How To Improve Your Fuel Efficiency

Perhaps the Flintstones were on to something. Since the invention of the Model T, pollution has gathered within the atmosphere. On average, a household with two medium-sized sedans emits more than 20,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year. How does it accumulate? To put it simply, our gasoline has weight to it. A gallon weighs just a little over 6 pounds and when it is burned in our vehicles, it combines with oxygen to generate about 19 pounds of CO2. The contribution to pollution is only increased by fuel production and transportation. So on average, the average car gets 21 mpg and is driven an average of 30 miles each day which uses 1.4 gallons of fuel. That quantity of fuel usage emits 35.7 pounds of CO2. What's worse is that this pollution can remain in the atmosphere for numerous decades, even a century. So it is feasible that Model-T pollution still lingers inside the air, mingling with the exhaust from a 2011 Ford.

Here are some tips to make your vehicle more fuel efficient:

Lighten the Load - The amount of gas your vehicle needs depends on how hard you're making it work. Just like you need much more food if, say, you're backpacking and carrying extra weight as opposed to when you're sitting at your desk, your automobile needs more fuel if it is carrying extra weight. Take off the ski rack or back rack if you are not in fact biking or skiing. Clean out your trunk and remove anything you do not need for that day. The EPA estimates that for each and every extra 100 pounds that your automobile carries, it loses 2% in fuel economy.

Tire Maintenance - Ensure your tires are properly inflated. Properly inflated tires have less contact with the road which equals less friction which means the engine has to work much less to move the vehicle. The EPA estimates that effectively inflating your tires can enhance fuel efficiency by three percent so consult your owner's manual to find out the proper tire pressure for your vehicle. Or, if it's time to replace your tires, switch to low rolling resistance tires - they are harder than regular tires so there's even less friction on the road resulting in a 6% increase in fuel economy!

Keep the Petal OFF the Metal - There's this thing called inertia and all vehicles have to overcome it whenever you hit the gas so when you speed down the interstate or speed up to a red light as opposed to coasting to it, you might be hurting your fuel efficiency. According to the EPA, speeding, accelerating and braking hard while in-town driving can lessen efficiency by 33%. On the highway, your vehicle runs most efficiently at 60 mph and every five miles over that decreases efficiency by 6%.

Choose Alternative Fuels - While a large scale switch to biodiesels or ethanols isn't plausible at this time, it's a consideration for anybody who is die hard about reducing dependency on oil. Biodiesel is produced by plant oils making it renewable but on the downside, there's much less energy in these oils and oftentimes, the consumer has to make it themselves. (A friend of mine runs her vehicle off of peanut oil collected from local restaurants which makes her automobile smell like a French fry all the time.) Ethanol is another practical alternative with it being readily available at most gas stations and additional models being developed to make use of ethanol fuel. Once more, this fuel is made from plants making it renewable and it is also readily produced inside the United States therefore reducing our dependency, bit by bit, on foreign oil.

Douglas Michaels Jr. writes educational articles for Green Earth News, the authority on everything Bamboo. For more information on Green Is Grand. Check out Green Earth Bamboo for bamboo sheets, bath towels, duvet covers, clothing and baby products, all made from the world's most sustainable and renewable resource on the planet.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Douglas_Michaels_Jr.

Peliculas Online