Posted on 05/02/2008 5:13:54 AM PDT by CarrotAndStick
PHILADEPHIA: As gasoline prices hit records on almost a daily basis, an increasing number of motorists in US are following a radical driving technique designed to eke out every last mile from a tank of fuel. Known as 'hypermiling,' the methods can double gas mileage, even in gas-guzzling vehicles.
Promoted on a growing number of websites, hypermiling includes pumping up tires to the maximum rating on their sidewalls, which may be higher than levels recommended in car manuals; using engine oil of a low viscosity, and the controversial practice of drafting behind other vehicles on the highway to reduce aerodynamic drag — a practice begun a few years ago by truck drivers.
The price of gasoline has rapidly emerged as the public's biggest economic concern. Gas prices are a "serious problem," ahead of jobs, and healthcare, according to a poll released by the Kaiser Family Foundation.
The "advanced" techniques of hypermiling are in addition to well-known approaches including keeping speed down, accelerating gently, avoiding excessive idling and removing cargo racks to also cut down on aerodynamic drag.
Adherence to hypermiling and other disciplines are designed to boost mileage well in excess of the US Environmental Protection Administration's ratings, which apply to each car model.
Wayne Gerdes, a former nuclear plant operator from Wadsworth, Illinois, and the originator of hypermiling, said he gets 40-70-mpg (almost 20km a litre) out of his Ford Ranger pickup truck, about doubling its official fuel consumption.
Gerdes (47), estimates that hypermiling has saved him $15,000 in fuel since he began the technique after the attacks of September 11, events that convinced him that US national security was being undermined by its dependence on oil from the Middle East, and motivated him to reduce his own fuel consumption.
"If every vehicle in the US got 25km per litre, we would not import any oil," he said. Deron Lovaas, vehicles campaign director at environmental group the Natural Resources Defense Council, said most hypermiling techniques are "sensible recommendations" that could drive down demand and even prices if widely adopted.
"We should be looking under every rock for potential energy savings," he said.
He said he could not recommend drafting behind fast-moving trucks because it could potentially lead to highway accidents. Hypermiling can even make fuel-sipping gas-electric hybrid cars more efficient. Chuck Thomas (50), a computer programmer from Lewisville, Texas, said he has been getting 30km a litre from his Honda Insight, a hybrid whose EPA rating is 25km a litre, in the two years since he has been hypermiling.
Among Thomas' techniques is "pulse and glide" in which he accelerates and then coasts with the engine off until around 24 kph when he kicks the engine back on and accelerates again. "It's the automotive equivalent of skateboarding," he said.
Maybe this should be a separate thread but I would love suggestions on how to decrease my energy consumption by 15%. There was a guy on Orielly talking about it (I only heard snipets) He said that if everyone cut consumption by 10 to 15% the prices would go down. I’m certainly no greeny but I thought that would be something worthwhile. Save money, deprive the Arabs. win-win : )
the ones i bought burned out quickly...i still have 2 from about 5 years ago, but the other 12 or 14 blew within 6 months.......maybe they do not work well in the cold michigan weather
you mean like the folks in georgia, who cut their consumption of water so much the gov’t had to increase taxes to make up for the lost revenue?
no, I’m not too interested in muscles.....
I really would commit to cutting my consumption, I’ve started with a little car, keeping my tires inflated properly, using the oven at night, keeping my curtains closed at the hottest times of the day. Insulating my attic better, a blanket on my water heater (which is already on a timer)
I’d take any and all suggestions of other ways that I can PERSONALLY conserve.
CFLs work as advertised. But...they will fail quickly if short cycled. Burn them for a minimum of 4 hours constant use a day and you will get good life. Constant on 24/7 they last about 5 years. Incandescent on 24/7 lasts 6 weeks.
My experience comes from operating 300 CFLs constantly on 24/7 over many years. Only had a handful of incan bulbs, and they were always needing to be replaced.
best that i can think of is progammable thermostat.....
Has anyone seen or used one of those “supplemental hydrogen generators?” Do they really work? Seems too good to be true. They also seem to come with a gadget to trick the O2 sensor into reading rich that is where I suspect any real gains come from.
We should be burning methane in our vehicles.
Correct me if I am wrong but I have been told that if you have a heat pump (which saves a lot of energy!), you DO NOT want to use a programmable thermostat and/or dial back the temperature at night. Heat pumps work best at keeping the temperature constant within a small range. If you go down a bunch of degrees and then ask it to bring it back up, it turns on the "emergency heat" meaning the electric or gas furnace, thereby using LOTS more energy to bring the temperature back up than would have been used running the heat pump to keep the temperature constant 24/7.
i do not have a heat pump..........
When I was in high school, my car was a 68 Barracuda with a 340 (4 barrel carb) and a manual transmission. I was often less than judicious with my fuel use (strong motor + light rear end + youthful exhuberance = rapid tire wear and reduced economy). I would often try to make up for it by taking it out of gear and coasting. We lived in a rural area so there were many good spots for it and very light traffic. I found that I could shut if off a mile from home, take the benefit of a hill, and coast in silently. I’d kill the lights and sneak in through the back door. I’m sure my parents never knew I was out too late... /sarc
Where have these folks been for the last 50 yr of so? The NASCAR guys were drafting in the '50s if not earlier. The rest of us have checked this out on the highway occasionally for the same period.
My husband drives at 65 instead of 70 and says he saves gas in his Mariner.
Isn’t 25km per litre equal to 59 miles per gallon? I don’t think even hybrids are rated that high.
Hybrids are rated that high, but the rating is a complete lie. The hybrid in question is rated 61 mpg city / 70 mpg highway. But try getting 70 miles out of the thing using nothing but a gallon of gasoline.
As most people know, Japanese houses are tiny and I had a growing family.
My wife would not consent to get rid of a bed we acquired but when a set of drawers built under a bed frame became available from the local neighborhood discard pile, she did allow me to trade in the box spring.
Unfortunately, the trash guys did not pick up the box spring and one of the neighbors informed me that I couldn't put it out unless broken down and tied into neat bundles. They couldn't explain why the bed frame with drawers (which actually occupied more volume) was exempt fom that requirement, but wanting to be a good Japanese neighbor, I reluctantly agreed to haul the box-spring home and break it down for the next pick-up.
It was then that another neighbor volunteered that he had a friend who taught at the local college and had a student from India who would actually pay me for the box spring if I'd haul it to the student's apartment.
The professionals, of course, wanted more than the box spring was worth. So the next Saturday, I tied it to the top of the car and drove it over, maybe 3-4 Km through the local traffic. Judging from the horrific gasps and looks I got, this was just not something the Japanese would normally do. But since I understood the culture enough to wrap it in newspaper and the landlord at the apartment liked his Indian tenant, I was allowed to unload it.
Nah, this is the guy driving the Honda Insight. So he's just exaggerating the hybrid model.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.