My normal driving style was to go with the flow of traffic and try to get to work and back in the shortest time possible. I found an article on Hypermiling while Stumbling, and gave it a shot about 150 miles into a full tank of gas.
My average MPG was about 30.5.
After implementing the techniques; use cruise control, never go over 60MPH, coast whenever possible, turn off the engine when coasting (when it is safe to do so) and when not moving, etc. My gas mileage was over 34 when I refilled my gas tank today.
With a full tank of gas, I'm looking forward to beating 34MPG.
I also started riding a bicycle again. Riding a bicycle gives you the feel for maximizing coasting. After riding the bike for a few days, my coasting behavior in the car became more instinctive.
My car is a 1993 Ford Probe SE, manual transmission. I have 16" alloy wheels with 235-50 tires inflated to 37psi.
Hyper miling is more fun on the road than driving fast. It makes the commute a game of strategy where you actually get something in return in the form of fuel savings and a sense of contributing to the US economy and also to National security.
As stated in a previous post, we are in a position of weakness by being dependent on Petroleum for the majority of our Energy, and by being so, are subject to the violence, blackmail, and unearned influence of the oil producing nations.
If more people practiced Hypermiling techniques, IMHO, demand for oil would go down, OPEC would get poorer, and over long periods of time, we would be safer and our economy would be stronger.
Of course, there are other things we can do to help the cause of putting down the oil cartels; use fluorescent lights and more efficient appliances, buy more fuel efficient cars, and let our government officials know that we want them to work hard on fixing our energy problems by providing tax breaks and other incentives for moving off of fossil fuels as fast as possible.
I don't believe that Global warming is human induced. There's not enough evidence, and it's quite arrogant to believe that Humans are powerful enough to affect geological processes like the entertainment industry, I mean the news media claims.
Our problem is in security and economics.
The economic problem is that global economies depend on fossil fuels as the primary resource for energy. The opportunity is for the countries that get off of petroleum first. Those countries will jump ahead of their competition in the long term and be richer and more powerful than the countries which remain enslaved to the oil cartels.
Security is directly related to dependence on petroleum. We are ensnared in Middle East problems because of the Strategic importance of petroleum.
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Tuesday, February 13, 2007
Like the Romans discovering Greece
Having acquired a Nokia 770 and loaded fbreader, I set out to Google up some FREE ebooks.
The expected ebook for profit cloud of gnats arose, but after searching awhile, the gutenberg project yielded some gems like Kafka's Metamorphosis and a little Spanish language reader.
Then today I found Bartleby, containing among other things, the Harvard Classics.
I now have a couple of essays by Cicero to devour, and I'm sure to go back for more.
My Dad had a set of Harvard Classics and I faintly recall reading them all, probably after I devoured the contents of Pine Bluff's pitiful public library.
In our modern world, any hack with a ghost writer can publish and even have a best seller. The problem for me is the value of the contents is not worth the price of admission. For most of the stuff in print today, I wouldn't read it if I were paid to. Well, I probably have a price.... But on the other hand, space in my brain is limited, and who would want to put pig entrails into a temple?
I wonder if this was what it was like when the Romans discovered the culture of the Greeks or maybe finding these classics is like the Italian renaissance, when the Italians rediscovered the culture of Rome and Greece.
Anyway, I am thrilled to be able to escape the shallow rumble of the modern media and take a taste of the rich elixir of the past glory of humanity.
Let's just hope that the freedom of the Internet is not spoiled by those fixated on charging money for access to these gems of human history.
The expected ebook for profit cloud of gnats arose, but after searching awhile, the gutenberg project yielded some gems like Kafka's Metamorphosis and a little Spanish language reader.
Then today I found Bartleby, containing among other things, the Harvard Classics.
I now have a couple of essays by Cicero to devour, and I'm sure to go back for more.
My Dad had a set of Harvard Classics and I faintly recall reading them all, probably after I devoured the contents of Pine Bluff's pitiful public library.
In our modern world, any hack with a ghost writer can publish and even have a best seller. The problem for me is the value of the contents is not worth the price of admission. For most of the stuff in print today, I wouldn't read it if I were paid to. Well, I probably have a price.... But on the other hand, space in my brain is limited, and who would want to put pig entrails into a temple?
I wonder if this was what it was like when the Romans discovered the culture of the Greeks or maybe finding these classics is like the Italian renaissance, when the Italians rediscovered the culture of Rome and Greece.
Anyway, I am thrilled to be able to escape the shallow rumble of the modern media and take a taste of the rich elixir of the past glory of humanity.
Let's just hope that the freedom of the Internet is not spoiled by those fixated on charging money for access to these gems of human history.
Friday, February 2, 2007
Who's Really Responsible?
There's a lot of blame and pointing fingers. George Bush did this or that, Exxon is making obscene profits, global warming is so and so's fault, blah, blah, blah.
Who is still using incandescent bulbs? Who uses water heaters with tanks? Who drives a vehicle which gets less than 30 MPG average? Who drives instead of walking, taking mass transit, or riding a bike? The list goes on.
Anyone who points to others as the villain without first changing themselves is a hypocrite, and most of the loudest public voices are unworthy of their self righteous posture.
Each of us has a responsibility for our current condition, and change occurs first with each individual. Sacrifices have to be made with no thought of immediate reward.
When the Arab Oil cartel drove the price of oil up in the early 1970's we knew we had a problem. We didn't have the benefit of hindsight to see that the result of our collective failure to eliminate our dependency on those who blackmailed us would result in the threat that we face today of being embroiled in a war with terrorists and their sponsors in the Middle and Far East.
We have in our grasp the tools of energy independence; alternative energy technologies and local sources of conventional energy. What we don't have are the population or leadership required to go full force to the task of leaving the uncivilized, backwards, ignorant Islamic Fascists to their destructive ways.
As quickly as we can disentangle ourselves from them, the sooner they can return to their habits of killing each other off. Israel will be temporarily lost, but they are always welcome here with us until some future time.
When JFK defined for the nation a specific goal with a specific time table, he energized the Government and the Nation to fully support the achievement of a man on the moon. There is no such leadership apparent in any current public servants, especially those who would pretend worthiness to be elected President. There is also no will in the soft, cowardly population of the USA to do what is needed to free ourselves from the result of our own complacency.
Are we lost? There are always survivors of any holocaust. But just as in any holocaust, it can be avoided. It requires leadership that is absent in Washington DC.
Whatever George Bush's faults, which are many, at least he has the fighting spirit and balls to stand up and be counted, right or wrong.
Can you say that?
Who is still using incandescent bulbs? Who uses water heaters with tanks? Who drives a vehicle which gets less than 30 MPG average? Who drives instead of walking, taking mass transit, or riding a bike? The list goes on.
Anyone who points to others as the villain without first changing themselves is a hypocrite, and most of the loudest public voices are unworthy of their self righteous posture.
Each of us has a responsibility for our current condition, and change occurs first with each individual. Sacrifices have to be made with no thought of immediate reward.
When the Arab Oil cartel drove the price of oil up in the early 1970's we knew we had a problem. We didn't have the benefit of hindsight to see that the result of our collective failure to eliminate our dependency on those who blackmailed us would result in the threat that we face today of being embroiled in a war with terrorists and their sponsors in the Middle and Far East.
We have in our grasp the tools of energy independence; alternative energy technologies and local sources of conventional energy. What we don't have are the population or leadership required to go full force to the task of leaving the uncivilized, backwards, ignorant Islamic Fascists to their destructive ways.
As quickly as we can disentangle ourselves from them, the sooner they can return to their habits of killing each other off. Israel will be temporarily lost, but they are always welcome here with us until some future time.
When JFK defined for the nation a specific goal with a specific time table, he energized the Government and the Nation to fully support the achievement of a man on the moon. There is no such leadership apparent in any current public servants, especially those who would pretend worthiness to be elected President. There is also no will in the soft, cowardly population of the USA to do what is needed to free ourselves from the result of our own complacency.
Are we lost? There are always survivors of any holocaust. But just as in any holocaust, it can be avoided. It requires leadership that is absent in Washington DC.
Whatever George Bush's faults, which are many, at least he has the fighting spirit and balls to stand up and be counted, right or wrong.
Can you say that?
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