{"id":9167,"date":"2008-04-23T16:42:22","date_gmt":"2008-04-23T21:42:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/04\/23\/post-earth-day-pledge-speed-limits"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:29","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:29","slug":"post-earth-day-pledge-speed-limits-and-efficient-driving","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2008\/04\/23\/post-earth-day-pledge-speed-limits-and-efficient-driving\/","title":{"rendered":"post-earth-day pledge: speed limits and efficient driving"},"content":{"rendered":"
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<\/a> I<\/em><\/strong>t’s Earth Day Plus One<\/em>: Now it’s time to see whether we really want to make a difference — by changing our habits in a meaningful way, despite the inconvenience.<\/p>\n

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Earth Day \u2013
\nrecycled bottles
\nin a three-car garage<\/p>\n

… by dagosan<\/em> [April 24, 2005]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/blockquote>\n

<\/font> <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font>If <\/em><\/strong>politicians and the public were serious about achieving fuel economy — in order to save money and<\/em> save Earth from greenhouse gases — they would start enforcing our speed limit laws and rollback the highway speed limit to 55 mph. [followup<\/em><\/strong> (July 4, 2008): see our post “speed limit politics<\/a>“]<\/p>\n

Fuel economy decreases rapidly above 60 mph, according to the FTC<\/a>. And, as we reported<\/a> on May 2, 2005, “driving at 10 miles an hour above the 65 miles-per-hour increases fuel consumption by 15 percent.” (See NYT, \u201cUnmentioned Energy Fix: A 55 M.P.H. Speed Limit<\/a>,\u201d May 1, 2005) <\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/font><\/p>\n

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supplemental update<\/strong><\/em> (April 24, 2008): Eartheasy.com<\/em>‘s Fuel-Efficient Driving<\/a> page tells us that “The keys to climate control are in your hands.” It states:<\/p>\n

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You can boost the overall fuel-efficiency of your car as much as 30% by simple vehicle maintenance and attention to your style of driving. Here are some tips on fuel-efficient driving that will not only reduce greenhouse gas emissions and other pollutants, but could save you hundreds of dollars a year in fuel costs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The Eartheasy<\/em> piece succinctly summarizes this EPA fuel efficiency graph:<\/p>\n

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Drive steadily at posted speed limits<\/strong>. Increasing your highway cruising speed from 55mph (90km\/h) to 75mph (120km\/h) can raise fuel consumption as much as 20%. You can improve your gas mileage 10 – 15% by driving at 55mph rather than 65mph (104km\/h). Note how quickly efficiency drops after 60 mph.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

You can find more detailed and technical information at How Stuff Works.com<\/em>. Its article “What speed should I drive to get maximum fuel efficiency?<\/a>” states, for example, that:<\/p>\n