How to lower gas prices in a nutshell:
1: Boycott ONE MAJOR FUEL SUPPLIER. Preferably the smaller one. Squeeze them as hard as possible. Taking one day to boycott everyone is a joke... ever seen what a bug looks like after it hits your windshield? Well, that's what your one-day boycott will do for oil companies. Taking one of them down in a focused and prolonged boycott will send a none-too-subtle message that they're vulnerable.
2: Leverage Congress and the Senate to authorize Expenditures from the National Strategic Oil Reserve to depress crude oil prices for the short term and throw a wet blanket on the speculators' party because they are driving up the cost of living exponentially with no grounds.
3: Leverage Congress and the Senate to appoint an independent Securities Exchange Commission committee to study fossil fuel energy prices, and to look for evidence of price fixing, gouging and collusion... and the results of the study be forwarded to the Federal Justice Dept in furtherance of prosecution.
4: Minimize your electrical energy usage: Unplug or use a Powerbar with an integrated timer in order to cut down on Phantom load (it's when you turn off a Soft-Off device, most TV/VCR/stereo/coffeemakers/radios actually keep using power even when they're not being used), Unplug any extra refrigerators, if you have a deep-freezer you should first be checking it for air leaks, and second, you should fill it with containers full of water till it's full. Same with your fridge and freezer: The reason you do this is because water absorbs heat a lot more slowly than air, it's a lot more dense and displaces the air (you want to make it harder for warm air to infiltrate, and that way it'll take longer for your fridge's thermostat to trip on... Also keeping your fridge's working parts clean will increase its cooling efficiency).
http://www.everykilowattcounts.com/tools-and-tips/
5: Minimize your natural gas usage: Turn the thermostat down on any gas-fired appliances you have, your Furnace shouldn't go above 68 degrees EVER. Your hot-water heater should be at 120 degrees tops, wrap it in a heat efficiency blanket.
6: Stop driving. Yes. I said
STOP DRIVING. There is no engine currently available from any car manufacturer in large quantities that is over 30% efficient. You're wasting 70% of the fuel you use to heat. Walk, Bike (Use a motorcycle if you have a long way to drive and have nothing to carry and can't... ), use mass-transit. Guess what, this will also likely require you to move closer to work.
7: Stop buying items that rely heavily on oil, basically anything that uses plastic. I know, Good luck on that.
8: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Repair, Refuse. This is not news, just do it, and do it a LOT MORE OFTEN THAN YOU ARE NOW.
Now, if you've tuned me out once I gave you the brutal truth about cars, here's a way to make it easier for you and your wallet:
- Lay off the gas. Use the right-hand lane.
- Accelerate slowly up to the speed of traffic and then slowly decelerate. Use cruise control. Going 2 miles under the limit will save you up to 20% on gas usage.
- Minimize short trips, make one large trip instead of 3-4 smaller ones.
- Carpool.
- Keep your tires inflated to the correct pressure on the Door pillar sticker (use Nitrogen to inflate them)
- Keep your oil changed regularly, and everything lubed properly. If you have a 4x4, run it in 4 wheel High for one trip a month (like one trip to work, but not to and from work).
- Tune the car up every 60,000 miles/100,000 kms.
- Change your air filter, Fuel filter, oil filter and use an
Oil Filter Magnet (helps extend the life of the oil) and you may want to use a
Fitch Fuel Catalyst.
- Use the A/C only when you're on the highway, otherwise, in city, keep the windows open in Stop and Go, or in traffic that's moving well use the blower on cool, but leave the A/C off. On top of that, Make sure to keep the AC System Charged and maintained (Use the A/C on heat in the winter for a couple days to keep the system lubricated).
- Get heavy and unnecessary junk out of the car. (Yes, this means cut down on the subwoofers and amps, and get your extra crap out of the car as well).
Transeat In Exemplum: Let this stand as the example.