Hypermiling (More ways to give yourself a raise.)

Remember how I talked about reducing your car use to increase your monthly income? Well, people said they NEED their cars and they just couldn't get rid of them. (Yes I know there weren't any comments, but in this day of RSS feeds many people just e-mail the author when they have soemthing to say.) So I was looking for some options and I read about hypermiling.

Now, a lot of these techniques are things I learned to do when I was in college trying to fill up my gas as little as possible. In fact I did some of the more stupid things they list when I believed myself to be invincible, like turning off the engine and coasting down the Grapevine on Interstate 5 going into L.A. What an idiot. But that does not discount the value of some of the safer techniques.

For instance, the whole air conditioner debate. Most cars do not have a thermostat for the internal temperature of the car that connects to the A/C attempting to regulate the air. Most of the time you turn it on and try to make it colder, until someone starts rubbing their arms and then you switch to warm and thus begins the A/C Wars. I like the idea of turning on the A/C for a while and then turning it off, but leaving the fan on, blowing the cool air around internally. Then in a little while turn the A/C back on and give the air a refresher cool.

I, myself, am driving less. We are actually paying rent for an office space that is cheaper than the cost of the regional bus pass so we are making money by paying rent. Cool huh? That said, when we do have to drive, and having 2 kids I know there are sometimes when you just have to drive, you can bet I will be hypermiling as much as I safely can to conserve our gas, our money and our sanity.