Cool Off Your Fuel Consumption

If you are one of the many drivers who is looking anywhere for answers in relation to the extremely high gas prices, look no further.  There are many simple ways for you to reduce the amount of gas you use without spending any additional money, or making difficult changes.  It is really quite easy to maximize your car, van, truck or sport utility vehicle’s gas mileage, and as mentioned, you will not have to spend a fortune to do so!

It is important to know that you do not have to spend money on expensive products that claim to increase your gas mileage or decrease your fuel consumption.  The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has tested many such products, and has yet to find one that causes a dramatic increase in fuel efficiency for any vehicle.  Therefore, it simply does not make sense to spend extra money (gas is expensive enough as it is) for a product that may only have a negligible effect on your gas mileage, if it has any effect at all.  Many of the alternative methods for increasing fuel consumption are as easy as turning a knob or two!

For instance, you can save a lot of gas by not using the air conditioner in your car.  If you have ever paid attention to how your car’s engine sounds when you drive, you have probably noticed before that when your car’s air conditioner is on, the engine is a lot louder.  At the same time, your vehicle will not accelerate as readily when press down with your foot on the gas.  These are all in result to the car’s air conditioner being on.

In addition to decreased engine performance, running your vehicle’s air conditioner also causes your vehicle to use more gas.  That is why, unless it is absolutely necessary, you should try to leave your vehicle’s air conditioner off whenever possible.  After all, if you are like so many other drivers today, you are probably not interested in using any more gas than you absolutely have to.  More fuel consumption leads to buying more gas, which leads to you not having as much money as you would like!

There are alternatives to running the air conditioner in your car.  For instance, you can try to avoid driving during the hottest parts of the day, and take trips whenever possible during the cooler hours of morning or evening.  If you know that you have to go to the grocery store, for instance, try to wait until the sun goes down to do so.  This way, you will be less tempted to turn on the car’s air conditioner, as it will be much cooler outside than it would be earlier in the day, when the sun is beating down on you.

You can also simply roll down the windows if you need to cool off a bit.  This works particularly well on the highway, since the wind will be coming in your car very quickly.  Not only does this save you on the gas you would spend to have the air conditioner on, but it also feels great to enjoy a nice breeze on a hot summer day!  It is true that you may lose a little fuel efficiency by having the windows open, since this will create more “drag” on your car, causing the engine to work a bit harder.  However, this is not nearly as big of a deal as having your air conditioner on is, and you can offset some of the drag by going a bit slower on the highway.

In the warmer months, everyone wants to cool down a bit.  However, most of us would like to cool down on our fuel usage as well.  While you may be a little warmer in your car than usual, avoiding the use of your car’s air conditioner will make you feel pretty “cool” when you can drive by the gas pump without having to stop!

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