True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
Erik Larsen ·
Apr 28, 2011 at 7:34am
Even though I live in the fair dominion of Canada, I am a hypermiler, not a hyperkilometerer. er. er.
I turn off my engine if I'm stopped at a long light, and actually turn it off early and coast if I see a light change ahead of me. I drive fairly conservatively for the remainder of my journey.
I've met many conservatives who are anti-Earth Day, drive as much as they can, and turn all their lights on, etc., etc. I view this as the equivalent of lighting a cigar with a $100 bill. I don't like it because it's wasteful.
But I'm conservative. How weird am I? Do others here hypermile?
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Jul '10
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
I drive as fast as I can without being ticketed. I have no children, so my motto is, "Let your kids walk and freeze in the dark".
Jun '10
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
Erik, those hypermile tactics would never work where I live and drive. Maybe it's a rural thing?
I drive very fast on the highway because they were designed for just that. I am hyper alert around town, because we have no school busing and the sidewalks are always swarming with kids -- who often spill into the street in packs or fail to look before crossing. My speed is always controlled enough to brake suddenly if, say, a toddler gets lose from his parent and runs out in front of me.
If anyone wants to waste gas and electricity I don't worry too much. We'll make more. I would like to curtail Nancy Pelosi's jet fuel consumption, though.
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
Those lights must be incredibly long for it to be more energy efficient to turn off your engine and then restart it rather than idle.
As for everything else, I think that conserving resources goes well with conservatism and my parents taught me that from a young age ...
I used to think that their "pack-it-in, pack-it-out" camping ethos came from Reagan himself.
Oct '10
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
My wife and I are both temperamentally frugal and conserving in almost everything. She can't leave the drive-way with less than three errands to make the trip efficient and throughout the nineties I preached to our two boys against the evils of bottled water. Using energy to ship the most ubiquitous of commodities around the planet in small plastic bottles to satisfy our craving for little more than a colorful logo always rankled me. We wash and reuse zip-lock bags, and on and on.
I get a kick out of Tim Blair's and Iowahawk's taunting of the left with gasoline-gulping vehicles, but somewhere inside I'm cringing. I've actually eased up in recent years and not let waste bug me so much. Maybe I'll get to the point where I can relax and really enjoy an outing on a friends twin-engine Hydrosport that downs 30 gallons an hour. I wince every time I glance at the digital fuel read-out.
None of this is in reaction to global-warming hysteria. The principle of efficiency is a conservative position. Now, how to turn our Hummer of a government into a bicycle?
Oct '10
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
I conserve. It is a function directly associated with income. As for Ma Earth, she predates me and will be here long after everyone for the foreseeable future follows me into eternity.
Feb '11
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
I try to stay aware of road & traffic conditions ahead..prefer manual transmissions..and coast up to lights or traffic stoppages rather than racing up and jamming on the breaks. I don't turn off the ignition; if you take a few seconds longer to get started at a light someone is likely to run into you from behind.
It is interesting how some kinds of conservation are considered more politically correct than others. An electric water heater or an electric stove/oven, for example, are far less energy-efficient than their natural-gas equivalents, but the people who are so self-impressed by their use of CFLs probably never even consider this point.
Jan '11
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
If I tried this in Texas, the car behind me would probably attempt nonconsensual sexual intercourse with mine.
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
I strongly believe in conserving. We drive a teeny tiny car and shoehorn our three kids into a single back seat -- no minivan/suburban for us. I just filled up the tank yesterday, from E to full with $50. Scary expensive. What must those suburbans take? I hang clothes out on the line instead of using the dryer. We use fans instead of airconditioners. My mother regularly picks up trash from the roads around her home. She composts. She shops at the local farm. She and my brother heat their NH homes with woodburning stoves.
All this said, I would NEVER dream of making others live this way or snorting in superiority at those who live differently, or, worst of all, loudly announcing the evils of "big oil" or whatever the latest liberal screech is about the environment.
Conserving comes with its own satisfactions, many built-in lessons (and activities!) for the kids, and yes, some saved coin.
Point is? I do believe that conserving is in line with conservatism. The less reliance one has on anything -- gov't programs, oil, electricity, other humans (outside of family) -- the better.
Dec '10
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
Exactly. There is a difference between conservation and environmentalism. You don't have to be an environmentalist to love nature and dislike waste.
Conservation is understood as the proper stewardship of the earth God gave us. It is our charge to make the most of it and to now waste the riches that the earth provides.
In my humble opinion, it is completely possible to love nature and, at the same time, use natures bounty to enrich our lives. Drill for oil. Mine for coal. Use the forests for timber. Use our world's riches to increase our prosperity.
Increasing standards of living have done more to save the earth than any environmental program.
Dec '10
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
Ursula Hennessey:
All this said, I would NEVER dream of making others live this way or snorting in superiority at those who live differently, or, worst of all, loudly announcing the evils of "big oil" or whatever the latest liberal screech is about the environment.
Conserving comes with its own satisfactions, many built-in lessons (and activities!) for the kids, and yes, some saved coin.
Point is? I do believe that conserving is in line with conservatism. The less reliance one has on anything -- gov't programs, oil, electricity, other humans (outside of family) -- the better. · Apr 28 at 7:56am
And here it is. The fundamental difference between conservatives and progressives. The former doesn't impose their values (regardless of how good they are) on other people.
Mar '11
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
One of my personal pet peeves is littering, I guess being a Boy Scout hammered that into me. I get offended when I am in the woods and see empty bear bottle or plastic rappers. It has something to due with conservationism but also common decency. Most Americans would not just leave trash in their yard so one especially should not do this on property they don’t own. Now the real nut cases take their crap back with them when in the woods and deserve ceaseless ridicule.
On the other end recycling paper to save trees is so completely absurd and about as worthless as recycling food both are a huge money pit. Trees are a farm product, we can always grow more. Especilly when you consider we ship much of the paper to China to be recyled.
If I was more mechanical minded, I would remove my catalyze converters so I could get better gas millage. States which don’t require inspections are nice.
Jun '10
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
I like nature and don't like to see it abused by troglogytes. On the other hand, it's a gift from God that may be used but not mistreated. (Removing oil from the earth and burning it in cars is not mistreatment).
I put recyclable stuff in the recycle bin, but without much enthusiasm (seems more symbolic than real).
I've spent the last 35 years of my life following my children, and now my grandchildren, around the house, turning off lights in my well air-conditioned home. I have a hunch it too is more symbolic than real, but I just can't help myself.
No hypermiling, however.
Edited on Apr 28, 2011 at 8:21amJun '10
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
Margaret Ball
If I tried this in Texas, the car behind me would probably attempt nonconsensual sexual intercourse with mine. · Apr 28 at 7:40am
Is that a crime in Texas?
Mar '11
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
I drive a Volvo - a stereotypical "Progressive" car. I was gonna buy a Lexus hybrid - lovely car, but way too expensive, and the mileage wasn't that different from the Volvo.
Erik, I would recommend you get a Prius - the engine turns itself off at the lights, efficiently, and everyone would still think you are weird - but you are a Canadian, so that is OK :-)
Edited on Apr 28, 2011 at 8:29amDec '10
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
I am all for frugality and conservation. Saving money by maximizing fuel economy makes financial sense. But avoiding hydrocarbon consumption to "save the Earth" doesn't: vast amounts of primordial carbon are locked away in limestone, coral, chalk and marble, so liberating carbon from fossil fuels isn't going to throw the biosphere into a tizzy. And please, while you're hypermiling, stay out of the passing lane: I detest drivers (almost always in Toyota models, I've noted) parking in the fast lane at 55 mph as if they were deputized to run a traffic block to force the rest of us to join their ecocrusade.
Feb '11
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
For engine with fuel injection, the break even (turn off-restart vs. idle) is 10 - 30 seconds.
Oct '10
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
I try to hyper-mile.. or at least as much as one can with a conventional engine. I treat it like a game.. My car has a little gauge which gives instant feedback on fuel economy, and it's taught me a lot about how to conserve fuel.
I drive a full size Subaru sedan with a "continuously variable" transmission, a vehicle with EPA ratings of 23 city, and 31 highway.
On the highway I find that if I 1) drive at the speed limit using cruise control, 2) coast into traffic lights and stop signs, and 3) never accelerate hard in stop and go traffic I get can 38+ mpg. I also keep my tires slighty overinflated. All of this makes a significant cost difference on long vacation drives. The other benefit of cruise control is that I don't worry about speed traps.. and that's significant when many local governments are relying on increasingly steep speeding fines (which can cost more than multiple fill-ups in some jurisdictions). And, peace, Stuart Creqe, I drive "conservatively" on the right.
My lowest MPG since starting to play this game was 28, in stop and go city traffic.
Oct '10
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
I don't hypermile to an extreme, but I do try to anticipate upcoming red lights, and let off power as soon as the light turns red OR when I figure that it will due to a stale green.
Beyond that, I simply choose to drive an economical vehicle, like my 40+MPG '93 Civic. I'm even considering adding aerodynamic mods to boost that number (www.aerocivic.com chronicles such mods on a nearly identical car).
But all of that effort is to save money, not the environment.
Jan '11
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
Limestone Cowboy, great handle, and that sounds exactly like how I drive. (I don't do crazy things like draft behind large vehicles on highways etc). Hang On, I've heard the trade off between turning off the engine and restarting is around 7 seconds. If traffic volume is heavy, then the stop and go nature isn't really conducive to shutting down - but luckily my traffic routes are light, and if I get stuck at a light, I find I don't feel anxious sitting there and burning fuel for nothing. Stuart Creque, I'm not on an eco-crusade, I just do this because I don't like using more of anything than I have to. If I go to a buffet, I only take what I can eat. There's an interesting project maybe - seeing who has more uneaten food at the end of a buffet - lefties or righties.
May '10
Re: True Confessions Of A Hypermiler
Erik Larsen: I turn off my engine if I'm stopped at a long light, and actually turn it off early and coast if I see a light change ahead of me. I drive fairly conservatively for the remainder of my journey.
But I'm conservative. How weird am I? Do others here hypermile? ·
There are many schools of thought on this, but it is still open for debate as to whether idling for a minute is more fuel efficient than starting your car. Inolder, non fuel injected cars it was definitely true that idling was more efficient than starting, but with modern starters and fuel injectors it's a pretty even trade-off.
As for what other people do... why do you care?
I conserve energy in my home and with my car because it saves me money. It is how I was raised, but if people want to waste money they are only feeding the economy. Unless you're a Malthusian?