For the extra miles

It's already 1 month after the fuel hike. The subject matters is still very hard to swallow. The pinch is getting on our pocket increasingly each day especially this month July where a lot other area also seeing price increase. It's everywhere whether you like it or not.

To brace ourselves onward, here are some tips I found at U.S. Department of Energy (fuel economy) to help you reduce the amount of fuel and improve the mileage efficiency in your vehicle. To start with it has to do with our efficiency of driving.

1. Drive Sensibly
Aggressive driving (speeding, rapid acceleration and braking) wastes gas. I t can lower your gasmileage by 33 percent at highway speeds and by 5 percent around town. Sensible driving is also safer for you and others, so you may save more than gas money.

2. Observe the Speed Limit
While each vehicle reaches its optimal fuel economy at a different speed (or range of speeds), gas mileage usually decreases rapidly at speeds above 60 mph (96km/hr). You can assume that each 5 mph you drive over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.30 per gallon for gas. Observing the speed limit is also safer.

3. 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%. The reduction is based on the percentage of extra weight relative to the vehicle's weight and affects smaller vehicles more than larger ones.

4. Avoid Excessive Idling
Idling gets 0 miles per gallon. Cars with larger engines typically waste more gas at idle than do cars with smaller engines.

5. Use Cruise Control

Using cruise control on the highway helps you maintain a constant speed and, in most cases, will save gas.

6. Use Overdrive Gears
When you use overdrive gearing, your car's engine speed goes down. This saves gas and reduces engine wear.

With crude oil price ever increasing and breaching new report high, we have to bit this bullet and start looking ways to improve our purchasing power. The next step will be looking into alternative fuel. How I wish our cars one day run by only H2O. Closes now is hydrogen. That is another story to come.