Vehicle Use & Fuel Conservation – Tab 2

Tuesday, March 11, 2014

• Drive sensibly. Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas.
• Remove excess weight. Avoid keeping unnecessary items in your vehicle, especially heavy ones. An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your MPG by up to 2 percent.
• Avoid excessive idling. Idling gets zero miles per gallon.
• Use cruise control. Using cruise control on the highway helps you maintain a constant speed and, in most cases, will save gas.
• Use overdrive gears. When you use overdrive gearing, your car’s engine speed goes down. This saves gas and reduces engine wear.
• Combine errands into one trip.
• Avoid rush hour.
• Keep your engine properly tuned.
• Keep tires properly inflated. This can improve your gas mileage by around 3 percent.
• Check and replace air filters regularly. Replacing a clogged air filter can improve your gas mileage by up to 10 percent.
• Carpool and/or take public transportation.
• If you commute, stagger your work hours to avoid peak rush hours.
• Choose a more fuel efficient vehicle: Use www.fueleconomy.gov to simplify your decision. The difference between a car that gets 20 MPG and one that gets 30 MPG is almost $1,000 per year (assuming 15,000 miles of driving annually and a fuel cost of $3.96)
• Refuel when it’s cool – Refueling during cooler periods of the day will minimize gas fumes from entering the air.
• Don’t top off your tank – Doing so releases fumes to the air.