How To Increase Fuel Efficiency

Tips To Conserve Gas And The Environment

Published Date: Apr 03, 2010

When you drive a car that does not have good fuel-efficiency, you are doing no good for yourself, or the environment. It is important to find ways to conserve gas so that you can ensure you save money, and the environment in the process. Here are some ways you can increase your fuel efficiency.

1.    Do not warm your car up too much, even when it is cold. When it is -30 degrees outside, you only need to warm up the vehicle for about one minute at most.

2.    Revving up your engine can cause fuel to be wasted for no reason.

3.    Slowly accelerate your vehicle rather than speed up quickly. Only push the pedal down about a quarter of the way so that the vehicle can operate at its most efficient level.

4.    When you buy gas, buy it when it is coldest outside because gas is denser when it is cold. This gives you more fuel concentration for less money at the pump.

5.    A very important tip is to not speed. When you speed, you lower your fuel efficiency. For example, traveling at 55 mph will give 21 percent better mileage compared when you are driving at 70 mph.

6.    When you are driving on the highway, close the windows of your car because the air drag of open windows will reduce your fuel efficiency by about ten percent.

7.    Use your cruise control whenever you can because this keeps your vehicle from constantly adjusting in speed, which ensures your vehicle stays at its most efficient.

8.    Coast down hills as much as you can. Coasting down a hill and letting the momentum carry you for a brief period of time will save a lot of gas and keep the fuel efficiency high.

9.    Try to limit how much you reverse as much as you can because reverse uses more gas than going forward. One good tip is to back into a stall so you can pull out in drive when you start your vehicle to leave.

10.    Keep your vehicle tuned-up because this will give you the most fuel efficiency when you are driving. Clean air filters in your vehicle to keep fuel efficiency high.

11.    Keep your tires inflated to their optimum limit. Tires that are underinflated will lower your fuel efficiency. You should also get tires that have a larger diameter for your rear tires because this will also save you fuel.

12.    Do not have the air conditioning on because it will lower your fuel efficiency by about 20 percent. The more you use electronics in the engine, the more of a load on the engine and the less fuel efficiency you will get.

13.    One of the easiest things you can do to save money and fuel is to walk as much as possible. This keeps you healthy and it keeps you from using gas. In addition, you should look at car pooling to work. This will save you 75 percent on your fuel costs for your commute to work.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Thegreenlivingblog.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on April 3, 2010.