anonymousposterchild
I've seen smarter people do dumber things. See: all those fuel line addition scams, people thinking that a car running on hydrogen somehow magically violates conservation of energy, etc.

My point was that they all deserve what they get :)

skoolmunkee

anonymousposterchild
I've seen smarter people do dumber things. See: all those fuel line addition scams, people thinking that a car running on hydrogen somehow magically violates conservation of energy, etc.

My point was that they all deserve what they get :)

That's good, because it means I'll have a market for my new fuel economy system.

See, what I do is I take your gas, suspend it in an electron cloud and infuse it with the power of COLLOIDAL SILVER which isn't, in fact, aluminium shavings with a 0.05% silver content at all. This new mixture causes your fuel to burn 220% more efficiently AND reduces overall emissions.

APC, why don't you go back to the debates forum and take your vitriol with you.

I've already said that I will mention acetone for ppl to do their own research and make the decision for themselves, and I won't fall for any goading to make me waste my time doing re-research for some naysayer who just wants an argument.

Stop being an annoyance.

BTW, good idea about that unprotected sex. I dunno about fuel efficiency but maybe it'll dislodge that rod out of you.

skoolmunkee

anonymousposterchild
I've seen smarter people do dumber things. See: all those fuel line addition scams, people thinking that a car running on hydrogen somehow magically violates conservation of energy, etc.

My point was that they all deserve what they get :)

MY POINT was that you shouldn't make broad, unfounded claims, ESPECIALLY when you issue them like you are an expert and like it's a FACT. That's what started the whole thing.

You can call it whatever you like, but the first post saying...

Use industrial-grade pure acetone to spike your gasoline... I used acetone in my Corvette for years, and I drove a lot...You get more miles from the gallon, cleaner emissions, more power, and smoother engine. And no, it does not harm your engine or rubber sealants/tubings....

... was IRRESPONSIBLE. The poster made up for it in later posts, but wouldn't have unless he was called on it.

If the poster had just stated it as an experience, or in their opinion, then I would never had said anything in the first place. It's when you start saying things like they are FACT is when people start taking it seriously.

SpANG
MY POINT was that you shouldn't make broad, unfounded claims, ESPECIALLY when you issue them like you are an expert and like it's a FACT. That's what started the whole thing.

What I was saying had nothing to do with your point. :) I just wanted you guys to move on beyond something you clearly weren't going to agree over. However I have only prolonged the issue! Wonderful!

Who the hell is going to pour acetone into his/her tank based purely on how I worded my goddamned post?

I purposely didn't mention the specifics on exactly what kind of acetone should be used, and how much acetone to be used per gallon of gas. Anyone actually interested in acetone would have had to do their own research, by necessity. They couldn't be misled by me even if they wanted to be.

The worse you two's attitudes are, the more resolute I am in absolutely not putting in my time to show you my research. All I will do is keep repeating that based on my personal experience, anecdotes of ppl in another forum who tried acetone after I did, and online research, acetone works to perceptibly and safely improve performance. "Mileage" will differ for different car years/models.

Blah blah blah yak yak yak arguments.

Anyway, you guys have some good suggestions here, though they all make me wish that the US had planned better for means of public transportation outside of urban and suburban areas. I live out in a pretty rural place, and there's really no choice but to go by car most everywhere. To the store, to my school. What I wouldn't give to have a bus line or something, even if it's just one or two (which would be enough to serve this town in the first place, honestly.)

The thing that gets on my nerves and that I've seen on other forums, though, is when people assume that every place has public transportation or areas, whether it be stores, work or school, within walking distance because of their own bias. As much as that would rule, some of us are still stuck in no man's land. It's a shame, because I'd like to be a lot more fuel efficient, but it's next to impossible for me to do so.

Oh well, at least I'm conscious of it until I can get out here, then stuff can be done. :/

Most people are buying motorcycles now. They really cut the gas bills in half. Only drawback is that they're one of the most dangerous vehicles to drive on the roads.... especially Florida roads...

Mororbikes are popular here, probably because cars end up getting stuck in lines and mororcyclists can go to the front if they want. :) I've considered getting one, but A: lessons are expensive and time consuming, and B: then I'd have to buy a bike.

All the cost of it would kinda defeat the purpose of getting one, and then I wouldn't want to ride it in the pouring rain, and I couldn't use it for errands or taking my dog somewhere.

esu
The thing that gets on my nerves and that I've seen on other forums, though, is when people assume that every place has public transportation or areas, whether it be stores, work or school, within walking distance because of their own bias. As much as that would rule, some of us are still stuck in no man's land. It's a shame, because I'd like to be a lot more fuel efficient, but it's next to impossible for me to do so.

get out of that place while you can !!! the suburban sprawl lands are going to resemble Afganistan in the future. especialy if you live in a desert where all of the water and food is imported .
the American lifestyle is unsustainable !

Croi Dhubh
4. OPEN THE WINDOW AND USE THE VENTS, NOT THE AIR CONDITIONING
Even with how much common sense this seems to be, I've had people tell me, "I never even thought of that..." Really, it's not that hot out there, is it? The reason most people won't use the window is because they "can't hear their radio". Boo-hoo. It's either turn the radio up and deal with a bit of street noise, or spend more money on gasoline.

Speaking as someone who lives in an area where it IS, in fact, THAT HOT: It gets up to and over 120 degrees (F) around here in the summer. The AC sometimes just takes the edge off of feeling like you're cooking. The rest of the year, though, I agree- 90 degrees or lower, just to ease the tax on your tank, try lowering the window and sticking it out. :D

Tips for saving money/gas:

Like what a lot of people here have said, WALK. This gets a little tougher in the summer for people who are in hotter areas, or winter for those in colder areas, but generally speaking, humans can do a lot of walking! It takes a little longer to get around to where you're going, but it saves on gas and will help you feel better. So! It means spacing out your time a little differently- if you know it'll take you half an hour to walk somewhere, leave half an hour earlier than you would've in a car. If it's a quick run to the convenience store just a mile away(Yeah, I know that's a daunting walk for many people), try hoofing it. It gets easier the more you do it, and you'll save money.
For those who are not able to be on their feet for that long, bikes are also useful.

I wanna point out, though, that I'm aware not everyone has the luxury of being withing walking distance of everything, or even walking distance of a bus. That of course is subjective- I live a mile from the bus but still take it when I can, including walking TO it- but the advice I'm offering applies to those who ARE within the walking distance of these things.

If you're in the age bracket/money bracket where this applies, getting a hybrid vehicle helps A LOT at the pump. My father owns a hybrid prius, and he regularly gets a minimum of 45 MPG in that thing. He can often get 50-55 MPG, if he drives smoothly(slow acceleration, so on). It costs a lot in the short term, but if you're planning for the long-term it WILL make a difference.

And just in general- if you're comfortable at 65 degrees, try pushing the envelope on your comfort by kicking it up to 70 degrees on your AC. Or even 75. Or higher. If you can tolerate it, it will save you a BUNCH on bills. Use fans, or ice from the fridge- I make makeshift ice-packs with a towel and some ice, myself- or take a cold shower, or dunk your head in cold water. Try to get used to the heat rather than the cold- remember, you can always put something on if you're cold, but there's only so much you can take off if you're hot!

Also! Close blinds/curtains on windows, that will cut down on energy usage for the AC. The darker you can afford to keep your house, the cooler it will be.

Turn it off when you leave. The computer, the fan, the light, the TV. Every small thing you turn off saves you on energy bills. Use sunlight for lighting if you need it, instead of the desk lamp. Maybe even, instead of watching TV, read a book. Write. Draw. Have at non-electrical activities. It's surprising how much we've forgotten we can do to entertain ourselves/each other without being wired into some electrical device.

Buy a water purifier for your faucet, to cut out all the yucky stuff that comes from the tap. Then, buy one (Or more!) bottles of water, drink them whenever, and just refill them from the tap. That saves on spending a lot on bottled water, and it recycles instead of just dumping.

Short showers, or take baths. Conserve your water, AND how much water your waterheater has to, uh, heat. :3

I know that some of what I say isn't applicable to everyone, and I am sort of talking about "here in the US", because that's where I am. I can't speak for other countries because, well, I don't live there.

I'm simply just not going to get a car. I have a bike. I'll use that.

1) Build a UFO that runs on anti-gravity.

2) Learn to astral travel. Hopefully your boss will understand why you're not physically present at the job. Tell him that your soul is there and is doing the job in the astral plane. That you're NOT absent from work.

ok so you think you have it tough do you ?! well here in Iceland we have to pay around 182 krona a liter ... that´s about 10000 krona for one full tank of diesel ... 182 krona is around 3 dollars

beautifully_demonic
ok so you think you have it tough do you ?! well here in Iceland we have to pay around 182 krona a liter ... that´s about 10000 krona for one full tank of diesel ... 182 krona is around 3 dollars

...And where I am, it's over $4 a gallon, and it costs over $50 to fill a tank, more if you gotta use any fuel other than unleaded. It's tough *all around*, and this thread isn't about "who has it worse", it's about how to save money.

MagickLorelai

beautifully_demonic
ok so you think you have it tough do you ?! well here in Iceland we have to pay around 182 krona a liter ... that's about 10000 krona for one full tank of diesel ... 182 krona is around 3 dollars

...And where I am, it's over $4 a gallon, and it costs over $50 to fill a tank, more if you gotta use any fuel other than unleaded. It's tough *all around*, and this thread isn't about "who has it worse", it's about how to save money.

Uh.... to be fair, 182 Icelandic Krona per liter is the equivalent of $8.58 a gallon. To fill a tank, it costs beautifully_demonic about $124.77. So, that IS pretty darn high. :(

SpANG
Uh.... to be fair, 182 Icelandic Krona per liter is the equivalent of $8.58 a gallon. To fill a tank, it costs beautifully_demonic about $124.77. So, that IS pretty darn high. :(

Okay. Does that still detract from my statement that this thread isn't about who has it worse? Yes, it's pretty bad where (she?) is. But that's the point of this thread, is to find ways to relieve that strain on the wallet, right?

MagickLorelai

SpANG
Uh.... to be fair, 182 Icelandic Krona per liter is the equivalent of $8.58 a gallon. To fill a tank, it costs beautifully_demonic about $124.77. So, that IS pretty darn high. :(

Okay. Does that still detract from my statement that this thread isn't about who has it worse? Yes, it's pretty bad where (she?) is. But that's the point of this thread, is to find ways to relieve that strain on the wallet, right?

What are you, the thread police? I personally thought it was a very enlightening piece of info, and I'm glad it was shared. But here you go:

Tips to save money on gas: DON'T LIVE IN ICELAND.

Be a "hypermiler". 100mpg is possible. It's A LOT of work, though.

LINK

protest gas prices.

Sell all your body parts except for your arms and legs. Those are the only parts most drivers actually use, so they won't be missed. That will give you the money to buy one full tank of gas. But after that, you'll have to think of something else.

Buy it in Mexico

:D

Drive slower, that tends to make your mpg slightly more.

Ride or walk as much as possible.

Failing that, get an old diesel car and run it on used fish and chip oil. (The older diesels, specially the Mercs run better than the newer ones)

Rudolph Diesel invented his motor so farmers could be more self-sufficient by making their own vegetable oil!

The the Big Boys got hold of it and started producing fuel from petroleum for his motor, knowing this was more convenient and they could sell it cheap because it is so easy to refine.

I am about to add some filters to my old 300D Merc and run it on used vegie oil (it's why I bought the car).

The fuel price crisis hasn't really hit me at all to be honest. Even though I have a drivers license, I don't own a car, and live in a major city with a reliable mass transit system. I've preferred to keep the $100 bucks a month it'd cost me to travel on it. So, I've been commuting by bicycle to and from work, college, and home for the last few years and plan to do so for as long as I live in the city. I've been paying all of my bills on-line for nearly a decade, mainly to save on checks and postage costs. The post office is only one city block from my home, so it's not a problem until I have to pick up a package. I buy my the bulk of my fruits and vegetables through a food co-op, and haul them home via the bike thanks to a bicycle cart I own. It's been cheaper than the supermarkets, and the freshest reliable alternative to the farmers market. I usually only have to go to the corner market to buy a gallon of milk.

The only thing getting to me is that in about two plus years I'll be done with my bachelors, and I'm thinking of leaving the city, possibly the north east region of the US altogether. I'm dreading the situations that might drive me to buy a car for myself.

I'm not quite 16 yet so I don't need to worry about that. Where I live, gas prices have fallen 40 cents to $3.80 a gallon. A few weeks ago it was $4.20. But of course, once school starts again, they'll hike the prices back up.

Walrus
I'm not quite 16 yet so I don't need to worry about that. Where I live, gas prices have fallen 40 cents to $3.80 a gallon. A few weeks ago it was $4.20. But of course, once school starts again, they'll hike the prices back up.

With respect to gas prices, I've seen two opposing SPECULATIONS of how this trend will continue...

1) This is all Pavlovian dog training
They (oil companies under the control of the new world order, etc.) bring it up by $50, then bring it down by $10 just to let everyone feel a relief. But in reality its all gonna keep going up and up and up. With the goal of creating instability and making people riot as a result. As has happened in several third world countries where the people rioted because of food and gasoline prices.

The chaos will create death and destruction... and would help reduce the world's population, as planned.

The high price of gas would take a toll on the economy... forcing the economy of the USA to collapse... with the "solution" being the merging of USA, Canada, and Mexico into one big superstate called the North American Union.


2) Oil will drop down to $50 per barrel
How will this be done?
- They're gonna open up large oil fields in INDONESIA and RUSSIA. Those fields are gonna have more oil than the whole middle east combined. Yes and that includes Iran and Saudi Arabia.

As a result, the economies of the oil producing middle east will go down, since their primary export is oil.

In order to sustain their economies, the Saudis and other oil producers of the middle east will start spending their dollar reserves. As they let go of their dollars, it will make the US dollar further lose its value.

As the US dollar loses its value, that will destroy the US economy as well as the other economies tied to the US dollar.

Then there will be chaos... and the solution would be the creation of the North American Union. No more Canada, No more Mexico, No more USA.


---

The second plan seems more clever. Because if you keep on increasing the price of oil, the ensuing chaos would not be as profitable. Also, this plan would have the effect of neutralizing the awakening masses and possibly discrediting alternative media.

"Look! The price of oil is going down!!! Can't you see!!! This oil crisis is just random event dictated by market forces such as supply and demand. Its a cycle, you know."

Also as oil prices go down, research on alternetive technologies (like the electric car) will be put on hold. That will have the effect of neutralizing the opposition to the monopoly of energy.




But then again, I hope this isn't the case. I hope I'm wrong.

I plan to hire a butler and make him give me piggybacks. Onward Jeeves or it will be a whipping!



kyupol, I disagree. I think there are 3 ways the gas prices trend can continue.

Go up
Go down
Stay the same

:)

Edit: I read a National Geographic article recently (I think it was NG) that was pretty interesting. Basically the large oil deposits have reached their production peaks and will only produce less each year. There are no more oil fields of significant size to be found. That means only smaller, harder to access oil fields are out there, which means it's going to cost oil companies more to get the oil out, and production will never match what the megafields were outputting 10 years ago. Companies will have to spend more just to get the oil out, rigging and so on. Supply is going down- demand and cost are going to go up, unless an alternative is found.

I can't wait for those electric or hydrogen cars.

But powerful corporate interests will not make that happen unless there's enough pressure coming from the PEOPLE.

I hope this nice car wont be blocked

The hydrogen cars exist, but you can only get them if you're in their test market area. Honda only has one refuelling station in the US, or something.

When I'm next in the market for a new car (years and years from now) I'll definitely want a hybrid, and if good long-range electric cars are out by then, I might even go for one of those. I'd want the technology to be stable first.


There should be wind-powered cars, with little windmills on top! Once the get going they power themselves! :D And you can accessorize your spinnaz