fuel efficiency

:: Learn why NYC take-out has left SuChin shocked.

:: Switch off your car's A/C before arriving at your destination to save money and minimize pollution.

:: Chill out this summer with some refreshing and seasonal strawberry soup.

:: Peruse Emeril's smorgasbord of green recipes and then get cookin'!

:: Think about ...

The rising gas costs are hurting everyone these days. Public transportation prices are rising because of it; taxi drivers are crying over the climbing fuel prices; and the cost of goods rises everywhere, as shipping and trucking costs are factored into the price of everything we purchase. Truckers are protesting around the world.

A new software called Traffilog could help truck and taxi fleet owners better manage their assets and what drivers are doing when on the road. The company says it can save up to 16% of fuel costs. Traffilog has developed a product for the field ...

Dear Ultramar:

Yesterday TreeHugger ran a post reporting that if every driver slowed down, drove 5% less and kept their tires properly inflated, it would save twice as much gas as the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge oil could provide. Other sites report that proper tire pressure alone could save 4% of our gas consumption. I planned to write today that air should be free, a service provided to customers like water and paper towels for checking oil, to encourage people to keep their tires properly inflated.

I was going to illustrate it with a picture of...

The average car on Australian roads today is only as fuel efficient as its predecessor was back in 1963. That’s the finding of prominent transport researcher Paul Mees, of Melbourne University, who is crunching numbers for the Garnaut climate change review. Paul says that “the current rate of progress in making cars more fuel efficient is no progress at all.” In 1963 the average Australian car went 100km on 11.4 litres of petrol. (That’s 20.6 mpg) They can only manage the same efficiency more than 40 years later.

Gathering data fro...

Creative commons: the Toe Stubber

Here is a shocker- all of the automakers building or selling in Canada have asked the Government to look at raising the price of gasoline as a way to cut emissions. They note that it is pretty hard sell cars with greater fuel efficiency to people who don't want them, so just raising the standards won't work unless gas prices make fuel efficient cars more attractive. They quote a 2001 study by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences:
"There is a market inconsistency between pressing automotive manufacturers for improved fuel economy from new vehicles on the one hand, a...