How to Save Petrol and Electricity

These are some of the measures I personally take to save petrol and electricity. I really do these stuff, so I am really "practicing what I preach".

• Car pool
• Walk and cycle around when your destination is nearby. You get an exercise at the same time
• Use public transportation. No doubt public transportation is unreliable and the journey is long but if you are not rushing and you have some travelling time to spare, using public transportation will save money and carbon emissions. You might actually find some extra time to read the newspapers or have breakfast while waiting for the bus or in the bus itself

How to save petrol while driving

• Drive calmly and avoid hitting the brakes. Whenever you hit the brakes, you are applying resistance to the wheel, which is a waste of energy and eventually a waste of petrol. I try as much as possible not to press my brakes though it can be a little dangerous. Whenever I approach a turning, instead of pressing the brakes, I release my accelerator while still at a distance before turning the steering wheel
• Maintain a low speed. I usually drive at 70-80km/h. At other times, I aim to drive at 60km/h in attempt to save petrol ( I don't know if there is really a significant difference ) As of what I have been reading, driving above 110km/h drains your petrol. 60-90km/h will be a safer and more economical speed to drive at.
• For automatic transmission cars, the slower you drive, the less fuel you burn. However, this is not true for manual transmission vehicles. For manual cars, use higher gears to save fuel
• Avoid accelerating too quickly. Try to take a longer time to reach a higher speed. In other words, don't press your accelerator too hard. If you've studied Physics before, you'll know the equation F = ma , where F = force, m = mass, a = acceleration. Higher the acceleration, higher the driving force required, therefore more fuel is burned to provide the driving force. A good indication of how much petrol is used is the rpm scale which is the scale next to the speedometer. I try not to exceed 3000 rpm
• For automatic transmission vehicles, avoid putting your gear into neutral (N) or parking (P). If you look at the RPM-meter, you'll realise that the needle actually moves slightly higher when the gear moves into N or P from drive (D). This might be wear out your brakes though because your breaks need to work against the tires which are trying to move forward. Your legs will get tired too if you press onto the brakes for a long period of time. So, justify for yourself which is more worth doing. For manual transmission vehicles, placing your gear in the neutral position consumes less fuel
• Turn off your engine when vehicle is not running or when waiting in the car

How to save electricity

• Apparently, you save electricity if you set your air-conditioner temperature at 24-26C. I once did this online pledge with LiveEarth.org and my pledge was to put my air-conditioner temperature at at least 24C and since then I have been fulfilling my pledge.
• To save on air-conditioning, I turn on my air-conditioner for one or two hours before I sleep and then turn it off right before I go to bed. So the room will be cold and comfortable when I am falling asleep. At night, the temperature tends to fall, so when I wake up the next morning, the room will not be too cold.

These are some of the steps I take to save on fuel and electricity. Don't just look at it as trying to save your money but look at it as trying to protect the environment.

Disclaimer: All measures and explanations stated above are my personal views based on personal observations and readings. I hold no responsibility should the steps explained above are ineffective. However, feel free to give feedbacks and comments.


-edit-
I just realised that even for automatic transmission cars, it is not necessary that the slower you drive the less petrol you use. Automatic cars also has gears which automatically change as the speed increases. To achieve higher fuel efficiency, move up to high gears as quickly as possible ( applies to manual cars as well ). I tried counting the number of times the gear changes for my auto car, and it appears to me that it changes gears twice. And it changes to the highest gear at approximately 60km/h. But even if your car speed does decrease below 60, the highest gear is maintained.