I was watching the news just now and heard that the whoever sets fuel efficiency standards for American automobiles has set a plan in action to raise the standards by 4% every year between 2011 and 2015. My question is,
why not now? Realistically, why not start this for next year? A year is short, but it's a long time for that kind of thing. They reporter said that in 2015, the new car fleet of the year would have to achieve average fuel ratings of 31.6 mpg. Pssh! Give me a break. My car was built 12 years ago and has a 3.1L V6 engine in it.
I can get close to 30 mpg! Seriously, my car is not fuel efficient. It gets 29 mpg at best. Maybe 30 or so with premium gas, but that's getting pretty expensive. The average is 25 or 26 for my car, which would mean the 31.6 is a good increase, but it is not enough. What have we done in the last 12 years? Next to nothing. My car was not considered fuel efficient even by mid-90's standards. We've digressed. People are dependent on air conditioning whenever the temperature gets just slightly above ideal.
My advice: roll down your windows. My A/C doesn't work (result of my crash in Sept. of '06) and I've gotten around just fine in the heat of summer! It seems that everyone wants to be green but no one wants to be inconvenienced. Other than not being able to hear my music as well, there is nothing inconvenient about cruising down the road with my windows down. It's invigorating!
Second thing people do is drive too fast on the highway. I've driven back and forth from Indy to Plymouth so many times at so many different cruising speeds that I know what difference it makes on both fuel consumption and time. Time: less than 10 minutes difference between 60 and 65 mph, and given traffic differences, it could be negligible. MPG: 2 mpg difference between 60 and 65 mph and every 5 mph increase after that, the difference becomes greater and greater! Do the speed limit, save gas. It's pretty simple. Honestly, are you so much in a rush to get where you're going that 10 minutes makes a difference over a span of 120 miles? I doubt it.
The simplest advice I can give though is just to maintain your car and make sure your tires are at the right pressure. The less air there is in the tire, the more drag you have from the air and more traction drag you have from more of the tire touching the ground. It makes quite the difference. Change your oil, keep your coolant levels sufficient, and check tire pressure monthly.
With gas now at $3.63 and no end in sight for the rise of prices, it's getting impractical to drive. Makes me pretty sad really since I love driving.
In fact, energy independence/environmental conservation/ending big oil corruption are the issues that catch my attention most in the election to come. With every passing day, we're coming to a now or never situation. It means more to me than abortion even. Yeah, I know abortion is a big deal. I'm against it. I'm unsure about overturning Roe vs. Wade, but I am personally entirely against abortion. Of course, there's the other side of me that says I'm probably just lured into thinking that overturning Roe vs. Wade is bad because it pushes my beliefs on others, but at the same time, as Christians, we are called to influence. Anyway, energy is important to me. I like driving.
Troy
PS: I haven't been consistently at my computer lately due to a string of excellent weather, and judging by the forecast, it's not likely to ease up soon. So I apologize to those of you who I have failed to give and respond to feedback. Thanks for your continued readership though!
Comments (13)
I used to drive a Dodge Neon that had no heat or AC...survived without it. Good onya.
@nikedefeated - I've actually researched it, and in many vehicles, it's the exact opposite. It's typically a pretty hard thing to determine though, but in my experience, windows down is better than A/C. Kicking on the A/C makes my tachometer rise by 150 RPMs at highway speeds, and at the same speeds, rolling down the windows makes no noticeable difference. Of course the difference would become more and more negligible and eventually reverse as speed increases (thus increasing drag). Just thought I'd point these things out. :)
Thanks for the comment!
Dear Troy,
I do better than windows. I put the whole top down whenever it's possible. I recently stopped using the freeway route home, which cuts about 5 miles off my 30 mile commute. Gas out here is $3.75 for regular, and over $4.00 for premium. I used to go on "photo expeditions" all around the southland but now I'm sticking a lot closer to home. Pretty soon I won't be able to afford driving to work! (And our anemic rail system doesn't have a line to get me from A to B so I can't use the train.)
I guess it's too early to ask if you have the job yet. Good luck.
Michael F. Nyiri, poet, philosopher, fool
I love driving with the windows down, and I just turn up the music. I have cut back on driving, and rarely drive spontaneously (Which means I make trips for church and any other appointment). Luckily for me, gas around here stays about ten cents lower than the national average.
The whole AC vs. windows things was on Mythbusters.
"The fundamental flaw in the MythBusters' test was that the point where the drag becomes powerful enough to inhibit a car's performance with windows down was inside their 45–55mph margin at 50mph. Going less than 50mph it is more efficient to leave your windows down, but going greater than 50mph it is more efficient to use your A/C. Since then, this particular bit of knowledge has been used frequently on Car Talk."
I like the those guys.
@onegirlarmy5 - Truth. I actually considered creating a graph to demonstrate the points at which the efficiency of windows down and A/C reverse according to speed. But then I decided that doing homework was probably a better way to spend time (though perhaps not as environmentally effective). But one of the points I should have made clear was that most people don't spend their time driving at highway speeds every day. They both have their perks. Unfortunately, I don't really have the option to choose.
Plus. It probably depends on the car as well. The thing we all really should do, especially if you live in a big city is take public transportation, and write to your local congressman and tell him/her how important it is to expand our mass transit.
@onegirlarmy5 - Another good point. I was also considering making a follow-up post on this with other green tips, and I think I'll include that bit as well. Public transpo is nice. I'm planning on carpooling a lot next year when I'm in Plymouth commuting to South Bend.
@The_Palantiri - Sweet. Indiana could probably benefit from a train system of some sort. I mean I know a ton of people who take the train when they go to Chicago.
Sorry for leaving so many comments. I know that the cost of gas is terrible, but it's good that people are finally realizing that gas isn't always going to be available. They should have started talking about US mass transit back in the 70's when there was the same kind of panic about prices.
@onegirlarmy5 - It's cool, I like getting lots of comments, even if it's really only a conversation. Followup blog posted.
Call me selfish on this one point, AC in the car=good. Especially on the highway. Frankly I find the road noise is too much to carry on a conversation when the windows are down. AC at home is used only when absolutely necessary. Close windows on the hot side of the house and open them on the cool side during the hottest time of the day. Otherwise open some of your windows at the top and you will find that helps to circulate the warmth out of the home. It works people did it for generations before the advent of electricity and AC.
yikes in Toky gas is almost 7:00 per gallon so we are luckey that we have the cheapest...Europe is the same...gas pricing is outrageous...the best we can hope for is that all cars become Hybrids