I’m not a big Digg user, but I was just scrolling few a through stories on there in the hope of getting some inspiration, and I came across this story on the Time website.
Barack Obama has suggested that by getting everyone to maintain the correct tyre pressure in their cars, as well as keeping cars properly maintained, they could save as much oil as could be produced by expanding the offshore drilling, hopefully leading to a drop in petrol prices as a result.
The tyre pressure idea is only one part of his energy plan, but it seems this point has been picked up on by his opponents as being a trivial measure, when in fact, it is exactly the sort of thing we can all do easily and can make a huge difference.
…the tire gauge is really a symbol of a very serious piece of good news: we can use significantly less energy without significantly changing our lifestyle.
Regardless of the political arguments, they are sound tips for saving petrol. It’s be good to hear Barack’s thoughts on the following petrol saving tips:
- Get rid of any unnecessary weight – if you drive around with a roof rack that you never use, it’s causing both drag and weight that will reduce your MPG. Remove it.
- Drive smoothly – accelerating quickly will burn more fuel. Speed up steadily to save petrol.
- Plan your trips – try to make as few trips as possible by seeing where you can group journeys together, for example when you’re running errands at the weekend. On trips to somewhere you’ve never been before, plan your journey with a map or sat nav to reduce the chances of driving round and round tryng to find the place.
- Walk! – use your legs for what they were intended, saving money and getting fitter in the process.
