Filed under: 90% Reduction
1. Gasoline. Average American usage is 500 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR. A 90 percent reduction would be 50 gallons PER PERSON, PER YEAR.No reduction in emissions for ethanol or biodiesel.Public transportation and Waste Veggie Oil Fuel are deemed to get 100 mpg, and should be calculated accordingly.
Riot 4 Austerity » 7 Categories
This one is hard, very hard. I am lucky in that there is a bus stop on the next street and another a short walk away so I can catch the #4 and #10 buses relatively easily. So that makes buses a timing issue.
The local shopping centre is within coo-ee so it isn’t that far to walk to it for small trips like milk runs.
The main reason to take the car is to carry all the people we carry. And when I restart work, to get to work.
Our household quota of petrol is 200 gallons yearly or 757 litres. That’s 14.02 tanks per year as the CR-V takes 54 litres. So if I can keep it down to one tank per month with the occasional extra one…
The good news is that is exactly what is happening at the moment while I am on maternity leave. The bad news is that work beckons in 3 months time. If I get to work where I want to work then I can keep this up. Otherwise I will be on the other side of town which will add 15 km per day. Public transport would not be an option :(.
So how can I extend that tank of fuel?
I already keep my revs down as much as possible.
I’m buying the E10 blend which theoretically is a tad friendlier for the planet [and cheaper as well :)]
I’m overdue for a car service because I’m expecting the next service to cost about $1000 as it is the 100,000 one. But I am expecting the baby bonus payment any day now so that should sort out that issue.
Keeping the tyres pumped up helps.
Getting the kids to walk to the markets/shops whenever possible on the weekends. This works for the dairy and the organic shop. The supermarket is a bit far away still for the 3 year old. The kids can bike as far as the park near the pool which is a good start. And I have taken them to the local water gardens on the bikes with DD32 in the stroller.
I need to work on having a minimalist approach to stuff in the car to lessen the weight. At the moment that just isn’t happening.
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