As the old year comes to an end and the new year gets going, many people will make resolutions to live a better life. Sometimes, these resolutions include living greener. If one of your resolutions for 2018 is to live a more eco-friendly lifestyle, you can start by reducing your fuel consumption with these five tips.
Carpool
Carpooling is one of the easiest ways to reduce your fuel consumption. If you and your friends or neighbors are all traveling to the same place at the same time, create a carpool schedule so you only need to take one vehicle instead of multiple ones. Not only can this practice help you cut down on the amount of fuel you use, it’s also good for the environment. If everyone in the country carpooled just one day a week, we could reduce traffic on the roads by as much as 20 percent.
Streamline Your Vehicle
You like to go camping or bicycling on the weekends, but that doesn’t mean you need to keep all that gear on your car during the week. Engineers put a lot of work into making vehicles as streamlined as possible to improve aerodynamics and fuel efficiency. Leaving things like flags, luggage carriers, and bike racks on your car when you’re not using them adds to your vehicle’s wind resistance and increases fuel consumption.
Follow the Speed Limit
Speeding down the interstate at 80 mph doesn’t help your fuel consumption at all. In fact, your gas mileage drops as much as 15 percent when you drive over 65 mph. While driving faster might get you to your destination one or two minutes sooner, you’ll enjoy better fuel economy if you ease off the accelerator a little.
Get a Car With Better Gas Mileage
If you’re driving around in a gas-guzzling truck or SUV when you don’t need the extra space or power, consider trading in your old vehicle for one of the more fuel-efficient new cars. The Kia Cadenza offers streamlined performance and luxury to go along with its EPA-estimated 20 mpg in the city and 28 mpg on the highway. For even better fuel economy, consider the Kia Optima Hybrid, which offers an impressive EPA-estimated 39 mpg in the city and 46 mpg on the highway.
Follow Regular Maintenance
Keeping up with regular maintenance on your vehicle can also help with your fuel consumption. Maintaining correct tire pressure improves your gas mileage. Keeping your tires properly aligned and rotated will also help you reduce your fuel consumption. Changing the oil and oil filter according to your owner’s manual recommendation and regularly replacing the spark plugs and air filter can not only improve your vehicle’s fuel consumption and performance, but it can also help prevent larger and more expensive issues from popping up down the road.
If one of your New Year’s resolutions for 2018 is to live a greener life, reducing your fuel consumption will cut down on emissions and help you reach that goal.
This photo, “Traffic,” by DBduo Photography used under CC BY 2.o. “Traffic” is licensed under CC BY 2.0 by Gay Family Kia.
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