If you're new here, for the very latest fuel and money-saving tips for your car, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

Many of us cruise through our daily lives completely oblivious to such things as a carbon footprint. The impact we all have on global warming is reflected not only in our personal production of greenhouse gases but in the products we use. This isn’t surprising, it’s just a fact of life that there are many distractions that take place and we take for granted the imprint we are leaving on the world, just by living.

Here’s just a personal example of how my family takes energy use for granted. Our multiple digital clocks run in our houses 24 hours a day – we’ve got one on the microwave, one on the conventional oven, one on the CD player, one on the stereo and one in each of our three bedrooms, all of them drawing passive energy and we don’t even give it a thought. It’s just one of the assumed “rights” of living in a modern affluent society, we may not use it but we don’t mind paying for it regardless. It may be a little shocking for some people to learn exactly what the level of carbon emissions they produce each year is, as well as the added costs they are incurring simply by being blase about the little things.

You Can’t Change What You Don’t Know

I like that sentence, it neatly sums up a whole range of human instincts and precisely describes one of the roadblocks in front of those trying to educate people on the importance of reducing our carbon footprint. It only takes a gentle reminder that there are consequences for the actions taken on a daily basis that people begin to realise that there is a need to change.

It’s not until you’re told that running your car produces around 2 ½ tonnes of carbon dioxide per year that you begin to realise that this could be a problem. You can then take the challenge to lower next year’s number. Now you have given yourself a goal that can be quantified with the possibility of aiming to achieve. There will be no way of definitively knowing the damage you are doing with your carbon footprint without some means of calculation. Trying to produce less in the future would be next to impossible to gauge.

The fact that we each stand to get a direct benefit in terms of cost to reducing our carbon footprint should have people more than a little interested. That cost benefit is that you save money! Fortunately, the word is slowly getting out there while, with any luck, the levels of carbon dioxide aren’t.

To have fuel and money-saving tips delivered to your newsreader automatically, please subscribe to my RSS feed!

Biofuels are produced by converting organic matter into fuel for powering our society. More often today, these biofuels are being used as an alternative energy source to the fossil fuels that we currently depend upon. Ethanol and derivatives of plants such as sugar cane, as well as vegetable and corn oils are all included in the aresenal of different biofuels. The International Energy Agency (IEA) tells us that ethanol could comprise up to 10 percent of the world’s usable gasoline by 2025, and up to 30 percent by 2050. Ethanol accounts for two percent of usage today.

However, we have a long way to go to refine these biofuels that we are researching and they become extremely economical and practical. Oregon State University did a study that proves this concept. We have yet to develop biofuels that are as energy efficient as gasoline made from petroleum. Energy efficiency is the measure of how much usable energy for our needed purposes is derived from a certain amount of input energy. (Nothing that mankind has ever used has derived more energy from output than from the needed input. In other words, the end product is what we use as alternative energy and needs to be more efficent than the effort used to produce it.)

The OSU study found corn-derived ethanol to be only 20% energy efficient while gasoline made from petroleum is 75% energy efficient and biodiesel fuel was recorded at 69% energy efficient. However, the study did turn up one positive: cellulose-derived ethanol was charted at 85% efficiency, which is even higher than that of the fantastically efficient nuclear energy. 

There are several nations which are seriously involved in the development of biofuels. Brazil happens to be the world’s biggest producer of ethanols derived from sugars. The country produces approximately three and a half billion gallons of ethanol per year. The United States, while being the world’s greatest oil-guzzler, is already the second largest producer of biofuels behind Brazil. The European Union’s biodiesel production capacity is now in excess of four million (British) tonnes - mostly derived from rapeseed oil; soybean oil and a marginal quantity of palm oil.

Recently, oil futures have been down on the New York Stock Exchange, as analysts from several different countries are predicting a surge in biofuel availability. This would offset the value of oil, dropping crude oil prices on the international market to somewhere around $40 per barrel. The Chicago Stock Exchange has a grain futures market which is starting to “steal” investment activity away from the oil futures in NY, as investors are definitely expecting better profitability to start coming from biofuels.

Indeed, it is predicted by a consensus of analysts that biofuels shall be supplying seven percent of the entire world’s transportation fuels by the year 2030. Demand for diesel and gasoline may slow down dramatically, says one energy markets analyst, if the government subsidizes firms distributing biofuels and further pushes to promote the use of eco-friendly fuel.

To have fuel and money-saving tips delivered to your newsreader automatically, please subscribe to my RSS feed!

Most people don’t realize that having the right tires can improve fuel savings. But it’s true. And you probably haven’t paid enough attention to the tires you have on your vehicle.

You’re probably paying more than you should for gas because your tires are hurting your fuel consumption. Add to that the fact that it’s hard to know which tires will be more efficient, and it’s a recipe for poor fuel mileage.

Hopefully, this will be soon be recified, because the federal government has decided that tire manufacturers must start labeling tires for fuel efficiency. This program would create a national [...] Continue Reading…

To have fuel and money-saving tips delivered to your newsreader automatically, please subscribe to my RSS feed!

If you demand it, companies will come up with it. This has never been more apparent than with hybrid autos, the companies answer to a consumer nation that has become more environmentally aware.

The day you knew hybrids were here to stay was the day car companies started announcing hybrid SUVs. Imagine, all the size and little of the guilt. That being said, there are some misconceptions about hybrids, so lets address the big two.

Buy any old hybrid and you will get a major tax credit. This is the first myth that arises around [...] Continue Reading…

To have fuel and money-saving tips delivered to your newsreader automatically, please subscribe to my RSS feed!

If you absolutely, positively want to have the best car gas mileage possible, I have one suggestion for you:

Do nothing.

That’s right. Give up the family vacation. Sell your home and move closer to work. Stop going out to visit friends and family.

Stay home and be content with viewing the natural beauty of the world through your kitchen window instead of going to the country, going camping, taking a drive and tasting the fresh air and warm sun for yourself.

Learn to be happy with $4, $5, $8 (or more) a gallon gas. Throw your hands up in the [...] Continue Reading…

To have fuel and money-saving tips delivered to your newsreader automatically, please subscribe to my RSS feed!

If ever we had a need for science to step in and help out in a crisis, now is the time. At this point, it’s excruciatingly clear that fossil fuels won’t last forever, and yet, as a country and as a planet, we consume them at a growing rate. As a result, supply decreases, demand increases, fuel prices rise dramatically, and suddenly our lifestyles are affected.

The future has been revealed: a day will come when there will be no more oil.

The first step that science and industry can provide to help out is innovative, energy-conserving vehicles. [...] Continue Reading…

To have fuel and money-saving tips delivered to your newsreader automatically, please subscribe to my RSS feed!

If you’ve filled up your tank with gas lately, you know the current problem: gas prices are higher every day with no end in sight. Pollution from burning fossil fuels and releasing gases such as carbon may even be permanently changing the world’s climate. Brown clouds of fumes and filth hang over every major city in the United States.

And that’s just the start. As more and more of the world’s nations can afford their own personal transportation, gas will be in shorter and shorter supply, with more pollution yet to come.

However, there may be better ways [...] Continue Reading…

To have fuel and money-saving tips delivered to your newsreader automatically, please subscribe to my RSS feed!

If you are like me, these rising gas prices are really starting to get on my nerves. I started looking for alternative fuel and other ways to reduce my gas expenses. It was too the point where I was considering trading in my car for a hybrid. That’s when I discovered hydrogen fuel. In this article, I’m going to discuss the truth about hydrogen fuel cell generators and how you can build a hydrogen fuel cell for your car.

Is This Science Fiction Or Is It Science Reality?

The myth about running your car on water seems like something out of [...] Continue Reading…

To have fuel and money-saving tips delivered to your newsreader automatically, please subscribe to my RSS feed!

How do you get more miles per gallon of gas or diesel? The number one factor for increasing gas mileage is to keep up on your vehicles maintenance. With everyone leading busy life styles it is often easy to overlook car maintenance and by doing this you are often failing to get the best gas mileage.

When was the last time you vehicle has had a tune up? If it has been a few years or your vehicle is running or idling a little rough or your miles per gallon has decreased you may be wanting to schedule an automotive [...] Continue Reading…

To have fuel and money-saving tips delivered to your newsreader automatically, please subscribe to my RSS feed!

Gas is something that just can’t be avoided- anyone with a need to get somewhere across town or in need of travel will likely have to shell out money in the process. With gas prices becoming ever higher, it becomes important to get thrifty in the process, so as to be economical on the matter and save money as a result.

Contrary to popular belief, air conditioning isn’t such a gas hog when traveling at high speeds. Nevertheless, it is common for those in need of fresh air to lower the windows instead of turn on the air conditioning. This [...] Continue Reading…

To have fuel and money-saving tips delivered to your newsreader automatically, please subscribe to my RSS feed!