Energy Hogs

[dashx]

Home Depot, Rona, Walmart (and even Loblaws superstores) carry direct replacement LED bulbs for the home. You can do an internet search and find them on line as well for other applications.

Here is just one website:

http://www.ledlightscanada.com/index.ph ... ducts.html

Home Depot:

http://www.homedepot.ca/catalog/lightbu ... yCount%7C1

Walmart in Canada has LED's. I was not able to find them in the US (while on holidays). And they are the cheapest.

I have both the warm light and cool light bulbs installed. The preference seems to be the cool light bulbs.

Hope that helps.

[Beefitarian]

Maybe it's a YYC thing CFLs are every where but I have only seen the LEDs at superstore and lowes they were the colored ones.

I might scope home depot I don't go there much.

[ahramin]

I'll second not coasting with an automatic transmission. And turning your engine off at red lights can be a very bad idea if the engine is hot.

[rigpiggy]

I'll second not coasting with an automatic transmission. And turning your engine off at red lights can be a very bad idea if the engine is hot.

not an automatic, and my fan will come on automatically, if it does I turn it back on for pumping the coolant

[dashx]

So what kind of an improvement have you seen with shutting off the engine? 5%? 10%?

Toyota Prius economy numbers 4.6 L/100km City (51 mpg US gallon) and 4.9 L/100km Hwy (48 mpg)

So an improvement of 6% in the city as opposed to the highway. Or at least the way my math sees it.

Do you observe the speed limits? Accel. smoothly away from stop signs/lights and take your foot off the gas pedal when approaching stop signs/lights? Oh yes you shut off the motor......

Or better yet do you match your speed to the green lights?

Use high mileage tires (130K or better) for lower rolling resistance? And inflate the tires to higher than recommended (see Mythbusters episode for this one)?

Do you plan your drive to minimize the number of stops/stop lights?

And when you go to work do you plan your time to avoid rush hour? Ditto for shopping trips...

And the variables that affect your economy can go on....and on....

I , personally, have never had an issue coasting in neutral with an automatic or having it overheat by shutting it down in traffic.

And my biggest contributing factor has been speed. Just by observing the speed limit (or by going less) I can see an improvement of 10% or better.

You're not really a proud cheap bastard until people pass you on the highway and give you the finger or tailgate you and flash their lights/honk their horns.....

Being a cheap bastard takes a great deal of willpower and self discpline.

Now I worked with a pilot (well more than one) with a lot of willpower and self discipline...........

[ahramin]

And my biggest contributing factor has been speed. Just by observing the speed limit (or by going less) I can see an improvement of 10% or better.

This is the biggest factor out there and a totally ignored one. Everywhere I see people bitching about the price of gas, and then screaming out of the gas station to do 120 on the highway. At 100 km/h my Caddy does 30 mpg. At 140 it does 18 mpg. That's a fuel consumption increase of over 50%, and that's with a car that has an engine designed for high speed, not some Yaris turning 3500 rpm. I do between 80 and 100 km/h on the highway.

Gas is already over 2$ a litre in England. If it can be that much over there, it can be that much here. When it hits that price here, are people going to start slowing down? At what point are driving habits going to change?

[Beefitarian]

I'll try to replace my CFLs with LEDs but.

I can't drive 55!

[. ._]

Gas is already over 2$ a litre in England. If it can be that much over there, it can be that much here. When it hits that price here, are people going to start slowing down? At what point are driving habits going to change?

I don't think the driving habits are going to change here much. I think people will get their big trucks still and keep paying. They'll get more and more into debt, then wake up one day when the bank is taking their house and say, "How did this happen? It must have been because the taxes are too high, not because I chose to make $700/mo. truck payments on a pig that gets 15mpg and I moved to a house where it takes me an hour to get to work."

My anti-consumerism $0.02.

-istp

[System Message]

The automatic transmission can waste a considerable amount of fuel by turning it into heat which ironically is used to destroy hard to repair automatic transmissions.
Model Price (as tested) Fuel economy
(overall mpg) Acceleration, sec.
(0-60 mph)
Manual Automatic Manual Automatic Manual Automatic
Ford Focus SES $17,440 $18,490 29 26 9 10.1
Honda Civic EX 20,165 20,965 31 28 8.6 10.1
Mazda2 Sport/
Touring 14,770 17,075 33 30 10.3 11.1
Mazda 3 i Touring 18,170 19,070 30 28 8.6 9.4
Mini Cooper/
Clubman 21,700 24,700 33 29 9.1 10.5
Scion xD 15,820 16,620 34 29 9 9.7
Subaru Forester
2.5X/Premium 20,972 25,720 24 22 9.1 10.2

[ahramin]

System if I wanted to row a boat, I'd buy a rowboat.

[System Message]

Really, in a vehicle with an automatic transmission I hate not being able to put the throttle where I need it because it would trigger an unwanted shift, or not slowing down when I lift off the throttle because of the overrunning sprag clutch limiting engine braking, or the maintenance.
Automatics are optimized for full throttle shifts which means race cars and bulldozers.

[iflyforpie]

Really, in a vehicle with an automatic transmission I hate not being able to put the throttle where I need it because it would trigger an unwanted shift, or not slowing down when I lift off the throttle because of the overrunning sprag clutch limiting engine braking, or the maintenance.
Automatics are optimized for full throttle shifts which means race cars and bulldozers.

The only vehicles I've seen with an 'overrunning sprag clutch' are bicycles and helicopters. I've always used engine braking in automatic transmissions. If I didn't turn off the overdrive in the mountain passes, I wouldn't have brakes by the end of the trip.

Lots of 'unwanted shifts' aren't shifts at all. The first one is usually the locking torque converter (locking which gets rid of the thermal waste traditional slush boxes have) and letting your engine spin faster. More RPM means more power. Once you learn an automatic's patterns it isn't too hard getting what you want out of it.

Not all slushboxes are created equal though. Mercedes wanted their cars to feel like jets, so unless you are looking at the tach you don't even know they are shifting. My old '85 Volvo put many brand new econo cars to shame with its transmission.

And yes, it is all in how you drive. If you are a time-poor lead foot Prius driver, just watch this and see what you could be driving on less gas...

[dashx]

there you go.

You all realize the technology of automatic transmissions has gone far and beyond that of manual transmissions?

That we now have 7 (at least I think its 7) or 8 speed auto transmissions out there.

And if you check the economy fiigures the manufactures have geared their auto transmissions for better economy than manual.

And BMW did a performance test where the auto tranny car beat out the manual tranny (damn those computers no wait bless them)

Now what is FADEC for? Oh yes prevent pilots from making mistakes......

If an auto transmission fails on you I'll bet it's because you didn't do the basic maintenance (you know change the fluid and filter).

Of course I just may have been lucky (but then again my diesel never did what it was supposed to do)

[System Message]

[quote="dashx"][

You all realize the technology of automatic transmissions has gone far and beyond that of manual transmissions?



No it has not. They now have computer controlled dual clutch transmissions which use an electronic throttle to rev match the gears. The trouble is that it is still a sequential shift pattern which gives up the ability to skip gears. It also gives up the simplicity and reliability of a regular manual gearbox.

[dashx]

No it has not. They now have computer controlled dual clutch transmissions which use an electronic throttle to rev match the gears. The trouble is that it is still a sequential shift pattern which gives up the ability to skip gears. It also gives up the simplicity and reliability of a regular manual gearbox.

I would say the use of computers to control the clutch and change gears is a good use of technology to improve on an old idea. Isn't that what technology is supposed to do? Getting rid of the torque converter seems like an advance to me. Less weight and certainly less maintenance. Controlling the clutch (as you said rev match) would certainly prolong its useful life. Rebuild at a later date? well no point going down that road......

I hope you can still remember the days before syncromesh gears were introduced in manual transmissions. And what double clutching was used for (oh yes rev match the gear to the speed of the car). I can always listen to my father talk about his first car (early 60's model) and the purpose of double clutching. As a matter of fact i think there are still truckers out there that still do that (of course now we're talking more than 10 gears and it has been a while since I shifted gears in a truck). Syncromesh......now that was an advance in technology.

And skipping gears? I always had fun going from 1st to third in my Honda. or 3rd to 5th. And if you really check into it you will find that most of the new auto transmissions are programmed to skip a gear (or more) when the right conditions present themselves. Even start in 2nd (or 3rd) gear as opposed to 1st. And coupling ABS with computer controlled auto transmissions .....well you get the idea.

Care to show me how you want to couple the standard transmission to the ABS (or stability control) systems?

Manual transmissions require a certain amount of skill, knowledge and concentration. And we all know how skilled, understanding, and concentrated drivers are out on the roads these days.......

And BTW there is nothing simple about designing a compact manual transmission for the smaller cars these days.

And if you compare the old auto transmissions and new you would see that the new ones have decreased in size. And the maintenance has improved as well by locating key (solenoids and control units) elements externally. Actually my car's auto transmission has the pan (or cover) on top and allows me to change the shift solenoids with remarkable ease. And parts are quite reasonable to acquire. Almost a do it your self project.....

And then there is the CVT (ha no gears). An old idea improved by technology. And with electric cars what transmission?

But I digress......

How long have LED's been around? The 60's? It took a while but technology finally worked out a few bugs.... Now it lights up my house (a few rooms anyway). Anyone out there using xenon, halogen, or incadescent flashlights? How much do you spend on batteries? LED flashlights? 3 for 10 bucks at Home depot? Even Maglite has gone to LED's (how many times I forgot to replace the spare bulb).

If you want to do some math here it is rigpiggy: Start by marking the date of installation on your light bulbs. This way when it does burn out you will know (roughly) how long its been working (yes yes if it used more often it will last less). When the bulb burns out replace it with a more efficcient one (since it will be used the same amount of time). And then wait. You will know the price of both the old and new. You will know how long the new more efficient one lasts and you can then decide if you saved anything. And if it is worthwhile to replace other bulbs with the more efficient one.

How about lowering the temperature on your hot water heater (don't tell her)? Even a few degrees lower might not be noticeable to her but it might be on your bill.

And the clothes dryer. You can buy a diverter for the exhaust. Hot air is not exhausted outside of the home. It just vents back into the house. Now mind you you would need a filter for the fine lint as well as some means to remove the moisture but......Crude (not that clean) but effective in the winter.

They do make air to air heat exchangers (just not for the dryer but the house).

http://www.venmar.ca/en/airexchangers.aspx

I had this installed in the house when it was being built (by the contractor). It vents all the bathrooms and the house too. Just timed switches at key locations (bathrooms, laundry room, master control panel). And you decide on the humidity level (did I mention I have no humidifier attached to the furnace system?).

If you want to think about the money you waste think about the bathroom vent and how much heat is lost venting just one bathroom.

You might be cheap but it takes money to save money.