Going as far as appointing executives to oversee environmental protection strategies, car manufacturers understand the importance of boarding the efficient and environmental bandwagon. In fact, some manufacturers are not only transforming their vehicles, they’re changing the way they make them by using recyclable, sustainable materials, decreasing landfill waste and reducing water consumption.

Even further down the line, manufacturers might hire a green auto transport company to efficiently move their cars from place to place.

While Mother Earth benefits from automakers’ newfound environmentalism, so does the consumer – and not just by breathing cleaner air. With gas prices reaching almost 5$ a gallon in some parts of the U.S., the savings at the pump can equalize, if not outweigh, the upfront cost of a low-emissions or hybrid vehicle.

For example, assuming 15,000 miles of annual driving and a fuel cost of $4.51, a car with 40 Highway Miles Per Gallon (HMPH) will save you $8,437 more than a car with 20 HMPG over 5 years.

($1,700/year to operate 40 HMPG and $3,375/year for 20 MPG)

Here’s a comparison of the top 5 car companies rolling out low-cost, greener cars and manufacturing processes:

1. Toyota: Reduced CO2 emissions by 42%, landfill waste to less than 1% of the FY1995 level, and water consumption by 7.1% by 2009.

Green Cars: Prius and 11 other hybrids
Car Cost: $24,000-30,000
HMPG: 51

2. BMW: Reduced CO2 emissions by 27% and water consumption by ~300,000 cubic meters in 2008. They’re also rolling out electric vehicles in connection with “project i” in the next 5 years.

Green Cars: BMW 328i, 128i
Car Cost: $34,000-56,000
HMPG: 28

3. Hyundai: Launched LPi hybrid and gasoline hybrid vehicles in 2010.

Green Cars: Elantra
Car Cost: $15,000-20,000
HMPG: 40

4. Honda: Reduced automobile CO2 emissions by 12.6% between 2000-2010.

Green Cars: Insight, Honda Civic Hybrid
Car Cost: $24,000
HMPG: 43

5. Volkswagen: Built numerous alternative energy plants around the globe and analyzed every vehicle model in terms of its CO2 emissions, recyclable materials, logistic processes and output of greenhouse gas.

Green Cars: Volkswagen Jetta TDI, awarded ‘Green Car of the Year’
Car Cost: $17,000-20,000
HMPG: 42

This is a guest post from Jeff at FindTheBest.

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In order to help consumers solve this problem, FindTheBest has designed a new platform which allows users to find and compare the most fuel efficient vehicles based on vehicle class, engine size, miles per gallon (MPG), fuel type, green vehicle rating, and more. With nearly 2,500 different cars to compare, you’re bound to find a green automobile that meets your specific needs and desires, without the hassle of traveling from dealership to dealership trying to locate a particular car.

Looking for a small car with a combined MPG greater than 80 and powered by an electric battery?  Need a specific make or model that can fit an entire family?  Simply set the filters accordingly and let the tool display all the options available.

The days of polluting the environment by driving huge trucks and SUV’s are hopefully fading, and tools like this help to both educate and perpetuate the green lifestyle.  With so many incentives at both the state and federal level, the idea of owning an eco-friendly automobile is becoming more and more a reality.  Insurance companies are now offering affordable plans that incorporate a discount on the premium you pay due to the fact that purchasing an environmentally-friendly car conveys a dependable image in the eyes of insurance companies; therefore, reducing the probability of settling accident claims.

Next time you’re considering purchasing a new car, be sure to take the time to research automobiles that not only add value to your personal life, but also add value to the world around us.

Michael Bracy is a Business Development Associate for FindTheBest, a comparative search engine that compares a variety of green products from Energy Star refrigerators to photovoltaic solar panels.

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Each alternative fuel type has a number of unique benefits and challenges. But they all share the eco-friendly factor, in that they emit less pollutants and gas emissions. This factor alone makes the cars special and affects their value, cost and insurance. You can check out Toyota of Fort Worth for some really great hybrid options

The most common types of eco-friendly cars are:

1. Hybrid Vehicles – These are the most common eco-friendly cars on the roads. They use both gas and battery power for propulsion. They are the most affordable eco-friendly cars and attract the highest auto insurance discounts. Their only disadvantage is that they still give gas emissions, since half the time they are in operation gasoline is used.

2. Electric Vehicles – Electric vehicles are powered solely by batteries. Hydrogen is typically used to power the batteries. These are the most environmentally friendly vehicles on the market as they emit virtually no pollutants.  Their only disadvantage is that their costs of acquisition and maintenance are both high. However, thanks to Elon Musk Tesla Motors has found a way to produce electric cars and sell them at affordable prices, so it’s getting cheaper to buy an electric car.

3. Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicles (PHEV) – These cars are powered by a combination of alternative fuel and electricity stored in batteries. The battery is used to run the car most of the time, and in most cases light-duty PHEV owners can drive to and from work without switching on their fuel energy.

The advantages of PHEVs are low fuel costs and minimal emissions. The battery is also fully rechargeable, either via the car’s built-in combustion engine or an external electric power source, which is another advantage.

The only disadvantage in using this car is the high cost of acquisition. They are the most expensive type of eco-friendly vehicles in the market.

4. Alternative fuel vehicles – These cars use ethanol, natural gas, hydrogen or biodiesel. All these fuels have minimal to zero emissions, which is their strongest point. Biodiesel can be produced from numerous sources and is bio-degradable.

Ethanol is a decent fuel but it’s expensive, can only be used on flexible fuel vehicles and is not readily available. Hydrogen is expensive, and you get fewer miles for a full tank of compressed natural gas. Also, some models may not qualify for insurance discounts.

Eco-Friendly Vehicle Insurance

The good news is that when you own an eco-friendly vehicle, you enjoy discounted auto insurance. Here are some models that may qualify:

• Honda (Civic, Civic Hybrid, Accord and Accord Hybrid)
• Hyundai (Accent and Elantra)
• Ford (Focus, Focus Wagon and Escape Hybrid)
• Lexus RX400h
• Mercury Mariner Hybrid
• Nissan Sentra and
• A range of Toyota and Volkswagen models.

Erica Stewart writes for Cheap Insurance 123.

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1. Finding the Perfect Eco-Friendly Automobile
2. 5 Car Companies Protecting the Environment & Your Wallet
3. What’s the Greenest Way to Move a Car?

If you’re planning to make a big move anytime in the near future (perhaps from state to state or even country to country) the most fuel efficient way to do it is by using a reliable auto transport company.

The auto transport industry is an incredible resource, which when used correctly, can be beneficial for both the user and the environment. By choosing to use a qualified auto transport company for your move, you are choosing to save money, but also to conserve fuel. By loading multiple vehicles onto a carrier truck, auto shipping companies are able to get up to ten cars across the country while only using about 1/5 of the fuel which would be used if each of those cars made the journey on their own four wheels. When you multiply those fuel savings by the number of auto transports carried out per year (hundreds of thousands), the amount of pollution being eliminated is tremendous.

Now once you’ve made the decision to use auto transport services for your move, it’s important that you take the time to find out which company is the right fit for all of your needs. Certain things to look for, outside of a good price of course, include number of years in business, customer testimonials, and even the legitimacy of the company’s website.

Most importantly, you want to make sure that whichever company you go with is conscious of its impact on the environment. If a company is not adhering to any sort of quality standards as far as pollution goes, it’s not a company worth dealing with. You should check to make sure that your shipping provider is committed to finding greener options for their business operation. Ask what they’re doing when it comes to things such as idle reduction, aerodynamic technologies, and green retrofitting technologies. Also, make sure that your company is using the most up to date route planning software to ensure that they’re planning out the most efficient shipments.

Take some time to look into the auto transport industry and find out how you can save your wallet and your world all at once.

Preston Webb is a writer for A1 Autotransport.

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1. 5 Car Companies Protecting the Environment & Your Wallet
2. An Explanation of Eco-Friendly Cars
3. Cash in on the Cash for Clunkers Program

1 – Eat less meat

Most nutritionists will tell you that cutting down on eating meat is better for your health, and the spend at the butcher would easily be the biggest portion of most family budgets each week. Therefore, with so many benefits already, the fact that eating less meat is also good for the environment is a bonus.

Research has shown that if we all ate less meat, we could reduce the cost of fighting climate change by $20 trillion. This research takes into account the consumption of beef and pork, and if land was not needed to farm these animals, vegetation would be able to thrive in these areas. Even though additional farmland would be needed to grow the alternatives to meat, less space would be required than is used to farm meat producing animals.

As well as the extra vegetation which would be allowed to grow, millions of tonnes of methane would be saved thanks to reduced emissions from farms. This would negate the need for expensive carbon saving technologies such as clean coal power plants. The methane is also released from the animals themselves, where cows in particular release methane when flatulent, and as their manure decays.

You wouldn’t need to give up eating meat all together, and instead need to look at how meat can accompany other foods, rather than be the star of every meal. If the global population were to eat a low meat diet of 70 grams of beef and 325 grams of chicken and eggs per week , 15 million square metres of farmland could be used for more vegetation to absorb more carbon dioxide. The farmland could also be used to grow bio energy crops which could replace fossil fuels.

2 – Downsize your home

It is easy to think that you need a big house with a games room, three bathrooms, a separate study, guest room and formal dining room. However, if you were to downsize your home to accommodate your family in a bedroom each and one or two living areas you will be able to not only save money on mortgage repayments, heating and cooling costs but you’ll also find more time to spend together as a family for a richer lifestyle outside of your bank account too.

Plus, even if you do remember to turn the lights off when you leave the room, turn the air conditioner up in summer and down in winter and turn off your standby appliances, when your home and living areas are smaller and more compact, you are using less power in less space, and producing fewer emissions.

3 – Look in your own backyard

Your own backyard presents numerous opportunities to be frugal, for example, growing your own vegetables and collecting rainwater for use in the garden and in your home. However, as you’re saving money in your backyard, you can also be landscaping in an environmentally sensitive way to reduce your carbon footprint.

To design a backyard which is affordable to maintain, and also beneficial to the environment around it:

• Design your yard so it requires little or no mowing so you can get rid of your petrol powered lawn mower.
• Plant varieties which are native to your area and so require little to no watering or fertiliser.
• Research companion planting so you can grow your garden without using harmful chemicals, and can instead use natural ecosystems to control bugs.
• Make your backyard a relaxing and inviting place to be and you and your family will be able to enjoy evenings and weekends at home together and save on costly family outings.

4 – Renovate instead of moving

In many cases, reusing materials from old properties and refurbishing existing homes can save more carbon dioxide than building a new home. For example, the construction of a new house generates approximately 50 tonnes of carbon dioxide; however, the renovation of an existing home emits just 15 tonnes.

Plus, there is often little difference between the performance of an old house, compared to a new one, and it can take decades for the operational savings of a newer more energy efficient home to offset the carbon emitted during its construction. As a result, there is almost no difference in the average emissions of a new house, compared to a refurbished house over a 50 year period.

Therefore, while it is more environmentally friendly to renovate your existing home, compared to building a new home from scratch, it can also be much more affordable. When you renovate a home there are many materials you can reuse, even if not in their original capacity, for example, structural timbers taken out to open up a living area could split and sanded to be used for floorboards, a kitchen bench top or a dining table.

5 – Build a new sustainable home

If you don’t have a home you can renovate, building your own home is often more affordable, and better value than buying established where you are paying for landscaping and all of those expensive finishing touches, which might not all be to your liking anyway.

Instead, you can plan for a sustainable and energy efficient new home, which will be affordable and environmentally friendly to build and to run. You can do this by:

• Choosing a passive design. If you can get the design of your home to work to heat and cool your home, then you can save yourself turning on the air conditioning and heating. For example, using glass in measured architectural designs can mean warmth is admitted in the cooler months, and kept out during the summer months with modern glazing methods.
• Heating and cooling ratings. When you purchase the heating and cooling system for your new home, look at its energy star rating as the more stars it has, the more energy efficient it is to run. Another environmentally and financially friendly option is to choose a ducted system, with individually controlled vents, which allows for the system to be turned off in any room which is not being used.
• Solar or gas hot water. Solar and gas hot water systems are the two most energy efficient systems to heat the water in your home, and you can make your unit even more efficient by insulating around your hot water pipes – the first two metres from the hot water system in particular. You can also choose a hot water system based on its Renewable Energy Certificate which determines the performance of the system – the more RECs the better the system.
• Lighting. In your new home, make sure you install energy saving light bulbs, and choose the lowest wattage you can for an area to save power. Also, while down lights have become very fashionable in new homes, try and avoid them when building as you will need a lot to light up a room, and a lot of heat can be lost through the holes in the ceiling where the lights are housed.
• Solar power. When you build a new home, consider running it on solar power from the beginning as panels on your roof can collect enough sunlight and convert enough electricity to power your home, and have power left over to send back into the grid to power other homes and businesses.

6 – Your free time is free

If you are looking for ways to save the environment, and some money, start by looking at home – and staying there. Spending time with your family at home or around your neighbourhood can reduce your carbon footprint, and save you money in fuel and long distance family holidays. Consider the emissions you would produce going on long road trips or towing a caravan around the state, or even towing your boat down to the shore. Instead, find affordable holiday destinations closer to home, or rent a caravan at a caravan park when you arrive, instead of using gallons of fuel to tow your own, or fish from a jetty or the beach instead of towing your boat to the ocean, and then burning fuel all day out on the water.

7 – Creative clothes shopping

Have you ever looked at every item in your closet and thought about how many times you’ve worn it? Chances are that while you have your favourites, there are dozens of pieces which you’ve only worn once or twice, and others you haven’t worn at all. So the next time you see a skirt on sale, or a pair of shoes you think would be perfect for your son, think of all the clothing, materials, time and money which have already gone to waste in your wardrobe, and consider whether this really is a smart purchase.

To reduce the impact of your clothing purchases, look for more creative ways to expand your family’s wardrobe. For example, if you get together with friends to swap hand-me-downs, it doesn’t matter if your daughter doesn’t like the top you chose for her, because it is being reused, not wasted from new.

8 – Stop using your car

This doesn’t mean you have to start walking everywhere – although you would certainly be able to save on a gym membership – but instead, simply consider whether you really need to drive to where you’re going. With a little planning and organisation, you can cut down your vehicle usage, and save on the wear and tear of your car, fuel costs, and fuel emissions.

For example, make a list before you go shopping so you don’t have to go back to the supermarket for forgotten items, wait to go to the post office until it is time to pick up the kids from school so you can make one trip.

Your family may even be able to look at getting rid of a second car with some organisation and timetable scheduling. You might even donate a car to charity to help transition the process.”

9 – Switch your car’s fuel

Petrol is one of the most expensive and environmentally damaging fuels you can be running your car on, and if you are able to convert your car to gas or to run on bio-ethanol, the financial and environmental savings can be worth the investment. If you are already looking at buying a new car, consider the fuel it runs on as a priority, right up there next to power windows and Bluetooth, and look for vehicles which produce less harmful emissions running on alternative fuels such as ethanol, hydrogen, electricity and even diesel.

10 – Save your paperwork

Whether you run your own business, work from home, are part of a corporate office environment or are just looking at the contents of your home filing system, you are probably surrounded by paperwork. Curbing your paper use is just one way you can save money and the environment in your office and you can start by:

• Printing double sided when you print documents, or reusing old printed pages.
• Having bills sent electronically, rather than posted as paper printouts, you also often save several dollars for receiving electronic bills and bank statements.
• Making notes electronically on your computer desktop, your email manager or your smartphone to save on note paper and Post-its.
• Think twice and three times before you print a document or email.
• Organise the files on your computer for easy access to electronic documents as this will retrain you to search electronically for the information you need, so you can avoid printed copies of your work.

Alban is a personal finance writer at Home Loan Finder, a home loan comparison site.

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With all the talk these days about climate change and what we can do to prevent it, there’s been a lot of focus on the cars we drive.

It makes sense because cars are huge producers of carbon dioxide and, at least here in the United States, it seems that everybody has at least one of them that they use on a daily basis.

Recently, the US Government even decided that car emissions were such a big deal that they would offer huge cash incentives to people who would trade their old polluting ones in for new, more efficient models.

But why do we really care about cars and how efficient they are? I keep being told that they’re destroying our environment, but I don’t really buy it and here’s why.

Climate Change

I hear over and over again that the carbon dioxide produced by my big SUV is trapping tons of heat on the planet and warming it up. They say the polar ice caps are going to melt, polar bears are going to drown, and I’ll end up a sun bleached corpse in the middle of a desert.

Prove it!

The Earth has gone through numerous heating and cooling cycles over the course of its existence.  Why should I believe for one second that, if in fact the earth is heating up, my SUV has anything to do with it?

Sounds like just another day in history to me.

Remember the global cooling hysteria of the 70s?  Everyone was sure that the earth was cooling down and we were headed for the next ice age.

Too bad I wasn’t around back then to warm things up with my big global warming machine, huh?

The whole theory is just too wishy washy for me.  Besides, did you notice how cold it was yesterday?  How’s that for global warming?

Peak Oil

Don’t even get me started on peak oil.  That’s the other big phrase you environmental nut jobs keep shouting about.

We’ve been sucking the stuff out of the ground with very few problems for over 100 years.  You really expect me to believe that the wells are going to start drying up now?  On what evidence?

People keep telling me about the gas shortages of the 70s.  That was 30 years ago!  Where are the gas shortages now?

There are way more cars on the road today and there seems to be plenty of oil to go around.  In fact, gas prices now are lower than they have been in years.

Doesn’t that mean we actually have too much of it? Maybe we should start putting it back?

If you really do believe in this peak oil business and want to spur the development of alternative energy, shouldn’t you be thanking me for driving my big SUV?

The more I drive and the worse my fuel economy is, the faster we should run out of oil, according to you.  That ought to provide a market pretty quick for those electric car manufacturers.

Maybe I’ll go on a cross country trip with my back seat filled with bricks. You’re welcome.

I can’t take all the credit though.  I read a study the other day that found that all your eco buddies that bought Priuses drive them more than their old cars just to show off.

Humans are adaptable

Suppose I give in to all your arguments that the earth really is heating up and we actually are running out of oil.  Just to get you off my back, suppose I even agree that my clunker is contributing to the mess.

No, I didn’t say “significantly contributing.”  Don’t put words in my mouth.  You eco geeks are always putting words in my mouth.

Anyway, the world’s changing and I’m causing it.  I still say, “So what?”

Humans are the most adaptable creatures on the planet.  We didn’t crawl out of the tar pits and work our way to the top of the food chain just to let a little heat take it all away.

Why are you so afraid of change?  Won’t it ultimately be good for us?

If we run out of oil, we’ll find something else to use. If it gets too hot, we’ll just evolve to take on the new landscape.  You believe in evolution, don’t you?

We’re adaptable creatures and pretty resourceful with these highly evolved brains we’ve grown.  If things become unbearable, won’t we just put them to use and solve our own problems then?

All in all, I’d say I’m doing my part to help mankind quite well.  Why do you want to change me?

~~~~~

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Connect with me on Twitter: @FrugallyGreen

Image of hummer by Anatoli Axelrod

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My little, old Ford Ranger still putters along just fine, but I’m afraid it likely won’t last too much longer. I’ve implemented all the hypermiling tricks I can, but I still worry that it might be on its way out.  With dollar signs in my eyes,  a-researching I went to see if there is any feasible way that I could benefit from this program.  Here’s what I uncovered about the program:

Does my current car qualify?

There are few hoops Ol’ Bessy’ll have to jump through before you’re riding the rebate train to motor city. These are the most important ones you should know about:

• Your car needs to be less than 25 years old. If your auto was manufactured before 1984, you can’t feed at this government trough.  I can’t say that I understand this requirement.  If we’re aiming to improve efficiency, shouldn’t we accept any inefficient car still running, regardless of age? Either way, the Ranger qualifies here.
• Qualifying autos must get 18 mpg or less. If you were responsible to begin with and bought a more efficient vehicle, it will not qualify for this program. This number is based on the new EPA ratings found here. The midle number in red is what you’re looking for.  The Ranger qualifies here as well at exactly 18 mpg.
• You can’t go buy a clunker and trade it in. When you show up at the dealership, you must provide proof that your car has been continuously owned, registered, and insured in your name for the last year.  This is where poor, ol’ Ranger falls out of eligibility. I have owned, operated, and insured my truck for some time now, but my dad originally bought it when I was 18.  The title is still in his name.  A technicality, but I doubt any exceptions will be made for such circumstances in a federal program.

What new cars qualify?

If your current vehicle qualifies, you can move on to the next step of figuring out what new cars you can buy and still qualify for the incentive. These are the most notable rules:

• The MSRP must be less than $45,000. This figure seems just high enough to allow you to buy most of the latest and greatest efficiency technology, but bars you from trading up to some ridiculous luxury auto.  Fair enough, I guess.
• It must be brand spankin’ new. You cannot trade your clunker in for any kind of used automobile and qualify for this program.  We’re trying to spur consumerism and save our beloved auto-makers here, people! I don’t like this rule.  I think we’re sending the wrong message by implying that we can only support the economy by buying something new.  I would like to see a program like this cover late model, used vehicles that meet all the other critera.
• Your new car’s rating must be at least 4 mpg better. But consider that 4 mpg will only get you an allowance of $3,500. To receive the full $4,500 rebate you must improve your milage by 10 mpg.  This only applies to passenger cars, though.  The chart below demonstrates the fuel economy requirements for different types of vehicles.

The various fuel economy requirements for different types of new vehicles

What should I know if I’m going to take advantage of this?

There are a few more things you should know about the Cash for Clunkers Program if you’ve decided  that you need a new car and will be eligible to participate.

• Rebates won’t take effect until late July. All the final details of how this program is going to work are still being figured out.  Currently, the scheduled date for implementation is “sometime next week.”
• They won’t last long. The language of the program states that there will be $1 billion to fund these rebates and the program will expire in October or when the program runs out of money, whichever comes first.  Current estimates expect the money to last only through August. However, my skeptical mind tells me this might just be hype to get people to act fast.  The economy is still in really bad shape, unfortunately.
• You won’t get full trade in value for your current car. Since the rules of the Cash for Clunkers program states that all cars collected must be scrapped, you will likely only be able to recieve the scrap value for your trade-in.  So, if your current car qualifies, but is still worth more than the rebate you’ll get, it would make little financial sense to take it.

Should I participate?

I don’t know.  How’s that for an answer?   Everybody is different.  Weigh your options and your actual needs and do what’s best for you. On a more general note, a program like this brings up some mixed feelings for me.  I ask myself questions like:

• Is this really a good way to improve our nation’s fuel economy? The cars taken off the road by this program will be scrapped and you can only trade-in for a new vehicle.  Something just feels irresponsible about throwing out something that still works (trade-ins must be in drivable condition) and only rewarding those that purchase something new.
• Are we really gaining that much? It seems like the program’s  mpg improvement rules are a bit lax.  I understand that there were a lot of complex issues to address when deciding to implement a program like this and probably a lot of political trade-offs to make it happen, but how much good are we really doing ourselves by giving $3,500 to someone who only improves their gas mileage by 2 mpg (minimum requirement for a light duty truck)

I’m not saying that this was the right or wrong thing for Congress to do, but these kinds of questions weigh heavily on my mind when I think about what we’re really getting for our money.  For all the current rules of the program and a (somewhat) comprehensive list of FAQs, check out the official website at cars.gov.

What do you think? Is this going to help us out of our recession?  Is it going to improve the efficiency of our nation’s auto fleet? Are you going to take advantage of the program? What will you trade in?

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After spending the previous 8 years driving without a care in the world, I found myself with less and less expendable income as I faced higher and higher prices at the pump.  I finally got sick of it and decided to pick up a new hobby – hypermiling – increasing fuel efficiency through improved driving habits.  Anyone can do it in any automobile, it’s free, and there are tons of tricks out there to squeeze every last inch out of every drop of gas.  There are even whole web-communities dedicated to hypermiling, like CleanMPG.  I picked a few specific items to focus on and managed to increase the fuel economy of my trusty old Ford Ranger from a paltry 17 mpg to a still paltry, yet more respectable, 24 mpg – a 7 mpg increase!  At today’s fuel price ($2.75 at the station down the street) that works out to a savings of $46 a month for the average driver traveling 1000 miles per month. Extend that out 12 months and I’m looking at saving $550 and 4,000 pounds of CO2 emissions every year.  Would you make a few easy changes to your  habits if it meant saving $550 a year?  Here’s what I do (in order of importance):

• Slow down: Cruising down the freeway at 75 mph is a lot more fun than at 55, but chilling out and slowing down a bit will net you the biggest gains in fuel economy.  Many cars are the most efficient between 45 & 55 mph.

• Accelerate slowly: Replace that lead foot with an aluminum one! Foot 2.0. Lighter! Stronger! Smarter! Make it a point to accelerate slowly from a stop instead of blasting off the line like you’re going for a new quarter mile record.  If you have a manual transmission, pay attention to the RPMs when shifting as you’re accelerating.  I like to shift around 2,250 RPM.  That may seem low to most drivers, but I have discovered it’s optimum for my Ranger.  Your car may be slightly different.  If you drive an automatic vehicle, simply focus on depressing the accelerator slower.

• Coast to stops: Rather than maintaining speed up to a stop light and then slamming on your brakes like most drivers seem to do, try to anticipate how much momentum you need to come to a stop without using any pedals.  The easiest way to do it is usually just to take your foot off the gas as soon as you see the light ahead of you turn yellow.  If you’re too close, you’ll have to use your brakes anyway.  If you’re too far away, you’ll realize you’re not going to make it and have to accelerate a little.  You’ll almost never get it perfect, but just trying will improve your fuel efficiency.  When I lived in downtown Portland, I used this strategy to figure out that if I cruised at a consistent 15 mph, I could get all the way across town without ever using my brakes.

• Use cruise control: When using cruise control on long trips it becomes obvious very quickly how bad people are at moderating their speed.  Get in the right hand lane, set your speed for 55 mph and let it do all the work.

• Turn off your car in the drive-thru: You can do this at long stop lights too, but pay attention.  If you’re motor is off and the light turns green, you might find yourself wasting gas trying to accelerate too quickly to compensate.  The general rule is that if you anticipate being stopped for longer than 10 seconds, turn your engine off.  This tip gets debated incessantly.  People argue whether you actually save gas (it’s been proven you do) and whether you wear out your starter, alternator, and engine faster by turning on and off more frequently.  I won’t tell you to use this tip as I cannot vouch for the possible extra wear on your engine, but I will say that once I started doing this, I did notice a reasonable, sustained bump in my average fuel economy (just under 1 mpg).  If you’re not comfortable doing this in traffic and you don’t spend any time waiting in drive-thru lines, you won’t get much out of this one.

So there you have it, 5 extremely simple behavior changes that I made to increase my fuel economy by 7 mpg and save $550 a year.  Of course, everyone is different and so is every car.  You may not achieve the exact same results that I did, but if you make a conscious effort to change your behavior, I highly doubt you will be disappointed no matter what vehicle you drive. You might do better than me! And don’t forget that these tips become more and more lucrative as gas prices go up.  They’re relatively low right now, but there’s no doubt that they are headed up in the long term.  If gas goes back to $4.50 a gallon like it did last summer, my savings increases to $912 per year.

The projected savings for my Ranger increases substantially as the price of gas climbs.

In order to track your progress you’ll need to regularly calculate your fuel efficiency.  You can easily do this the caveman way by dividing total miles traveled by the number of gallons replenished at each fill up (you’ll always need to fill up all the way for this to work), or you can join me on this cool new website, Fuelly.com and input the data from your receipt after each fill-up and Fuelly will make lots of pretty tables and graphs about your fuel consumption for you to be amazed by.  Honestly, it is a neat website.  If you decide to sign up, add me as a friend (username: CombatWombat) and we can follow each other’s progress.

Don’t stop here! There are so many more gas saving tips out there that you can use to improve your mileage. Roll down your windows and turn off your A/C.  Unload heavy objects that you don’t need.  Plan your trips better.  The list goes on and on.  Spend some time on the CleanMPG site that I mentioned earlier if you want to become a hypermiling nutjob (that’s a compliment where I come from).

Do you practice hypermiling? Can you offer any other “high value” tips? What goals could you accomplish with an extra $500 or more a year? Share your hypermiling story if you have one!

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