Introduction

This is a list that I'm keeping on how to conserve energy and therefore money, adding to it from time to time and posting it online in the hope that it will be helpful to people. Many of these ideas are common sense, others are passed-down knowledge, and a few are the result of my own creative problem solving.

Driving

• For long highway trips, don't go faster than 55 miles per hour or preferably 50. Wind resistance is 40% stronger at 65 mph than it is at 55. I have gotten as high as 32 mpg highway in my Toyota truck, which normally gets 25 mpg, by going 55 or less.
• When driving a stick-shift car, i.e. with manual transmission, don't be afraid to take the car out of gear and just coast whenever possible. Your engine's RPMs go way down and your fuel efficiency goes up when coasting.
• When at a long stop light, if you'll be idling for more than 7 seconds, turn off the engine. Gasoline used at a stop light is basically loss without any gain. Some non-hybrid cars now feature this automatic engine-cut feature. (Two exceptions: If it's hot out and you need the air conditioning, or if it's cold and you need to warm up the engine.)
• Never floor it when going up a hill. Your fuel efficiency goes way down when you do that. In most vehicles (except diesels) remaining in lower gear is also inefficient. So upshift to a higher gear before you have to go uphill and then stay there.
• If you have a hybrid or electric car and thus you have regenerative breaking, this will capture much energy lost while braking that would normally be lost in brake degeneration.
• If you are driving a Prius or similar hybrid, use the engine-braking mode (i.e. B mode) whenever possible, except in localities where it is prohibited of course. It is more efficient at storing electricity than the usual regenerative breaking.
• Regarding errand-running, if you plan your time and route well, you can save a lot on gasoline, not to mention time, by using the good route that avoids back-and-forth, avoids hills, avoids traffic jams.
• If you will be buying an item that could be defective, such as a chair from Ikea which might have a short leg, make sure you assemble it at the store to avoid having to run back to the store to return it when you discover it has a defect.

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