Saving Gas with the Right Car or SUV

By Jason Brommel, Guest Author

Gasoline Conservation - Insights that can change attitudes and slow climate change…

The automobile. Public enemy number one when it comes to climate change. Hundreds of millions on the road, endlessly spewing enormous amounts of carbon emissions into the atmosphere. But what if we could at least lessen the “enormous” amounts?

So it is unusual to see automobiles featured on a site dedicated to promoting environmental awareness, but let’s examine some insights regarding this…

The fact is that the industrial world is entirely built around transportation. If there suddenly were no automobiles, then modern society as we know it would literally collapse. Business as usual would come to a grinding halt.

Since we are a society utterly reliant on cars, trucks, buses, etc., the fact is that fossil-fueled vehicles are not going anywhere anytime soon.

ProtectingOurEnvironment.com’s view is that, until an alternative fuel infrastructure is widely available and utilized, society as a whole should make the most of the current situation and do our best to at least slow the amount of fuel we consume. This has the immediate effect of drastically reducing the amount carbon emissions that enter the atmosphere. This reduction of millions of tons of CO2 will help slow the effects of climate change.

Since the majority of people in the country now live in urban areas, the first emphasis we will make is to help promote the usage of public transportation. The more people become aware of how easy and inexpensive it is to utilize public transportation, even from commuting suburbs, the less fuel will be used by single-passenger automobiles.

But of course people will still need to drive. As a result, we believe one way to help lessen the impact of climate change is to highlight automobiles that have higher fuel efficiency and MPG ratings. When in the market for a new car, consumers have a choice – keep driving a gas guzzling vehicle, or invest in one that is much more efficient. Every person who opts for the latter will be subtly making a big difference.

That’s why we want to highlight these vehicles. The more efficient the cars on the road, the more the car makers will realize the demand is there, which will motivate them to produce more cars that get higher gas mileage.

So we already have a list posted of 39 vehicles that get a combined city/highway average over 25 MPG. Although we would hope to see the bar raised higher as time goes on (in terms of the number of available vehicles that average over 35 MPG), 25 MPG is currently a decent benchmark, when compared to the vast number of vehicles seen every day on the roads that get much less than this.

We will be starting with those that get more than 35 MPG though, as the more miles per gallon, the better!

We will be choosing a vehicle from this list every few days and featuring it. Check back soon to see which one is first to be discussed!