Have you filled your gas tank at Schinnen recently? We are approaching $5.00 a gallon gas and will certainly go over five dollars a gallon sometime soon.
Euro95 $4.928 $1.302 +0.095
Super Plus $5.213 $1.377 +0.096
Diesel $4.985 $1.317 +0.051
We are paying 92 cents a gallon more for gasoline than our colleagues that live and work in Germany do! How can that be justified? But what can you do?
1. Sign up for and use the Aafes "Star Card" credit card. If you buy your fuel using your Star Card you will save five cents a gallon. Don't use the card for anything else and make sure you pay it off EVERY month so you are not paying interest charges. This method will also give you a very accurate record of your fuel use and costs.
2. Clean out your car. There's good reason to clean out the junk piled in the trunk. Every 100 pounds of added weight in a car reduces its fuel economy by about 2%. That is about 10 cents a gallon (9.96 cents at the current price). Hauling a cargo carrier, bikes, kayaks or other gear atop the car for a road trip is worse, decreasing fuel economy by 5% (24.9 cents a gallon).
3. Slow down. The U.S. Department of Energy estimates that for every 5 mph you drive over 60 mph you add $0.30 per gallon to the gas bill. Aggressive stops and starts waste another 33% at highway speeds and about 5% at slower, local speed limits.Take your time and slowly accelerate instead of stomping on the gas. My car, when it was brand new, was rated at 32 Miles per Gallon (MPG) on the highway; I generally get 36 MPG. I rarely go faster than 110 kph and I take a full kilometer to get up to speed when I enter the highway. I try to keep my engine RPMs under 2,000 as I accelerate. I also take my foot off the gas and start coasting about five hundred meters from the off ramp. If you stay in the right lane behind a large truck you gain at least 5-10 percent more efficiency by "drafting" in the already moving air behind the truck. These trucks are generally going between 90 and 100 kph.
4. Plan your Route. It's possible to cut down on mileage just by running a few errands on the same trip and choosing more efficient routes. You want to avoid traffic lights, stop signs, and stop and go traffic if at all possible. You can actually save gas by driving a little further if that route allows you to keep moving. Starting and stopping is why city mileage is so much lower than highway mileage. When you combine multiple errands into one drive you save fuel not just by driving a shorter overall distance but also because your car is more fuel efficient when it is warmed up to operating temperatures. So drive to your furthest location first if it makes sense to do so.
5. Car Pool. That is a Homer Simpson "Doh" statement to me. 99% of the military personnel here work at one of two places; USAG Schinnen or JFC Brunssum. Find somebody to share the ride and save a quick 50% on your fuel bill and general wear and tear on your car.
6. Check your Tire Pressure. Under- or over-inflated tires change the way the car handles, adding drag and speeding wear. That, in turn, reduces fuel efficiency by about 3%. Look to the driver's side door panel or owner's manual for information on proper inflation levels, Don't go by the figure stamped on the tire -- that's the maximum pressure the tire can handle. Tire pressure changes with temperature and over time so check your tire pressure at least every other time you fill your gas tank.
7. Turn off your Engine. Turn off your engine if you know you will be sitting still for 11 seconds or more. Eleven seconds seems to be the cut-off point. If you drive the same route to work and back every day then you know about how long a light is. One intersection in Beek that I go through every day is a complex intersection and the light is well over a minute long if it changes to red right when I get to it. I shut my car off and save a minute's worth of fuel. I do the same thing for railroad crossings. I go through three railroad crossings on my route to work and get stopped by a train at least once a week. That can be up to a three minute stop if a train goes by in each direction. Shutting off the engine saves a lot of fuel.
8. Bike once or twice a week. When I was stationed here twelve years ago a subordinate of mine and I rode our bikes to work two days a week. I lived in Neerbeek and he lived in Geleen; we worked in Brunssum. We met along the way. It was only a thirty minute bike ride (it also took thirty minutes to drive in a car) and was a nice addition to our fitness program. Riding a bike two days a week saved me 40% on my driving costs.
9. Park your car and walk. When I go to Schinnen I park my car in whatever lot is closest to where I will have to carry the most items and then walk everywhere else. If I am picking up groceries, for example, I park in the commissary lot but then I walk to the PX, PX-tra, or bank from there.
10. Take public transportation. A single person going to Maastricht, Valkenberg, or Roermond, for example, can travel cheaper by train than by driving. In some cases a couple can also travel cheaper by train. But once you are talking about the whole family going somewhere it might be cheaper to drive. You need to do the math and figure out which is best for the circumstances.
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