Hypermiling: Update

Late last week I finished my first tank of hypermiled gas. Using the techniques I described in a previous post, I managed 38 miles per gallon. Unbelievable. That's a 20-30% increase over the standard mileage.

The biggest lesson learned is how far the car will really coast. When you take your foot off the gas, the car keeps moving for quite a distance without slowing too dramatically. I've become almost obsessed with seeing how far I can coast and avoiding the brake pedal whenever possible. It's to the point now that I cringe at drivers ahead of me who use their breaks every time they see another car move.

Nevertheless, it's a driving style that I intend to continue. If you haven't tried it yet, do so. I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

Wii-demption!

Thanks to the efforts of a friend, we managed to locate a wii. It only took about a month! As it turns out, the system is every bit as fun and entertaining as expected, if not more so. We picked up an extra controller and 'nunchuck' so that we have equipment enough for two players. We mostly play Wii Sports, but have also tried the Rayman game, which makes full use of the three dimensional motion ability of the Wii. The full motion sensing control of the system makes it unlike any other video gaming system I've ever played.

Beyond that, there's only been two destructive incidents (so far), both involving yours truly. The first came in the form of a loud whack to my elbow by my tennis doubles partner. The other, just yesterday, resulted from leaving a glass of lemonade sitting on the coffee table during a game of Wii bowling. I managed to roll the virtual bowling ball straight through the glass, breaking it with my hand and the controller. The glass went everywhere, spraying all over the carpet, and even bouncing off the tv and back to where I was standing. Fortunately, I was uninjured. Gotta be more careful next time.

If you're still on the fence about purchasing a new gaming system, I highly recommend the Wii -if you can find one.

Hypermiling: How I'm Fighting the Fuel War

We've all seen the gas prices lately and it's no news that they're going to keep going up. Everyone has their own commentary on the gasoline price hike, and as much as they complain and tell stories about how it cost them $60 to fill up the tank of their Chevy Suburban, no one seems to be doing anything about it. I, however, am taking a few small steps. More on that in a minute.

In the midst of the $3+ gas pricing, we're proving just how inelastic the demand for gas is. For those not so economics minded, that means that as the gas prices climb, the demand, or how much gas we buy, is not changing. If the demand for gas were more elastic, the public would react to the price hike by purchasing less gasoline. So far there hasn't been much change in the quantity of oil purchased, therefore indicating two things:
1. Gas prices won't go down much because they don't have to.
2. People would generally rather pay increased fuel costs than create an alternative solution to this problem, at least at current prices.

Have you changed your driving habits recently? How does your current fuel usage compare to that of a year ago or five years ago when gas cost less than half what it does today? And if your driving habits haven't changed much, how high would prices need to climb before you took action?

I was talking to a friend last weekend who lives in a Cincinnati suburb and works just north of Dayton. Every day he drives about an hour to and from work, and spends many of his weekends in Athens, which is 130 miles or so to the east. I asked him how the gas prices were affecting his commute and weekend travel. He told me he still planned doing the same commute every day and making the trip to Athens most weekends. I followed up by asking how high gas prices had to go before he'd seriously consider moving to Dayton or driving to Athens less frequently. He thought $4 per gallon would be about as much as he could take.

Four bucks a gallon? Sheesh. In high school, which was really not that long ago for me, I could fill up my tank to the brim, starting from nil, for $20- and I'd get change back. Today, I spent more than double that amount for the same gas in the same tank.

I've been driving the same car -a '96 Corolla- since I got my license. Even though I'd love a new car, it's pretty much out of the question. I can't do it financially because I'm still working on that whole long-term employment thing. If I could, I'd get something with superb mileage. I'd seriously be considering a hybrid too. For now, I'm making do with what I have. Despite the fact that it'll hit 170,000 miles this week, my car is holding up very well mechanically. Throughout its life, it has maintained a solid upper twenties mpg. But I'm now making efforts to take that even further. In fact, my current goal is to hit 35mpg.

It's called "hypermiling", and it's becoming almost a competitive sport. Contenders use car modifications and driving techniques to squeeze every mile out of each gallon of gas. One driver who is a hypermiling extremist gutted the inside of his Honda Insight (already a high mpg vehicle) and added a few other modifications to hit 99 mpg. I'm not ready to commit to permanently altering my car, nor do I have the cash to replace engine parts. But I can use a few of the techniques to save some gas money and the environment.

To understand hypermiling, look no further than this article that illustrates a Wisconsin driver who can get 59 mpg with a 2005 Honda Accord -and it's not a hybrid. His techniques take the notion of avoiding braking a sudden acceleration to the max. The journalist who wrote the piece talks about how the driver would take curves at 50 mph, just so he wouldn't have to slow down (and then use gas to speed up again).

Here's what I'm going to do to improve my mileage. Many of the following techniques can be done by anyone, so see what you can do. I'm fortunate enough to drive a manual transmission (god bless it), but I'd imagine that you can make some of these work in any car.

1. Put the car in neutral when going downhill or when needing to decelerate. - This happens more often than you'd think. While driving, pop the car in neutral and be amazed at just how far the car can coast without becoming a traffic hazard.
   
2. Watch the speed. -Cars optimize their highway fuel economy around 55mph. When you speed up to 70, you're not only increasing your chances of getting a ticket, but you're wasting a significant amount of gas to stay at that speed. Furthermore, traveling at 70 instead of 55 only gets you there a few percent faster... no more than about 75 seconds on a 30 minute drive.
   
3. Drive in the highest gear that works. - Instead of pushing the engine into 3-4,000 rpm in third gear, use fourth or fifth gear. This is especially helpful if there isn't a reason why I'd need to accelerate quickly.
   
4. "Ridge-ride" -This is taken straight from the Mother Jones article. Especially when it's raining, keep your right tires on the white line on the side of the road. This will keep all four wheels out of the subtle grooves in the road that are created by years of use. These grooves collect water that your engine must move in order to keep the car going.
5. Use the A/C sparingly. It's well known that the air conditioner lowers fuel economy. If you don't believe it, try it. With your car sitting idle, turn on the a/c and watch the tachometer. You'll see a slight increase when the air is on. A la Mythbusters, I'm going to lower the windows when I'm going slower than about 40 to keep the car cool, and turn on the air above that speed.
6. Keep the tires fully inflated.-This tip has been around for as long as there has been an interest in mpg. Keeping the tires inflated keeps the least amount of rubber on the road and therefore produces less friction for the car to fight.
   
7. Get the lead out. - Keep heavy items out of the car. Every pound in the car is one more pound the engine must move. I need to get my golf clubs out of the trunk, now that I think about it.

This list is just a beginners' guide, but that's probably more than enough for most of us. Just think, if we could each raise our mpg by just a few miles per gallon, we'd use that much less gas, save that much more money, be less addicted to foreign oil, and contribute to a greener planet.

Something Wii Don't Understand

Wii We have finally decided to purchase one of the current generation video game systems. The choice is between the Nintendo Wii, the Playstation 3 and the X-Box 360. We've come to the conclusion the Nintendo product is the one we should invest in, if we can find one.

The Nintendo Wii hit the market back in November- nearly 6 months ago. Despite this, they're nearly impossible to find. I've scoured a number of local stores looking for a Wii, but they're all perpetually out of stock. If they are expecting more units, they generally don't know when they might arrive. I've made notes of when some of the major stores get shipments in, but that's iffy at best. It's frustrating that I have to go through this much work for the privilege of paying someone $250.

I don't understand how Nintendo has not been able to produce enough of these systems to meet demand. Now, months after its release, you'd think they would have caught up on their distribution. Sure, there's something to be said for creating an artificially high demand for the system to create a 'buzz' about it, but I don't think the benefits from that strategy outweigh the costs.

While the Wii is out of stores, the XBox 360 and Playstation 3 are easy to find. Most stores have a number of 360's on hand, and at least one lonely PS3 behind a glass case. Many potential Wii owners are opting for an available system instead of chasing down stocks of Nintendo Shipments or paying a premium to purchase one on eBay.

In addition to losing system sales to its competitors, Nintendo is missing out on millions of dollars of accessory a game sales. After all, no one is going to buy additional controllers, games, and battery rechargers if they don't own the actual Wii. For video game makers, most of their profit comes from these accessory sales- not the sale of the actual system. Currently, the Playstation 3 and XBox 360 are actually being sold at a loss, and the Wii at a very small profit. But those losses are worth while because of the huge profit margin on the accessories. When I last checked Wal-Mart, they had no Wii's available, but were actually quite overstocked on Wii accessories and games.

If I were a video game console manufacturer, I would make as many units as I could before the release date (and immediately afterward) to take advantage of all the demand. And within six months, I'd fully intend on it regularly being in stock at major retailers.

All I want is the chance is to destroy my personal property with one of those 'wii-motes'. That's all.

Fertilize This

Every now and again we get mail that doesn't belong to us.... but sometimes we get mail that doesn't belong at all.

Case in point:

I live in an apartment building that has 16 individual residences. No one within a quarter mile owns a lawn. Oops.

Bush Works Around Congress Yet Again

Today, Bush made another one of his infamous recess appointments, placing a one Sam Fox as ambassador to Belgium. Mr. Fox was a major contributor to the ‘Swift Boat’ campaign ads that slandered John Kerry’s military record during the 2004 Presidential race. President Bush had made earlier efforts to place Fox in an ambassadorship, but was quickly shut down by the Democratic congress. While Belgium may not seem at first to be an incredibly key foreign post, Brussels is the headquarters of the European Union, as well as NATO.

Bush has a record of making these ‘recess appointments’, which allow him to bypass Congressional approval when making Presidential appointments. In addition to Sam Fox, controversial UN Representative John Bolton was put in office this way, as well as numerous others:

• An 11th circuit court judgeship: http://www.crosswalk.com/1290806/
• Department of Labor officer: http://blogs.wsj.com/washwire/2006/08/31/bush-appointment-draws-quick-fire/
• An Iran-Contra crony to Assistant Secretary of State: http://www.sptimes.com/News/122301/Worldandnation/Bush_recess_appointme.shtml
• And here’s 20 more: http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2004-07-31-recess_x.htm

It’s all legal– check Article II section 2 of the constitution. Recess appointments were initially created so that the government would not be held idle because Congress was not in session. In ‘ye olde’ days, it could take days or weeks for congressman to gather in Washington. If important work needed to get done immediately, the President had the power to make necessary appointments so the important work could go on. Today, our legislative representatives can get to and from the Capitol in hours. If it were a dire emergency, representatives could congregate immediately and address a situation. Despite this, the rule still still in effect, and President Bush has aggressively taken advantage of this system to subvert democracy and do whatever he wants.

This law needs to be changed. If not removed entirely, it should make any presidential recess appointments valid only for a certain amount of time. I would suggest 30 days, or 14 days past Congress’ first day back from recess. This would be a change from the present rule, which allows appointments to remain in place -unconfirmed by congress– until the end of that congressional session. Of course, changing this rule would require a constitutional amendment- no small task.