Simple, energy-saving tips for home and car

  I recently found a simple, cheap way to help reduce the costs of water and heating hot water: faucet aerators. The national aerator standard for new faucets is 2.2 gal/min., but you can buy more conserving aerators for a few bucks. We put a 1.5 gpm aerator on our non-aerated kitchen faucet and are saving 1.5 gpm, and we changed our bathroom aerator from 2.2 to 0.7, saving another 1.5 gpm. Total 3 gpm. Every little bit helps, and it's so easy to do, Imagine if thousands of people did this? That would be significant.  


Saving energy costs in the shower
  
     I've just read an article on saving hot water and energy. Here's a tip that's saved us hundreds or thousands over 26 years: jerry-rig a hand control on your shower--similar to the hand controls people use for rinsing dishes. You don't waste hot water while you're soaping up--if you can tolerate not having the luxury of water always running on you. Before we had this, in a family of six, the hot water ran out after the first or second shower. And you can still leave the shower running for the diehard water fanatic.

     Get the hand control that has the most durable hose and control handle.  Eventually any hose gives way or the control starts leaking water, but a good one will last for maybe a couple years.


Found fuel additive that really works

Until recently I could get only 25.25 mpg city in my 2001 Toyota Echo despite my conservative, energy-saving driving style and good vehicle maintenance. Then my nephew, who runs a gas station, sold me a fuel additive that he said really works: BG 44K.

After putting in a half-can into a full tank of gas, the mileage gradually began to increase--first to 27-plus mpg after two weeks to 31.5 mpg after six weeks, despite an EPA estimate of 27 mpg city for this car.

Albany, NY, area TV WRGB Channel 6 ran a test on BG 44K and found that it works. See http://www.bgprod.com/news/fuelStory.html. BG 44K is available at many service stations.

If even 10 percent of drivers increased their mileage by 2 mpg, that would be a lot. This is not an ad, and I'm not employed by the BG company. Just something that worked for me.

Any good grade of fuel injector cleaner should improve your gas mileage if used on a regular basis. I use one called Pri-g that gives me a lot of benefits like, increase fuel economy, reduce emissions, prevent carbon build-up, stabilizes fuel, and cleans fuel systems. It's not cheap at $26 for a quart but it treats 512 gallons of gas per bottle. It only takes 1 ounce for every 16 gallons of fuel to keep your vehicle running properly and efficiently.

Thanks for the info. I really never thought these gas additives really worked. I am going to try it. Thanks!

http://www.dailygazette.com

Quoted Text

Gas below $2 per gallon in parts of U.S.
BY JOHN PORRETTO The Associated Press

    HOUSTON — Pump prices continued to tumble in the past week, falling more than 25 cents to a national average of $2.656 a gallon, new government figures show. In some places, gasoline is now selling for less than $2 a gallon.
    A weekly report released Monday afternoon by the U.S. Energy Information Administration showed the Gulf Coast had the cheapest prices with an average of $2.46 a gallon, down 27.4 cents in the past week. The Midwest was next lowest at $2.497, followed by the East Coast ($2.684), the Rocky Mountain region ($2.762) and the West Coast ($3.05).
    Prices have fallen nearly 50 cents in the past two weeks and are down almost 22 cents from a year ago.
    Nationally, the average price for diesel fuel was $3.288, down 19.4 cents in the past week, the EIA reported.
    Already, gasoline prices have dipped below $2 a gallon in some parts of the U.S. as the impact of plunging oil prices and reduced driving are finally taking hold.
    In Ohio, the Web site GasBuddy.com, where consumers post prices they spot, said a few stations in the Cincinnati suburbs were now charging $1.99 for regular.
    The national average for a gallon of regular fell 3 cents overnight to $2.668, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. That’s roughly a dollar less than what was paid just a month ago and 18 cents below year-ago prices.
    Only three states — Alaska, California and Hawaii — have average prices for regular grade above $3 a gallon, AAA said.
    Gasoline prices have been sliding as oil prices have dropped to the lowest level in more than a year, dipping below $62 a barrel at one point Monday. Oil prices have plunged 57 percent from a record $147.27 on July 11.
    The markets are worried about the potential for a severe global economic slowdown that would curb demand for fuel.
    Gasoline prices also typically decline at this time of year after the peak summer driving season, adding to the steep falloff, said oil trader and analyst Stephen Schork. He says the national average for gas could reach $2.25 a gallon in the coming weeks.
    “We have to appreciate what extraordinary circumstances we’re now dealing with,” Schork said. “We’ve had a major correction in the price of crude oil, and that correction is having a knockout effect on gasoline prices. This great unraveling that we’re seeing in all commodity prices is exaggerating the seasonality of this market.”
    The rise and fall of fuel prices has certainly had an effect on Americans’ driving habits.
    From last November through August, Americans drove 78.1 billion fewer miles than they did over the same 10-month period a year earlier, according to data from the Transportation Department released Friday.
    Despite the price decline, however, some retailers say gasoline sales are down on weekends by as much as 10 percent from a year ago — a sign that some are driving only when necessary.
    “I think the mentality of the consumer is, ‘Yes, it’s nice to have $2.50 gasoline, but I feel much poorer today than I did when it was $4 a gallon,’ ” said Ben Brockwell, director of data, pricing and information services for the Oil Price Information Service. “I think people are still in a money-saving mode.”


AL BEHRMAN/THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Customers line up to get gas for $1.99 a gallon at a Mobil gas station Monday in Springdale, Ohio.

Yeah, and bread is $2.50 a loaf.......kiss my butt.....

There is a report that consumer prices down 1%......okay maybe a sweater, pants, picture or the like.....and maybe in groceries, but the fact remains that
the scales are unjust in the food industry.....less ounces for the $1.00......go figure......

Is there a truth machine anywhere????????

I have a friend who lives in Mass. I was talking with them this morning and they said that gas is $1.98/gallon there.

Quoted Text

Oil falls below $53 on fears of deep recession
Oil falls below $53 as investors fear worst global economic slowdown in decades

By PABLO GORONDI, Associated Press
Last updated: 6:35 a.m., Thursday, November 20, 2008

Oil prices fell below $53 to almost a two-year low Thursday as investors, worried by plummeting stock markets, priced in lower crude demand as the global economic downturn shapes up to be the worst in decades.
     
Light, sweet crude for December delivery was down $1.23 to $52.39 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange by midday in Europe. The contract fell 77 cents Wednesday to settle at $53.62, the lowest since January 2007.

In London, December Brent crude fell $1.02 to $50.70 on the ICE Futures exchange.

"People are saying this slowdown could be the worst since the Great Depression," said Toby Hassall, an analyst with investment firm Commodity Warrants Australia in Sydney. "There's definitely fear out there that it's going to be pretty severe."
..................http://timesunion.com/AspStories/story.asp?storyID=684302

I hate to spoil your lunches folks, but the gas in Ohio is $1.70 or so, because THEY DON'T HAVE LIBERAL SPEND SPEND SPEND MENTALITY AND NEED TO HAVE RIDICULOUS TAXES ON EVERYTHING TO SUPPORT THE WELFARE STATE LIKE NEW YORK DOES!!!!!!!!! New York is what will happen to the rest of America if we keep moving that way. Like the fools that leave NY for Georgia and Florida, because of high taxes and then proceed to vote Demoncat like they did in NY, it is only a matter of time. Then they will have to expatriate themselves (and go screw up another government elsewhere with their socialist voting habits) in order to find the next low tax haven. Then they wonder WHY their local government is out of control on spending and taxes! DUHHHHH.

Apparently, in todays Gazetto, the front page clearly says that NY has the third highest gas price in the NATION - behind Hawaii and Alaska .. is that true??

If memory serves me right, we pay a whopping .51 or .52 on every gallon of gas we purchase in this great state of ours. And don't discount the idea of yet an increase. Since our wonderful elected officials and unions won't budge to save the taxpayers money, they will have to get it from somewhere. Gas is a clear necessity that will bring in some great revenues.

And I agree with GB...move to another state, vote in the dems, and it will be but a matter of time that taxes will rise substantially. If things don't turn around, and I don't see that happening anywhere in the near future, we will all be living in a socialist, welfare country.

Gov Patterson has already said he wants to increase the tax on gasoline!  Just when we get relief, he wants to tax us again

[quote=1][/quote]


The news was bad when prices were rising, causing everything to go up and we couldn't afford the rising prices, so it was bad news.

Now, when prices are coming down, giving us the relief we need -- I fill up for half of what it cost me in the summer -- it becomes bad news.

Guess it's bad news to when people MIGHT pay less for utlity bills than we did last year?

Quoted from mikechristine1

Gov Patterson has already said he wants to increase the tax on gasoline!  Just when we get relief, he wants to tax us again

I say we all stop dead in our tracks for a week and not go to work, shop or anything......then he can eat our dust.....

I was just TO EMBARASSED watching the exchange on tv between him and the legislature meeting.....what a farce...then he goes to
washington to beg for $$.....we dont even have proper spending habits in NYS and the monkey on our back here is sure
eating up all we work for......it's first name is:"Organized".......

All those folks sat around that 1/2 round table as knights in shining armour and 'LAUGHED IN OUR FACES'.....AND THE MEDIA DID
TOO...........................

Absolutely The Funniest Joke Ever !
  
    . . . ON US
    Does anybody out there have any memory of the reason given
    for the establishment of the DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY during the
    Carter Administration?   Anybody?   Anything?   No?
    Didn't think so.
    Bottom line . . we've spent several hundred billion
    dollars in support of an agency the reason for which not one
    person who reads this can remember.
    Ready?   It was very simple, and at the time everybody
    thought it very appropriate.
  
    The Department of Energy was instituted 8-04-1977 TO LESSEN
    OUR DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN OIL.  HEY, PRETTY EFFICIENT, HUH?
  
    AND NOW IT'S 2008, 31 YEARS LATER, AND THE BUDGET FOR
    THIS NECESSARY DEPARTMENT IS AT $24.2 BILLION A YEAR, THEY
    HAVE 16,000 FEDERAL EMPLOYEES, AND APPROXIMATELY 100,000
    CONTRACT EMPLOYEES AND LOOK AT THE JOB THEY HAVE DONE!
  
  
    THIS IS WHERE YOU SLAP YOUR FOREHEAD AND SAY 'WHAT WAS I THINKING?'
    Ah yes, good ole bureaucracy and now we are going to turn the Banking
    system over to them? God Help us.
  
    Ah yes what was I thinking, we've taken HIM out of it too!