James Howard Kunstler has warned us, “No combination of alternative fuels or systems for using them will allow us to run America the way we currently run it, or even a substantial fraction of it.” Regardless of whether or not you believe he is correct, I think we can all agree that there are three very solid reasons why we should be concerned about energy efficiency:

* Environmental concerns such as global warming * Peak oil * National security (because the oil and uranium come from someplace outside our borders)

If Kunstler is correct, then simply pinning our hopes on ethanol, biodiesel, photovoltaics and wind power is not to have thought the problem all the way through. Besides that, Home Power has published, on many occasions, the rule of thumb that a dollar spent on energy efficiency saves three dollars in energy production, if we are to go to all-renewable sources.

That said, I wanted to bring everyone’s attention to an article from Blueprint for Financial Prosperity which talks about how great the benefits are of not driving so fast, and how they compare to the benefits of driving fast.

If you have to get a co-signer every time you fill up your vehicle, you might want to consider some of these points:

• Driving 20 miles at 55 MPH takes 22 minutes. Driving 20 miles at 65 MPH takes 19 minutes, a savings of only three minutes.
• If driving a 30 MPG car, you can expect to use ⅔ of a gallon of gasoline at 55 MPH, but about ¾ of a gallon at 65 MPH (figuring that you lose about 6% of your efficiency for every 5 MPH over 55)

Other things you can consider to extend your fuel efficiency when driving:

• Upgrade your car to one more efficient (and I realize this is not feasible for everyone — it isn’t for me right now)
• Consider driving the back roads rather than the highways, but only if you don’t get stopped much
• Accelerate gently and slowly
• Coast as much as possible; brake as little as possible
• Time the traffic lights
• Ignore the jackass behind you tailgating

On a final note, if you find that you can do so, you may also want to consider substituting public transit or a bicycle for your car for some trips, particularly commutes. My employer has two facilities; weather permitting, I travel by bike to one of them, and by bus to the other.