How to Pump More Savings Out of Your Gas Usage
February 19, 2010
The summer of 2008 saw the highest prices for gasoline the United States had ever seen. The prices have settled down a bit but they are expected to rise again. This isn’t exactly the fault of the consumer. If you trace the reason why gasoline prices have risen at the pumps, you can easily go back to two historic events; the attack on the World Trade Center and the United States invasion of Iraq.
It was thought that with Saddam Hussein no longer in power, the price of gasoline would plunge. The fact is that oil markets are an extremely volatile commodity, linked to the supposed volatility in supplies and the oil-producing nations.
Trying to keep a family on a budget with these wildly fluctuating gasoline prices is difficult at best. The good news is that there are ways to shield you from the rising costs of gasoline. Here are some tips to help you save money on gasoline.
Minimize the use of your car
Keeping your car for long trips is the best way to save money. When possible, travel by foot, bicycle or bus if traveling short distances. This method will not only help you save money and gas, but it will certainly be of benefit to your health. Long walk are proven to improve your cardiovascular system and will improve your overall physical and mental health.
Taking a bus or train can, in many circumstances, be cheaper than driving and paying for gas, tolls and parking fees.
Setting a good example for your children will go a long way to teach your kids to rely less on the family car. Teaching them to commute will foster independence and make them more familiar with the areas where you live. This will allow them to travel where they need to go without always having your presence when they need to go somewhere.
Regular maintenance of the car
Just as you should routinely visit the doctor, your car should also be checked every few months. The efficiency of a car drops considerably when it is not running at optimum performance.
Basic maintenance that is easily done by the driver should be to check the tire pressure, the oil level and the water/antifreeze in the cooling system. When your car struggles to accelerate, especially on flat roads, or you are having an overheating problem, chances are your car is in poor condition.
Use fuel-efficient cars
In past years, the fuel economy of a car was not the primary consideration when purchasing a car. The proliferation of gasoline hogging SUV’s and monster trucks can attest to that. Now times are changing and efficiency is the name of the game. Gas hogging behemoths’ are losing fashion and people who drive them are being looked down upon.
When considering the purchase of a car, fuel efficiency should be your primary concern. Many cars give outstanding fuel economy. Several companies produce hybrid vehicles, but these cars are still in the experimental stage and are more expensive that their gasoline powered competitors.
Ideally, the car that you use daily should give you outstanding mileage in terms of your miles per gallon. You can consider a hybrid, but this technology is still in the developmental stage, and the cars are considerably more costly than gas-powered vehicles. The rush is on to produce more hybrid vehicles and more and more options will be available to the consumer.
Beverly Saltonstall
http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/how-to-pump-more-savings-out-of-your-gas-usage-752242.html
… drilling in ANWAR for oil or drilling in your backyard for GSHP?
Which does more for America’s energy independence: drilling in ANWAR or in your backyard for GSHP?
If we want to be energy independent, we must do more. Do you know what Ground Source Heat Pump is? The Army uses it on Fort Polk, a base near Leesville, La., to save millions of dollars in heating and cooling costs.
"…[saves]100% of the whole-community natural gas previously used for space conditioning and water heating (260,000 therms) in a typical meteorological year. These savings result in an estimated reduction in CO2 emissions of 22,400 tons per year. Peak electrical demand has been reduced by 7.55 MW, which is 43.5% of the pre-retrofit peak demand."
In street English, Fort Polk no longer uses natural gas and the electrical usage (and costs) went down. The Leesville, Louisiana has that extra electrical capacity available for new industry!
http://www.ornl.gov/sci/femp/pdfs/ORNL_CON-460.pdf
Good point Pappy.
150 to 250 ft. deep for a closed loop that takes heat with the heat pump all year round from the 60⁰F ground in the winter for hot water and heating. In summer, the heat pump gives you all the cooling you could need.
So efficiently that you can operate the whole system with photovoltaic solar panels.
Thnx, Kejjer, 4 the *.
Edit: ANWR, my mistake.
(Alaska National Wildlife Refuge)
If you were in charge of ordering medical supplies at a hospital, would you keep ordering morphine to replace supplies stolen by addicted members of your staff? Or would you get them to rehab first?
Until the United States is as efficient, if not more so, as European countries, we should not throw away our last barrels on oil junkies.
As hot as it is in Crawford, TX in August, I am delighted to hear the Bush ranch uses, and therefore, endorses GSHP for cooling, heating & hot water.
I would rather they drill in my back yard.Man i would be makin the money.
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Yes I heard about these Geo thermal units about three years ago.They do offer a viable solution to pollution and energy cost.The only down side is the cost involved,and if I’m not mistaken they have to go really deep.
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I saw this on DIRTY JOBS on the discovery channel a few months back—-it’s a great idea—and after spending the last 30 minutes scrolling through the link looks like FORT POLK has set a benchmark for all small communities to emulate.
However—President Bush is aware of the GSHP–His House in CRAWFORD TEXAS uses this TECHNOLOGY
http://www.snopes.com/politics/bush/house.asp
And he still thinks we need the OIL–I agree with him–Oil will continue to be the lifeblood of the world for the next 20 to 40 years.–You can’t just ignore it for the next TWO to four DECADES while the other countries of the world take advantage of it.
So Yes the GSHP is a Great idea–But so is Drilling in ANWAR!
Cost savings of 16% per housing unit at worst—up to 40% at best–either way the system seems to pay for itself in a relatively short amount of time–ESCO contract was for 20 years and predicted a savings of around 2 million per year at the base.
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that thing on my shoulders
I like both. I think Iceland uses GSHP, very efficient. But, I know this may sound crazy, if everyone uses GSHP, will there ever be people who say we are depleteing Mother Earth of Her natural heat. Just wondering.
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