Energy Eden

There are a number of reasons why saving gas and improving your mileage are beneficial. Gas prices are unstable and constantly rising, much or our oil comes from foreign countries with whom we have rocky relationships, and the pollutants produced when burning petroleum are harmful to the environment. While buying a hybrid or a new electric car is a noble way to reduce your energy use, there are a number of free, easy ways to save.Use your air conditioner as little as possible. Obviously when the thermometer registers 90 degrees, AC is a necessity. But when the weather is nice, roll down the windows and cool down with fresh air. Another way to conserve fuel is by taking it easy on the brakes. This is best practiced in heavy traffic. With constant stop and go it’s easy to constantly speed up and then brake hard, but this consumes a lot more fuel than if you can manage to coast smoothly. On this subject, using cruise control is another easy way to save fuel. Because cruise control lets you maintain a constant speed, the engine doesn’t have to constantly accelerate, reducing fuel consumption.One of the biggest wastes of gas is idling. This is easy to avoid by turning off your car when stopped by a train or waiting for someone to run into a store. Turning your car back on does consume some energy, so during very short waits such as traffic lights, it is best to leave your car on, but anything longer and turning it off is the way to go. When you are stopped at a light, putting the car in neutral can also save fuel. When you are stopped, the car is still using energy to provide acceleration, which you don’t need, and you are using the energy of the brakes to stop the acceleration; being in neutral stops any engine power from being applied to the wheels.