06 | April | 2013 | Indoor Air Quality Lab

Green Tips: Being Gas-Smart With Your Vehicle share

Going green around your home isn't just an environmentally-responsible thing to do, but it can actually save you a lot of money. You've probably shopped around sites from your local area - from Atlanta to Houston, or wherever you live - to find the right electric company for your green energy, and hopefully made changes around your house to conserve energy. Now, it's time to turn to the one area where it's hardest to save gas: your transportation.

But back to the point at hand. Driving is something that's hard to avoid, but here are some things to help you be gas-smart with your car:

Brake Smart

It's amazing how much gas your car burns up when you push on the gas pedal, especially if you're in first gear. Instead of revving your engines to get a speedy start, why not slowly decelerate as you come up to a stop light or a line of traffic? Try and time it so that your car is still moving forward by the time the light turns green, so you won't have to push hard on the gas pedal to accelerate. Avoid hitting the brake and gas constantly when in traffic, but just let the car accelerate and roll forward at its own pace. It takes practice, but it can save a fortune in gas if you spend hours in traffic every day.

Use AC Wisely

Before you hit that AC switch, think about whether you really need it or not. The AC should be used only during the stifling American summer, and only when you're driving down the highway (driving with the windows down will increase drag, requiring more energy to move the car). If you are driving around town, try driving with the windows down and letting the breeze cool you off. Get yourself a little battery powered fan, or one that plugs into the battery of the car. Try and park in the shad whenever possible, and turn off your air con before you park to keep run time to a minimum.

Cut Weight

If you don't need to have the back of your vehicle loaded with people and stuff, empty it out. You may not want to take the time to unload your bikes after a weekend cycling trip, but that extra weight will force your engine to work harder. Reduce weight as much as possible, as a light car uses less fuel.

Fill the Tires

Everyone knows that filling your tires will help to conserve fuel, but they don't know why. The reason is that a partially filled tire has more weight on it, and it is harder for the car to turn the wheel and drive forward when there isn't enough air in the tire to keep the car off the ground. Fill up those tires, and take the pressure off your engine.

Turn it Off or Put it in Neutral

If you're going to be sitting in one place for a while, turn off your car rather than letting it sit idling. It will use some gas as it idles, so turning it off will ensure that you don't use excess gas. If you are waiting for your child to come out of school or sitting in line at a bank, put the car in neutral to disengage the engine and reduce your gasoline usage.

Keep each of these in mind next time you head out to the car!

Photo: Some rights reserved by wetwebwork via flickr

Posted: | Categories: cars, Cars+Tranportation, conservation, energy, gas, tips

Apr

5 Easy Ways to Start Conserving at Home share

You can help your state avoid an energy crisis like California experienced simply by implementing a few common sense changes in your home. Get your family involved and other energy efficient changes will follow naturally. You will be amazed how much your utility costs will come down.

Self-Watering Plants

Just because you like having houseplants doesn’t necessarily mean you are an avid green thumb. It just means you like plants and you know they help to purify the air in your home in addition to looking nice.

The trouble is, unless you are conscience of their needs, they easily die. To help avoid forgetting to water them there are a lot of self-watering options available including some you can make yourself. Not only will this save your plants and your sanity, it will also save you money. No water is lost due to spillage, leakage, or evaporation. In addition, you won’t have to be constantly replacing plants or switching to fake alternatives because you forgot to water them.

Water Saving Toilets and Faucets

Did you know that on average it takes 1 - 7 gallons of water every time you flush a toilet depending on the toilet you have? Items like water saving toilets can save your family of four up to 16,500 gallons of water annually. That’s a lot of water worth saving!

Equally, water saving faucets will help cut down on tens of thousands of wasted gallons when you wash dishes or run the disposal. Washing only full loads of dishes or laundry can save an additional 50 gallons every week. Saving water also saves electricity so you get two perks for the effort of one.

Lights

Replacing old incandescent bulbs with energy efficient bulbs makes a huge difference in energy usage. You will get the same amount of light, but only use one fourth of the amount of electricity to run them. An added bonus is they can last for many years there for leaving less waste for the landfills.

Doors and Windows

Many people are losing nearly half of the household energy they use right out their doors and windows. Check for leaks and drafts. This can be as easy as going window to window with a lightweight ribbon or thread and holding it up to see if any breeze makes it move. Seal the draft out with caulking or weather stripping. You can also use heavier curtains to help keep out excessive hot or cold air which will help with heating and cooling bills.

Energy Saving Appliances

Washers, dryers, refrigerators, microwaves, and dishwashers take a lot of energy. The older they are, the more they use. Thanks to federal energy efficiency standards appliances now use considerably less energy than ever before. In fact, the most energy efficient models today use less than half the energy a model from twelve or more years ago.

There are so many benefits to conserving energy, especially in our homes. Saving energy helps you to do your part for the environment, it helps you raise environmentally conscience families, and it saves your household money you can spend it on other things your family can do together.

Photo: Some rights reserved by D.H. Parks via flickr