8 posts tagged “projects”
hypermiling
verb
a method of increasing your car's gas mileage by making skillful changes in the way you drive, allowing you to save gas and thereby have an easier time withstanding the rising oil and gas prices.
according to hypermiling.com (i'll just refer to them as HM), the first step in this process is always knowing your gas mileage:
calculated on my fill-up this morning
second, determine if you are an aggressive driver. according to HM, "Drivers apply their brakes between 10 and 25 percent more time than they need to. If drivers leave a big enough buffer between them and the car in front - at least 2 seconds or more - there would be more time to coast before putting on the brakes. And if you see a red light way up ahead, why bother to keep your foot on the gas?"
and can shrink my 23.7 mpg even more.
third, determine if you sit at red lights too long. when stopped, your mpg is zero. waste. coasting to red lights, you are not losing the momentum you burned your gas to achieve while at the same time waiting out the light. depending on the light, you could avoid having to fully stop at all.
but i have been able to coast through some.
fourth, keep moving in a traffic jam. HM refers people to an article about negating traffic congestion waves.
"On a day when I immediately started hitting the usual 'waves' of stopped cars, I decided to drive smoothly. Rather than repeatedly rushing ahead with everyone else, only to come to a halt, I decided to try to move at the average speed of the traffic. I let a huge gap open up ahead of me, and timed things so I was arriving at the next 'stop-wave' just as the last red brakelights were turning off ahead of me.
"I kept this up for maybe half an hour while approaching the city. Finally, I happened to glance at my rearview mirror. There was an interesting sight.
"It was dusk, the headlights were on, and I was going down a long hill to the bridges. I had a view of miles of highway behind me. In the neighboring lane I could see maybe five of the traffic stop-waves. But in the lane behind me, for miles, TOTALLY UNIFORM DISTRIBUTION. I hadn't realized it, but by driving at the average speed of the traffic around me, my car had been 'eating' the traffic waves. Everyone ahead of me was caught in the stop/go cycle, while everyone behind me was forced to go at a nice smooth 35MPH or so. My single tiny car had erased miles and miles of stop-and-go traffic. Just one single 'lubricant atom' had a profound effect on the turbulent particle flow within the entire miles of 'tube.'"
but this sounds like a cool experiment.
fifth, accelerate slowly from a stop. with an automatic car, let the car's idle allow you to start rolling for a second before using the gas.
sixth, carefully use cruise control in city driving to keep acceleration up hills, etc. smooth. learn how to accel, decel, and cancel the cruise control in advance to avoid accident.
the super-serious-noise-reduction solution:
the less-carpet-slightly-less-noise-reduction solution (unless you can figure out how to get a carpet pad under the runner to cushion the impact of stampeding feet):
soft brown recycled wool sweater mittens, lined with fleece
crafted by buggsybitsnpook
sadly, my hands are too long for these (i think. i had to compare them to an 8.5 inch wide piece of paper. not an exact measurement tool.)
my intended quilt instructions: feathered fantasy nine patch pattern
the best fabric store in cincinnati: st. theresa's textile trove
laundry
- switched from laundry detergent to laundry soap made from fels naptha soap, borax, washing soda, and oxyclean booster
- switched from fabric softener to white vinegar scented with essential oils
- switched from using the drying to hang drying clothes (except for towels, which need to be fluffy from the drier)
- switched from windex to annie bond's cleaner using white vinegar, water, and a touch of dish soap
- switched from random surface cleaners to full strength white vinegar
- switched from soft scrub to annie bond's soft scrubber recipe using baking soda and dish soap
- switched from long showers to bucket baths (though unlike the caption to this photo, i use soap and get perfectly clean)
- switched from shampoo to 1 tbsp baking soda dissolved in a cup of warm water in a spray bottle
- switched from conditioner to a rinse of 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar mixed with a cup of cool water in a spray bottle. (i have also added various things to it: lavender essential oil, sage essential oil, rosemary essential oil, nasturtium flower essence, a cinnamon stick, two cloves, a cardamom pod. may try out more things later.)
- switched from face wash to a 50/50 mix of apple cider vinegar and water.
- switched from disposable products to the diva cup
- switched from only toilet paper to an option of or cloth baby wipes or toilet paper (for the more serious matters)
- switched from clay-based (strip-mined) scoopable litter to compostable pine-based scoopable litter
- homemade deodorant
- hand washing clothes with the rapid washer
my next experiment in alternative means.
i would like to create a system for waking up in the morning without an alarm clock. i am basing my ideas off my experiences when camping (you know, where when you sleep in a tent outside you automatically wake up when the sun rises). i think i would call it dawn or something else less a little less flowery. this would all have to be rigged up on a timer so that it would automatically begin the sequence at the time you select.
components:
- some sort of music player would start some track of cricket noises, and some birds waking up and talking to one another
- a series of lights suspended in a line above my bed that would fade on in succession, simulating the sun rising
- thermostat settings that warmed up the room at the time to wake up
