Save and Go Green on Gas
With gas prices nearly 3 times higher than a decade ago, there has to be an alternate to cutting this cost that is only going to continue to rise. Many people have already started to take drastic measures by stop using their cars and begin using other forms of transportation. I have seen more and more people coming into work using motorcycles. I have also heard of people riding a traditional bike into work to completely eliminate their need of a vehicle. I would like to see how much could be saved if we were to sell our cars and go to alternate forms of transportation.
Comparing Car Fuel Savings
In search for different types of cars and vehicles to compare how much could fuel could be saved and I was able to come up with five different types:
- Small Energy Efficient Car
- Mid-sized Sedan
- Normal Gas-guzzling SUV
- Hybrid SUV
- Motorcycle
All vehicles are fairly common vehicles and the majority of Americans probably own at least one of the above types of vehicles. I wanted to show not only how much money could be saved by not using a vehicle each year, but also how much carbon waste is put off by them as well:
Car Costs
| Small Economy | Mid-sized Sedan | Normal SUV | Hybrid SUV | Motorcycle | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gas Mileage | 30 | 22 | 14 | 32 | 55 |
| Annual Fuel Usage(Gallons) | 478.8 | 655.2 | 1029 | 449.4 | 272.73 |
| Tons of CO2 Emitted | 6.1 | 8.3 | 13.1 | 5.7 | 3.33 |
| Annual Fuel Cost | $1,868 | $2,553 | $4,263 | $1,756 | $900 |
Add $688 for the average annual cost to fix any repairs to the fuel costs above and that will give you your annual expense for just maintaining your car. With a gas-guzzling SUV, that can push the expense for a car at around $5000 per year. That is a huge expense every year just to own a massive vehicle. If you want to see the fuel cost and CO2 consumption of your particular vehicle, please visit http://www.fueleconomy.gov/
Cutting Fuel Cost
It hard for most people in our country to completely get rid of their cars, but there are ways to cut down your fuel expenses that most of you have already heard:
- Buy a more gas efficient car.
- Pump up your tires
- Don’t accelerate as fast
- Don’t drive over 50 miles/hour
- Carpooling
There are tons of them that you can find at AAA: Fuel Saving Tips.
It’s great to save on gas, but there are ways you eliminate your gas bill that are much more effective. The biggest of these that comes to mind is to move closer to your work. This can be extremely tough with people constant moving jobs, but the closer to work you live, the less mileage you need to travel to get to work. If you live close enough, you can even ride you bicycle to work everyday and don’t even need to use your car. I know people who live close enough to work that they can walk everyday.
The problem with the American culture is that we live so far from work that the option to take public transportation, walk to work or even ride a bicycle is not possible. I am experiencing this first hand. I live around 30 miles away from my work with no possibility of taking public transportation. If there is any opportunity to eliminate the usage of fuel either by reducing your fuel consumption, buying a more fuel efficient car or ditching your car for a bicycle, you should take it.
Family Emergency
This past Monday, my father had a heart attack and I have been in the hospital since. I have had limited time available and unable to write any articles since. I will hopefully be getting some articles written within a week or two, so keep an eye out for new articles.
Plastic Bag Ban in Westport Connecticut
Westport Town Representatives earlier this week overwhelmingly passed a resolution on the ban of plastic bags by a vote of 26 to 5. The resolution is making local businesses give up on using plastic bags within the next 6 months. Fines of up to $150 could be given out of stores continue to use plastic bags. This new resolution is encouraging businesses to also start promoting reusable bags as an alternative.
This is not the first time that a town has banned plastic bags. San Fransisco and Los Angeles have already passed have similar bans and have already made a significant difference. In San Fransisco alone, 5 million fewer plastic bags are being used every month. That is way more bags being saved that I would have ever thought. I can’t imagine how many less bags would be used if a really large city like New York or Washington DC decided to have a ban like this. Even though that will probably not happen anytime soon, at least smaller cities like Westport are doing their part.
I can imagine this being a fairly controversial issue in most cities. For me, it just doesn’t make much sense to continue using the large number of plastic bags our country already does. Most people simply toss them out after one use anyways. As I have seen in many stores, people don’t really need a bag, but are given one regardless. Women normally could toss small items they are buying into their purses or most people could just carry the item without need to have a bag.
The biggest concern is plastic bags are extremely harmful on the environment. Many sea animals eat plastic bags in mistake of jelly fish and can die as a result. Besides the environmental dangers, plastic bags are financial stupid for businesses. Companies have to pay for them in one way or another and usually push the price to the good we buy, meaning we end up paying more. I’m with Westport on this issue, but I think people need to take it upon themselves to stop using plastic bags. You can buy a reusable bag or use a bag you already have. Nobody is perfect and you won’t always remember to bring a bag every time you got shopping. If you do end up using plastic bags, there are many places including grocery stores that have recycling bins to use instead of just throwing them out.
T. Boone Pickens Meets with Irwin Jacbos in Minnesota
I first introduced you to T. Boone Pickens in an early post about a multi-million dollar television campaign to promote wind energy. Now, T. Boone Pickens has taken it campaign all across America and his latest stop is in Minnesota to the national republican convention. He has also met up with local businessman Irwin Jacob to talk about plans to start a new business venture in the wind energy field. No details have been released about their talks, but it looks promising with Jacobs saying:
“It is in the wind energy area and its just something that I can’t get into at this time. It’s a very natural thing to go with it.” he said, adding that ”it’s not in the turbine business.”
T. Boone Pickens is also pushing the federal government to start offering tax credits to entice more people to build wind turbines. He also would like the expansion of transmission lines so that the wind energy generated in the Midwest can be transported to both the east and west coasts. In order to do so, the government needs to step in to go against local opposition. This makes some feel completely dependent on these Midwestern wind farms to get energy throughout the nation. Another plan may be to start building wind farms on a more local level. Whether it is more efficient or not, this will allow each area to control their own energy production.
Watching Your Energy Use With P3 Kill A Watt
I found a really cool little gadget that can help save you money on your next electric bill. The device is the P3 International P4400 Kill A Watt. It’s fairly inexpensive at just over $20. This device is extremely powerful and can prevent you from having to search for the watts a device uses to determine how much energy it uses.
The Kill A Watt works by simply plugging a device into it and plug it into the wall. It will monitor Volts, Amps, Watts, Hz and VA. The most important part of this device is that it measures the watts and kWh usage of the device plugged into it. kWh is the measure by which electric companies use to determine how much electricity you are using. By using this number, it allows you to easily calculate how much it costs to use the device plugged into the Kill A Watt. You could use my energy calculator or simply multiple the kWh number times the cost your energy company charges you per kWh.
I have not yet bought this item so I cannot attest to how this product actually works. But, if it works as it says, I can see this monitor being extremely useful. Not only could you measure a single device, but you could also put a power strip into it and get the energy use of a collection of devices, such as your computer and accessories or a home theater. I would like to buy one of these and will share any updates if I do buy one. If anyone currently owns this device, please share your thoughts about it.
kWh Energy Savings Calculator
After making the various calculations for the Saving Computer Energy article, I realized that it would be helpful to have a tool that could easily calculate kWH (kilowatt hour) and cost values. I searched all over the internet and was not able to find a simple tool that really did what I needed. That’s why I made this kWh Energy Savings Calculator. It allows you to easily calculate the cost and kilowatt hour value of various common electronic devices or input your own values. Various inputs can be put into the calculator including:
- Normal Energy Use: The amount of watts that a particular device uses during normal use. This also includes how many hours and minutes the device is being used for.
- Standby Energy Use: The amount of watts that a particular device uses when plugged in, but not in use. This also includes how many hours and minutes the device is being used for.
- Cost: The cost per kWh of electricity.
In order to find how many watts a particular electronic devices uses, you can:
- Select a Common Electronic Devices from the list below. It will fill in the normal energy use with average wattage and hours values for the device selected.
- Check the device’s manual or online spec.
- Do a search for the electronic model number along with the term watts. Various sites usually contain the wattage information for just about anything.
- Contact the manufacturer if all else fails.
To find your energy cost, just look at you monthly electric bill or select your state for an average kwh cost.
