Driving back to Ohio from Eastern Pennsylvania last week end I noted that I was passing very few cars. I had my cruise control set at about 67mph. I would guess that the average speed was around 80-85 mph of most of the cars that were passing me.
There are a lot of people who believe in global warming today - quite frankly I do not. However, I am in favor of reducing pollution as sinus and breathing problems have plagued my family for a long time; and it is on the increase nationally over the years. So I don't bad mouth Mr. Gore for wanting to clean up the environment - it is a legitimate cause.
The carbon emission problem and conservation of fuel could greatly be improved if people would just adjust their driving habits. About 60% of the fuel consumed goes toward pushing air around the car. This drag increases as the square of the velocity. In other words - if you double your speed the drag increases four times requiring four times as much energy.
If your car gets 30 mpg at 55 mph this will drop to about 20 mpg at 80 mph. If you look at the graph on this site you will see that the optimum speed is about 55 mph. There is just a little increase in efficiency from 30 mph to 55 mph. If you simply slow down you can save a significant amount of fuel and the resulting pollution.
http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/driveHabits.shtml
This site and others give a lot of info on saving fuel. This is something everybody can learn; and collectively we could all make a major contribution to the pollution problem in a years time.
And you can do all this without spending a dime. Do you think that people really care about the environment - Or is it just a political movement and all talk?
Larry II