Gas Pumping and the Impact of 1 Degree
At Laborfair, we're all about frugal. In a recession who isn't? Unlike other online services that promise "rated" providers and charge a fee, Laborfair is completely free of charge to search, find, and contact quality, reliable help easily and safely--cost savings we hope you pass on to the provider you hire. You can be thrifty and still get the help you need while paying someone a fair and living wage for their work. Cool. Goodbye Do It Yourself, Hello, Do It For Me.
This month I've noticed more and more online content devoted to helping us manage what TV and radio commentators and just about everyone you know are calling, a recession. Move over "reduce, reuse, recycle", enter the single buzz saw of a word "economize". I've seen literally hundreds of articles popping up from every corner with one central theme, cinch in the belt, times are tough. Personally, I believe a recessionary environment after this orgy of consumer spending and mortgage debacle is a good thing for the country. A cheaper dollar will help our exports, while encouraging the kind of innovation that forces our beloved US of A to be more competitive long term. Don't hate me for being honest--it's time to take our collective economic future and be wise with it.
So, with that in mind, I am always looking for ways to save money and other resources by educating myself around efficiency. Hiring all help on Laborfair is one, who can argue with local people to people hiring and the cost savings therein?
Here's a few links from this week that I like in particular.....Home Renovations that Pay Off and my personal favorite...
When I go to the gas station I get mad, visibly and physically full of rancor. My ears start to burn when I look at the price per gallon running up like a flag on a pole. I feel angry--at the war(s) we're engaged in and this purposeless loss of life, at this stupid, short-sighted and ignorant President, at our collective inability to bypass the car lobbies and get afffordable US made electric, ethanol, or fuel cell cars into the mainstream. I start feeling fanatical....then I remember Gandhi's "be the change" and take a deep breath, in and out, and send peace into the world while I think about how to save money on gas.
Check out these tips on saving gas excerpted into an email and sent to me by my sister, Hazel. Hazel is a woman hellbent on walking everywhere possible rather than pay an oil company from the Middle East one cent more than she has to-- crazy bit of research but I found it useful.
Only buy or fill up your car or
truck in the early morning when the ground temperature is still cold. Remember
that all service stations have their storage tanks buried below ground. The
colder the ground the more dense the gasoline, when it gets warmer gasoline
expands, so buying in the afternoon or in the evening....your gallon is not
exactly a gallon.In the petroleum business, the specific gravity and the
temperature of the gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, ethanol and other petroleum
products plays an important role.
A 1-degree rise in temperature is a big
deal for this business. But the service stations do not have temperature
compensation at the pumps.
When you're filling up do not squeeze the
trigger of the nozzle to a fast mode. If you look you will see that the trigger
has three (3 )stages: low, middle, and high. In slow mode you should be pumping
on low speed, thereby minimizing the vapors that are created while you are
pumping. All hoses at the pump have a vapor return. If you are pumping on the
fast rate, some other liquid that goes to your tank becomes vapor. Those vapors
are being sucked up and back into the underground storage tank so you're getting
less worth for your money.
One of the most important tips
is to fill up when your gas tank is HALF FULL or HALF EMPTY.The reason for this
is, the more gas you have in your tank the less air occupying its empty space.
Gasoline evaporates faster than you can imagine. Gasoline storage tanks have an
internal floating roof. This r oof serves as zero clearance between the gas and
the atmosphere, so it minimizes the evaporation. Unlike service stations, here
where I work, every truck that we load is temperature compensated so that every
gallon is actually the exact amount.
Another reminder, if there is a
gasoline truck pumping into the storage tanks when you stop to buy gas, DO NOT
fill up--most likely the gasoline is being stirred up as thegas is being
delivered, and you might pick up some f the dirt that normally settles on the
bottom. Hope this will help you get the most value for your money.
My lease on my Mini Cooper is up next month. I'm thinking of moving to an electric bicycle. I live in San Francisco, with all those hills, after all. Phew.
Cheers,
Jenna
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