I saw 8 Geeky Ways to Save Gas and at the section “Use GPS or mapping tools” I read this:
“It may sound obvious, but think of how much gas you waste driving around when you’re lost or trying to find a parking garage. Map out your route in advance to devise the shortest route (rather than the fastest one), which can also put you on secondary roads where you’ll drive more slowly—another gas-saving benefit. Some GPS units also let you program them to pick routes that avoid toll roads, where you can burn gas idling in line.”(emphasis mine)
It doesn’t sound that obvious that taking the shortest route is more efficient than the fastest route. Apparently somebody else thinks the same with their patent “Method and system for calculating least-cost routes based on historical fuel efficiency, street mapping and location based services“:
“The system will determine the best of all calculated routes based on the vehicles estimated MPG, historical data and efficiency in traversing various terrains. In one example, a vehicle towing a heavy trailer would consume fewer MPG if it took a longer but more flat route while the same vehicle without the extra weight would achieve better MPG by going a shorter route over more hilly terrain. This method would produce the best MPG rating for a given trip. With this new system in place, the driver will be able to query a mapping software program product that is based on optimal gas mileage rather than on speed or distance alone.”
In fact even the article Sat-nav finds greenest routes in the Grauniad that “… taking more eco-friendly routes cut[s] motorists’ average fuel usage by 8.2%.“
“The most efficient roads are often those where you can drive at a fairly slow, constant speed, without having to stop or suddenly accelerate or decelerate,” Dr Ericsson told New Scientist magazine.
technorati tags: fuel, efficiency, gps, geolocation, science, environment, green
Tags: efficiency, environment, fuel, geolocation, gps, green, science
July 6, 2008 at 10:31 am |
Great Blog post. I am going to bookmark and read more often. I love the Blog template … if you need any assistance customizing it let me know!
July 8, 2008 at 4:12 pm |
My first reaction to the fastest or shortest question was “what’s the difference?” There is a lot to consider though now that I think about it. How many stop signs are there? How often will I have to accelerate? Is it mostly up hill or downhill? Thanks for the great, thought provoking post. Saving gas is important, and having the tools to do so is important as well.