Entry bubble DOE Website for Energy-Saving Tips

By: Colleen | April 30, 2008 | Category: General

To continue on Joanne's "everyday is Earth Day" theme...gas pump

Anyone currently residing on planet Earth knows the cost of gas is soaring sky-high. Because prices at the pump are following the same trajectory as a spaceshuttle, it's important to find other ways to cut costs and reduce energy consumption.

Last week the U.S. Department of Energy launched a new website. The interactive page gives you a virtual tour of a typical home. Just click your mouse on different areas of the house and you're given tips and ideas about saving energy and costs.

One of the more interesting tips I found by clicking on the car in the driveway. It told me to "Get the junk out of the trunk and properly inflate your tires! An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle could reduce your fuel efficiency by up to 2%."

Off the top of my head, if someone were to break open my trunk right now, they'd find: a pair of roller blades, a wool winter coat, my old non-functional laptop, my sister's semi-functional laptop from college, a garbage bag of old clothes I've been meaning to donate, and a heavy-duty ice scraper. And that's just the stuff of which I am AWARE. It's time for a vehicular spring cleaning.

Check out other suggestions for getting the most energy efficient appliances, and using mother nature herself as a natural means of heating and lighting. Little changes can add up to BIG savings, for both our wallets and environment.

What tricks do you have for saving money and energy? Any good tips?

| Comments [4] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: colleen  consumption  doe  energy  gas  money  saving  tips 

 

Entry bubble Vehicle Fuel Economy

By: Sommer | December 07, 2007 | Category: Home and Family

In August, we traded in my husband’s beloved sports car for a new – well, new-to-us – car. We finally decided it was time to become adults and get a 4-door with some hauling capacity. Being new homeowners, we continuously found it difficult to haul more than groceries in our sports car and 2-door coupe. And forget about picking people up from the airport, that required us to bring both cars – one for people and one for luggage!

Initially my husband drove the car to work. Since I only drive about 4 miles per day – round trip to the Metro – the coupe was fine for me to cruise around town in. On the weekends, though, it was such a treat riding in the new car with its heated leather seats and sunroof.gas pump

We were very impressed with the car at first because, since it’s an all wheel drive wagon, we expected it to get SUV-like gas mileage. To our pleasant surprise, our average miles per gallon with my husband driving the car 30 highway miles round trip to work and on various weekend outings was about 23 - 24 miles per gallon. So, when I started driving the car a few weeks ago (since gas is getting more expensive) I thought it would be a great test to see if it was actually better, money and gas mileage wise, for me to drive the car my short 4 miles a day and continue to use it for weekend driving. Since the car has a neat dashboard gadget that automatically calculates average miles per gallon I was ready to see what happened! How disappointed was I to watch my mpg relatively plummet?!?! Now, as it stands today, I’m down to 17.7 miles per gallon!!! YIKES!

Based on the information on fueleconomy.gov I’m right at the average mpg for city driving which makes me feel a little better. The newly revised EPA MPG Estimates give the car a range of 17 mpg for city driving and 24 for highway which averages out at about 22 mpg. 

I guess I’ll start following some of their recommended tips for improving gas mileage and see whether my average mpg changes or not.

| Comments [3] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: auto  car  economy  gas  mileage  sommer  vehicle