Tip of the Week

I think hypermiling is great. The biggest benefit I have found is driving 55mph on the highway and accelerating slowly from a stop. In general, I think it is important for us, as individuals, to take small steps to 'go green.' One of the best things we can do is support eco-friendly businesses. For example http://www.simplestop.net stops your postal junk mail and benefits the environment.

I have found the biggest saving is keeping you tires at the sidewall psi. But the biggest benefit of hypermiling for me has been how much more relaxed I am when I get where I'm going. It takes me 2 more minutes to get to work, but I don't need to "detoxic" from a stressful drive anymore, so I actually save time.

I know biking to wok certainly cannot be done by everyone, and those who can may be prohibited in certain times of the year. However there are those who live within 5-10 miles from work who will hyper bike when they can. It's great for your heart and yes, you will save gas, lots of it.

Althoug I cannot bike to work, and I do practice hypermiling, I also UHHHH< hyper mow, if you will. Yes I just bought a push reel lawn mower at http://www.GreenNationGardens.com it's called a brill from Germany and I cut my 1/2 acre yard. I do get excercise and I do save gas, lots of it, I sure do!

I ride in to work everyday, and I support the principles of hypermiling. But some of you take it too far - rolling through stop signs and driving 15 mph slower than the flow of traffic on the interstate puts you and others at unnecessary risk.

trek87 - There are some no-so-good drivers out there who roll through stops signs and drive slower than the flow of traffic, but most of them are not really hypermilers, they're just not paying attention. If you check the link at the end of the article, the CleanMPG hypermilers obey all the traffic laws and are more aware of the traffic around them then most other people. And they support biking, public transportation, and anything else that reduce fuel consumption. So there may be some people out there driving badly, but they shouldn't be refered to as Hypermilers, just bad drivers.

rdprice63 - I guess what (perhaps unfairly) sparked my rant was the group of people who take hypermiling to the extreme at the expense of safety and common sense. I didn't mean to sound so sweeping in my comments, and they weren't necessarily directed at CleanMPG supporters or principles. You're right - there are a lot of bad drivers out there, and I don't wish to imply that bad driving habits are the result of trying to improve gas mileage. I guess I'm hoping, with all the media attention hypermiling (and its extremists) has received lately, readers will remember where to draw the line. I apologize to anyone I offended, as I admit I didn't check the website thoroughly.

Sorry, rdprice64*...you can tell I've been crunching too many numbers today :).

No offense taken. I just don't want people to not try hypermiling just because a few people give it a bad name. It has made me a much safer driver. I was a speed demon who only cared about how fast I could get to the destination and nothing about other drivers or the added fuel I was burning. CleanMPG has taught me to really treat the fuel as the precious resource that it is and in the process helped me realized how much I was endangering the other drivers out there. Helping everyone save fuel is the ultimate goal.

So give it a try for your pocketbook, for the environment, and for the betterment of everyone!