Lee Leee LEEEEE. Happy Birthday. How does it feel to be old?
Today on my drive to work I got 44.9 mpg (with windows down). My goal is to make it the 45 miles on one tank of gas and not drive like a 100 year old grandma. I have been perfecting my driving to be the most fuel efficient it can be. Today was a good day - the temp was moderately warm, it was not too windy, and there were plenty of big trucks to follow.
The places where I lost some of my mpg was at stop lights. Where I gained some of that back was coasting down hills in neutral. I know it sounds strange, but it appears to my non-scientific experiment that if I am idling in neutral i can save about 0.2mpg+/- (of the total trip) for every 10 seconds of sitting versus idling in drive. I assume this is because the car is accelerating ever so slightly but the brake is preventing it from moving forward. I wonder if car makers could make their cars actually shift into neutral when braking to save some fuel economy?
Some people think that if you drive 55 mph or less you will get the best fuel economy. I have observed that this is not the case. I think each car probably has its own sweet spot based on how aerodynamic it is.
For my Honda Fit, it seems that I get better gas mileage at 75 than I do at 70. I cant be sure because I am not testing it in a wind tunnel. The road is never flat for long enough to know for sure.
I do know that when I follow behind a large truck or eighteen wheeler that I get at least 2-4 mpg better if not more. Also, the less pressure put on the gas pedal the better. I know thats probably obvious but its really works. Instead of accelerating quickly (like pretty much every driver does) slowly ease into the speed you want. Sometimes you cant slowly accelerate due to other drivers preparing to ram you off the road.
Another thing that caught my attention was an old school Honda Civic going about 50 mph in a 55 zone. It had a bumper sticker on it that said GasSavers.org which I think its great that people are trying to save money and gas and also drive efficiently. The only problem is that they were driving so slow that people were getting stuck behind them and then would mash the gas pedal to pass. (The other lane of traffic was easily doing 70+). For every 1 mpg saved by the slow car - probably equals 2mpg wasted in every car who gets stuck behind them and passes… which doesn’t really help the environment in the long run. We all have to find a good balance between super energy saver and purely wasteful.
Maybe one day everyone will drive efficiently and have energy sipping cars, but until then we have to learn to live cohesively. I hope in a few years we can look back and laugh at how pathetic the fuel economy is of all cars built today.
I get my MPG rating from the ScanGauge II:
mob cancer ride, originally uploaded by biblicone.
I finally found the picture(s) of me in the cancer ride. They were really hard to spot so I made this.
0 Comments
Bert and Ernie perform Mosh-Out-Posse’s “Ante Up!” (lyrics might not be for kids - if you can understand them):
Bert and Ernie preform “A Divine Proclamation for Finishing the Present Existance” by the band ‘Last Days of Humanity’(probably too much noise for any human to endure):
Finished Stairs - side, originally uploaded by biblicone.
I built these stairs over the weekend. I wish it was a straight forward build. The ground was lower on the right side by 4 inches and sloped from back to front by about 2.5 inches.
It is pretty much had to build it in place. I used treated wood for the frame and composite for the top (no staining or sanding needed and it wont fade).
Finished Stairs - front, originally uploaded by biblicone.
Finished Workbench - front, originally uploaded by biblicone.
I finished the workbench in the basement last night. I worked on it for about 2 or so hours each night for 3 nights. I used found plywood and bought some scrap wood from Home Depot. The whole bench including the wood, pegboard and peg organizers cost me under $40.
I would like to add some more shelves underneath and also some cross braces on the legs. Any lateral force on the top can wiggle the table.
