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.
