe that just a few years ago, gas was less than $2 a gallon. How times have changed. Now, it seems like gas prices are setting new records everyday ($3.28 a gallon with $4 in sight) as crude oil surged past $110 a barrel. Yet, given the fundamental principles of supply – oil is a finite resource and its supply continues to decrease as it’s consumed – and demand being driven by the insatiable appetites of growing economies such as those of China and India, I see gas prices far outpacing inflation for the time being.
So what is a consumer to do to ease the pain at the pump? Being a consumer myself, I turned to the seemingly omniscient Internet and found a ton of great tips, some of which I do already, some of which don’t really apply to my situation, and some of which I’m going to adopt moving forward. Here is a list of my top 10 tips:
1. Don’t drive. Reconsider whether you really need to drive to wherever you’re going and consider alternative means of transportation. Walking and biking are healthy options. You can also take public transportation such as a bus or train and spend the travel time reading books/magazines, writing/drawing, or pondering the meaning of life. It may take a little longer, but that’s just more time for you to spend on your activity.
2. Trade your gas guzzler in for a more efficient car. If you must drive, consider switching to a car that will wring more miles out of every gallon.
3. Keep up with car maintenance. A well-tuned car will run at peak efficiency and save you a few bucks in the process. On the other hand, an improperly maintained car can burn through 25% more gas. In fact, just replacing clogged air filters can increase mileage up to 10%.
4. Make sure that your tires are inflated to the appropriate level. Checking your tire pressure periodically and making sure each is properly inflated can increase gas mileage by 3%. Not only will this increase your mpg, but it’s also a safety precaution.
5. Remove unnecessary items. Clean out the junk in your car and you waste less gas lugging all that stuff around from place to place.* Once, when I was helping a friend tidy up her car, I discovered 10 pairs of shoes in the trunk and 2 boxes full of miscellaneous items. It might not seem like a lot, but she probably wasted hundreds of dollars on gas over tens of thousands of miles just hauling around those inanimate passengers.
6. Combine trips. Doing several errands in one outing should shave a few miles off doing them separately. Traveling less miles will also save you some time as well.
7. Coast to stops. Anticipate stopping at red lights and traffic jams by scanning ahead of you and then coasting to a stop instead of approaching at full speed and then braking.
8. Drive slower. Air resistance is a function of velocity squared. Thus overcoming air resistance requires more and more power per mile and thus decreases mileage. For example: Driving at 70 mph vs. 50 mph requires 20 to 30% more gas over the same distance.
9. Check the web for deals. Many websites collect data on the best gas prices in your area. Here are a few that are worth a look:
Just don’t go too out of your way to get cheaper gas. The extra miles you drive may outweigh the cost savings.
10. Sign up for a Gas Rewards Credit Card. There are quite a few credit cards out there now that offer relatively high percentage cash back or rewards on gas. The highest non-promotional offer I’ve seen is 5%, but if you see anything that beats that, let me know!
Well, that concludes my top 10. Hopefully, it helps some people out there save some of their hard-earned cash. If you have any tips of your own and feel like sharing, please feel free to leave a comment.
This was just a brief listing so if you’re looking for further resources, here are a few links I suggest:
- wikiHow – the most comprehensive list I found. If you only have time to read one list, this is it.
- Wikipedia (Hypermiling) – great summary of fuel economy-maximizing behaviors
- Federal Trade Commission – the FTC gets in on the action
And remember: Not only will you save some green, but also an added benefit is that saving gas is green and good for the environment.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Selina // Mar 24, 2008 at 8:09 am
Another tip - carpool whenever possible. One car is better than two going to the same destination. For longer trips, you can split the gas cost, too.
2 Daniel M Weng // Mar 25, 2008 at 1:04 am
watching gas prices go up makes me wonder how much faster it’ll take for more auto manufactures to develop and launch more alternative fuel cars. we know the technology is already there, as a matter of fact, it’s been there for ages, it just hasn’t been implemented. imagine what would happen if most of the world found a super cheap way to manufacture cars that could run off of renewable energy? what would those oil tycoons make money off of?
3 Minji Wong // May 30, 2008 at 4:02 pm
If your workplace supports it, I would also suggest telecommuting. This truly eases/reduces the cost at the pump, and it’s one less car on the road!
4 bnivrbayar // Dec 7, 2008 at 9:58 pm
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