MYTH OR FACT
I had been told that by driving at 90 km per hour instead of 100 (or more) you could reduce your emmissions by 20%.
Is this really true??.... a planned trip to Mudgee and back gave me a chance to test it for myself.....
On our trip across to Mudgee we were running late and possibly speeding a little to make sure we got to our appointment on time. This was a very different trip to the quiet trip home at 90 km maximum the next day. I wasn't really sure what results I would find as it was only a 200 km trip each way and surely the difference would not be much? But it was worth a try.
The results were staggering...... we used 25% less fuel on the way back! That is we made a fuel saving of 2.42 litres per 100 km by driving at maximum of 90 km an hour. I forgot to take note of how much time it added to the trip - but it probably added about 20 minutes to the nearly 200 km trip - not much difference really. It also brings our Subaru Forester down into a more fuel efficient bracket - from 9.3 litres per 100 km to 6.8 litres per 100 km. I am yet to do the same calculations with our smaller more effecient Toyota Corolla.
So if you travelled like this all the time, and you did on average 15,000 a year, you save 363 litres of fuel a year, and over $450 a year in fuel costs (based on $1.29 per litre), and 835 kg of CO2 emissions (as per the Australian Governments Greenhouse Gas Emissions Calculator).
I will be trying to stick to this 90 km an hour maximum from now on... I may have to be more organised and get away a little earlier for each trip...
While in Mudgee I took the chance to visit the op shop and found a few bargains.... some work shirts for Dad, a skirt for our newly born neice, a toy kiwi, and a warm winter coat and new doona cover for our littlest - all for just over $20 - wasn't that fun.
Since starting the blog I am finding that I have more excuses to go op shop hunting.... its fun and the kids are getting very good at spotting bargains....
We also stopped at the Mudgee Honey Haven and picked up some bees wax, raw honey and honey mead.
Thanks for testing that theory :-)
ReplyDeleteI'm honestly a little surprised by the difference. I'll definately slow down a little from now on.
That Honey Mead looks lovely!! Its on my 'to make' list at the moment.
would be nice to have fresh honey... like you get from your Dad now.... we are like a few of the others... in that we have bee sting allergies so we will never be comfortable with a hive in our back yard... so I have chosen to educate the kids as much as I can as to where honey comes from... our littlest now says that we "steal" honey from the bees... a good understanding I think..
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