Being a Gas Miser
It seems that gas price hike will be here for quite a while for reasons that the average person like me will never really know. Factors such as the Middle East’s peace and order situation; the US recession which until now Dubya haven’t directly accepted to be happening; China’s sudden demand for automotive as most Chinese got tired of riding bikes - it’s a pity but sooner or later obesity will be as common as dumplings in China; locally, we can blame our government for deregulating the oil companies – but this is debatable. These are just a few of things that caused the soaring oil prices.
So while we are busy thinking and picking who’s supposed to be blamed other than ourselves, it may be just right for us to start looking at the mirror and check if we’ve done our part to alleviate the effect of this situation which is way out of our control. Not only that we get to save our pockets and wallets, we also get to save our sanity and most importantly, our environment.
And so today, as I’m lazily surfing the web, my mouse led me to Ecomodder.com which has this article, “104 hypermiling / ecodriving tips …” And guess what? I’ve been doing most of their tips already. And so I grabbed my own top 10 so that others may learn as well.
1) Drive less. Avoid driving if you can. Just think about the heavy traffic you’ll encounter on your way and this will help convince you.
2) Track your fuel consumption. Take a conscious effort to track your fuel mileage. Our Honda City’s digital Trip A and Trip B meter is a big help when it comes to this. By the way, please, track your consumption when you get home. You don’t want to run over pedestrians or other cars while fiddling with your calculator.
3) Leave early and don’t rush. It’s funny but I’ve been thinking of doing this yet. Having a car makes most of us think that we can hit the snooze alarm a couple of times in the morning with the assurance that we can beat time to work by driving like a crazy Takuma Sato. But this shouldn’t be the case I realize just now. This is a No-Win situation: You get irritated because you expect everyone to rush just like you do, and you get to pump unnecessary gas in the process.
4) Note your transition points. Ecomodder says, “If you regularly travel the same roads, make a conscious effort to note (memorize) the points along the way where transitions occur that maximize efficiency”. By doing so, you can actually plan where to safely coast (if I remember it right, I read that it is illegal to coast in some states in the US), anticipate turns and brake points.
5) Avoid drive-thrus. This is to avoid idling. Save on gas. Save on fast foods.
6) Windows up. This is a no-brainer in the Philippines. Here spitting is not a crime. Do I need to explain further? Hahaha. Just my reason for driving windows up, but it has something to do with aerodynamics/wind drag which has an effect on the gas mileage; and of course back to the spitting thing.
7) Heavy traffic: play the accordion. Ecomodder says, “If faced with worst-case “stop & crawl” traffic conditions, leave as much space ahead of you as possible and continually “accordion” that space to keep your vehicle moving near a constant speed while the cars in front of you stop & start.
Yes, some people will cut into the space you create ahead of you. Deal with it.
10) Don’t keep up with the Joneses. Ecomodder says, “It [sic] easy to be competitive when driving. Resist knee-jerk retaliation to other drivers’ aggressive actions. Don’t let other drivers lead you astray from your driving style.” Now this is more like a test of my character rather than a test to save gas. The pinoy Joneses are the hari ng kalsada (king of the roads) – your “friendly” jeepney/tricycle drivers. I guess I’ll be able to keep up with this tip if I leave home early to work.
There you go. Let’s save gas the rational way and please stop sending me emails to boycott the giant oil companies – it’s foolish, it’s temporary and it just won’t work.
reference: Ecomodder.com
