We could solve the gas crises tomorrow! That's right, literally, tomorrow. And no, it's not complicated, not difficult, it doesn't require enormous sacrifice or investment. The average driver, without replacing the car they have, and without changing the miles they drive, could reduce their fuel consumption by 20% simply by driving sanely.
When approaching a stop or a turn, take your foot off the gas a block before - if you have never done it, you'll be amazed at how far a car can coast without appreciably slowing. When accelerating, lightly touch the pedal, don't jump on it. Take your foot off the gas pedal anytime to slow down, rather than to use the brake, coast down hills and highway ramps. On the highway, keep a full two second gap between you and the car ahead, so you can drive at a steady pace - most drivers in heavy traffic are continuously braking and re-accelerating, wasting gas. And perhaps most importantly, most cars have maximum fuel efficiency at 55 to 60 mph. At speeds above that efficiency falls off precipitously. At 75 mph you use one third more gas per mile you drive than you do at 55. Keep your car maintained - clean air filter and fuel filter, fresh oil, and particularly, properly inflated tires are all important elements in improving fuel efficiency.
Try it! You may find that besides saving a bunch of money, that you'll feel good about yourself, good about helping your Nation and helping Planet Earth.
Do you really think that the few minutes you might save by driving like a maniac is worth keeping ourselves dependent and beholden to the dictators who control the world's remaining supply of oil? Is it really worth burning up this precious resource that we are stealing from our children, our grandchildren, and future generations? Is it really worth polluting the air we breathe, and the atmosphere that regulates the planet's climate?
At this time, the world's ability to pump oil out of the ground is just equal to the rate at which the world is burning it up. Oil prices are determined by a worldwide market. There are millions of speculators who are betting that the world will continue to burn it up faster, and that supply will not be able to keep up.
Fully one quarter of the world supply of oil is consumed in the United States. If The United States could show the national resolve to reduce gas consumption by even 10%, that would produce an immediate surplus of 2 million barrels of oil a day - within days there would be no place to store that much oil. Speculators would jump off the oil market like rats off a sinking ship. The price of a barrel of oil on the world market would Tumble.
Of course, reducing gas consumption through driving for fuel efficiency is just a step. The longer term solution is to trade-in the gas guzzlers for far more efficient vehicles, and eventually, to find the energy source that will replace oil as a fuel.
We once had a National leader who resolved to put a man on the moon! Where is the National leader who will resolve to end our dependence on oil?
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Read more about this topic in "Running Amok: Our Grandchildren will Curse Us" a book by Dave Rosenak. Check out the web site: http://www.runningamokthebook.com/
Dave Rosenak is a Purdue engineering graduate and served in the U.S. Army on Okinawa and in Viet Nam.
He has built, run, and eventually sold two successful manufacturing companies.
Dave lives with his wonderful wife Judy, and their dog Jake. Dave and Judy have been married since 1969 and have three grown children and 4 grandchildren.
» left by Susan Thom(11,699) Susan Thom (1 year 94 days ago.)
hi david,
this was a well written, interesting article, that made a lot of sense. i have told 3 kids about slowly pushing the gas pedal down, but....
thanks for sharing, and i hope you keep writing,
best regards,
sue thom Respond to this comment
» left by David Rosenak from Chicago (1 year 94 days ago.)
Sue
Thanks for writing, thanks for your kind words, and thanks for helping to promote the concept of driving to reduce our dependence on a scarce commodity.
It takes a lot of people to start a revolution.
Dave
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