Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama must be crazy; he actually suggested that people keep their cars' tires properly inflated in order to increase fuel efficiency. Oh wait ' that's actually good advice.
After he suggested this a little over a month ago, Republican nominee John McCain's camp quickly began selling tire pressure gauges with Obama's Energy Policy written on them. Although clearly meant as a dig at Obama because he offered a fuel-saving recommendation that wasn't grandiose or involving more oil, selling tire gauges is quite useful.
Fuel efficiency is something that should be the number one priority for the next presidential candidate, and there are ways that people can increase their car's efficiency without having to wait 10 years for new technology.
For more than 100 years, people have enjoyed the luxury of driving. Henry Ford's Model T, which went into production in 1908, actually got 17 miles per gallon ' the same rating as some of the automobiles on the road today.
Aside from the 1970s, Americans have enjoyed relatively cheap gas prices, which is why $4 for a gallon of gas stretches most people's wallets. But now is the time when Americans can't simply wait a decade for either offshore drilling to produce usable fuel or for alternative and sustainable fuels to be fully developed.
Personal responsibility must be taken for the negative effects motor vehicles have on the environment, and there are very simple ways that people can alter their driving habits to increase how many miles per gallon their cars get.
Tire pressure checks, as Obama mentioned, can increase fuel mileage by 3.3 percent, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. Tire pressure should be about 32 pounds per square inch (PSI). Keeping tires properly inflated not only keeps fuel efficiency higher, but also makes the tires last longer.
Now if 3.3 percent seems miniscule, think about the fuel savings over time. Fueleconomy.gov estimates that would save up to 11 cents per gallon, and if your tank holds at least 14 gallons, that's about $1.50 of savings each time you fill up.
That's $6 every month if you fill up once a week; $72 per year; $720 when some kind of remedy comes along in 10 years.
You can also save fuel by eliminating excessive braking and accelerating and by keeping a constant speed. These are preventable actions that eat away at your gas, and altering your driving style can increase fuel efficiency by about 30 percent, according to CNN. Hypermiling ' the fuel-saving technique of coasting, turning your engine off when not needed and keeping a slower speed ' has gained popularity with the increase in fuel prices.
The practice is controversial because some hypermilers take their gas-saving methods to the extreme by following closely behind large pick-up trucks and semis to catch drafts or tailgating in general because they don't want to use their brakes.
But eliminating abrupt stops and 75 or 80 mph speeds on the freeway are safe habits to adopt, especially since fuel efficiency decreases above speeds of 60 miles per hour. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, every extra five miles per hour above 60 is equal to paying roughly 20 cents more per gallon of gas.
These suggestions might be laughable to someone who would prefer to endlessly drill into the planet to feed our unhealthy addition to fossil fuel, but they are strategies that can ease the stress we feel at the pump right now. They don't involve using heavy machinery (aside from the cars themselves), endangering ecosystems or drilling more fuel.
Energy bills in Congress, scientific research and development, the lifting of the moratorium on offshore oil drilling ' we don't have to sit and wait to see which of these possibilities becomes reality before we start saving fuel and money.
It might seem too easy to just lay off the gas pedal or put some air in the tires, and that's because it is easy. It's the kind of common sense that profits the consumer instead of big business, and it's the kind of common sense that shouldn't be ridiculed. -
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Cathy Wilson
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