Fuel Savings Ideas
- Leave the car at home and take public transportation to work.
- Instead of short haul flights of 500 miles or so, take the train.
- Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible. Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year!
- Start a carpool with your coworkers or classmates. Sharing a ride with someone just 2 days a week will reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by 1,590 pounds a year. eRideShare.com runs a free national service connecting commuters and travelers.
- Keep your car tuned up. Regular maintenance helps improve fuel efficiency and reduces emissions. When just 1% of car owners properly maintain their cars, nearly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere.
- Check your tires weekly make sure they are properly inflated. Proper inflation can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Since every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, every increase in fuel efficiency makes a difference!
- When it is time for a new car, choose a more fuel-efficient vehicle. You can save 3,000 pounds of carbon dioxide every year if your new car gets only 3 miles per gallon more than your current one. You can get up to 60 miles per gallon with a hybrid!
- Try car sharing. Need a car but don't want to buy one? Community car sharing organizations provide access to a car and your membership fee covers gas, maintenance, and insurance. Many companies – such as Flexcar -- offer low emission or hybrid cars too! Also, see ZipCar.
- Try telecommuting from home.Telecommuting can help you drastically reduce the number of miles you drive every week.
- Fly less. Air travel produces large amounts of emissions so reducing how much you fly by even one or two trips a year can reduce your emissions significantly. You can also offset your air travel by investing in renewable energy projects.
- Use the lowest octane fuel you can on your vehicle. Regular is fine for just about every new car. The only time you need it is when your car makes a "knocking" sound. Any other time, you're throwing money away.
- Drive the speed limit. It will save you money on gas, and help the environment as well.
- Don't Overfill your tank. The excess fuel evaporates or spills out when you drive off.
- Lighten the load. Every 250 lbs. takes up an extra mile per gallon.
- Buy locally grown and produced foods. The average meal in the United States travels 1,200 miles from the farm to your plate. Buying locally, will save fuel and keep money in your community.
- Seek out and support local farmers markets. They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth. You can find a farmer's market in your area at the USDA website.
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