Summer is fast approaching, and with it, higher prices at the pump. While it may make you feel better to drive to a neighboring town to secure cheaper gasoline, it’s almost always more expensive to make the trip. Here is the truth, the math, and some ideas for better ways to spend your money.
$4.00 per gallon seems like a princely sum to pay just for the ability to burn it all transporting yourself from one appointment to the next. So, naturally, $3.95 sounds a LOT better. But unless the nickel-cheaper gas is selling at the filling station immediately next door to the more expensive stuff, you’re better off completely ignoring the cost and just filling up at whichever station is nearest to you. Why?
Let’s use some average numbers for cars. Your vehicle will differ, but this will give an idea as to how the numbers work out when bargain shopping for gasoline. For our example, we’ll use a vehicle with a 15-gallon gas tank. The average combined fuel economy of the car is 25mpg. The service station with the $4.00 gas is next door to our home, but the discount fuel is 5 miles away.
1. Price Only
Gasoline prices seem to bewitch people. You’d never drive a 10-mile round-trip to save $0.75 on a $60 item, but when you drive five miles each way to save a nickel per gallon on a fill-up, that’s exactly what you’re doing. Consider: A full, 15-gal. tank of fuel at $4.00/gal. costs $60.00. A full, 15-gal. tank of fuel at $3.95/gal. costs $59.25. Savings = $0.75. What if you only have a 10 gal. tank? You’ll pay $40 and $39.50 respectively, for a full tank. $0.50 is not much savings!
2. Mileage Matters
If it feels better to get the lower price, and you think the $0.75 is worth the trip, you still lose. You’ll travel 10 miles to get the cheap gas, but you’ll burn more fuel driving there and back than you’ll be able to buy with the money you save. At 25mpg, and assuming you leave your driveway and make the round-trip with no traffic and under optimal conditions, you’ll use 0.4 gal. of gas. At the discounted rate of $3.95, you’ll have to pay $1.58 to buy the 0.4 gal. you’ll use to drive to and from the station. Remember, this trip was undertaken to realize a $0.75 total savings. But instead, you’ve now lost $0.83. Would you drive across town to deliberately spend $0.83 more on a $60 purchase?
3. Higher Prices = Less Reason to Travel for a Deal
Every time the cost of fuel goes up, the cost per mile traveled goes up with it. And it consequently makes even less sense to drive out of your way to save a few cents. At $4.50 and $4.45 per gallon at our dueling stations, you’ll still only be traveling for a $0.75 total discount, but now it cost you $1.78 to make the 10-mile trip. Now you’ve spent $1.03 more than you would have if you just bought the $4.50 gas.
4. What about a HUGE Sale?
In the above example, the nearby station offered $4.50 gas. What if the 5-mile-away station had a HUGE sale resulting in $4.25 gas? You’ll spend $67.50 and $63.75 respectively to fill up, resulting in a savings of $3.75. But, you’ll spend $1.70 in extra fuel costs for the privilege. The total savings on filling your tank = $2.05… about a 3% savings. If you were buying any other item in the $60 price range, would a 3% discount entice you to drive across town? Chances are you’d laugh if you saw an advertisement for a HUGE 3%-off sale.
5. Time is Money
We haven’t accounted for your time in these examples, but you can safely assume that the 10-mile round trip (driving time only, unimpeded, at 55mph) will add a bare minimum of 10.9 minutes to your fueling experience. If you make minimum wage ($7.25/ hr), that 10.9 minutes of your time is worth $1.32. Now, even the HUGE sale example is only worth $0.73 in savings. You get the idea – it’s no deal to travel for gas savings!
6. Do This Instead
In lieu of the cross-town fill-up trip, spend a few minutes making sure your car is ready for the summer. Check the air pressure in your tires, test the battery charge, make sure all exterior lights are functioning and swap out your windshield wiper blades. That will take you about the same 10.9 minutes you formerly spent driving around looking for cheap gas, and is a much better way to spend your valuable time.
Showing posts with label energy. Show all posts
Showing posts with label energy. Show all posts
Friday, 20 April 2012
Tuesday, 21 February 2012
Great Sustainable Energy Sources for Your Home
You don’t just have to rely on Electricity and Gas to provide a steady stream of reliable energy to your home anymore.
With the advent and improved development of sustainable energy sources there are now ways in which you can generate electricity cheaply, and in some cases even sell surplus electricity back to the electricity suppliers.
Solar Panels
People tend to think you can only use solar panels if you live in a sunny climate but this isn’t necessarily true. Though more sun does subsequently produce more energy your solar panels will still absorb light during the day.
The great thing with solar panels is that the number of panels you have is only limited by the space you have and you don’t have to put them on your roof, although this does mean they are less likely to be shadowed by surrounding objects.
Solar panels produce enough energy to run many household items and many governments now have schemes in place which allow you to sell electricity back to the board for a reduced energy bill.
Wood Burners
Wood burners are great for heating a room or providing energy to heat your water or central heating systems.
They are sustainable as long as the wood you are burning is sourced locally, otherwise the carbon offset is negligible if you start buying wood that has been imported and transported to your location.
The cost of burning wood is much the same as gas, but wood is more sustainable as it can be replaced more quickly than gas sources can.
Wind Turbines
Wind turbines are a good source of energy for those living in relatively windy areas; however, they don’t require you to live in a hurricane zone to make best use of them.
Like solar panels the electricity they generate can be sold back to the electricity board for money off of your energy bill.
Rainwater Harvesting
Rainwater harvesting is a relatively new concept which allows you to collect rain water from your guttering and immediate vicinity of your house. It then stores this water and uses it for activities such as laundry and flushing the toilet.
The rainwater can also be used for irrigation systems and feeding animals.
In some cases it has been used for human drinking water but this not advised (unless it’s an emergency) due to water sanitation requirements.
Whether you want to find a system to reduce your energy bills or do your bit for the world, choosing one of the above systems is now cheaper and easier to do than ever has been.
Solar panels are a great way to create clean energy for your home or business.
With the advent and improved development of sustainable energy sources there are now ways in which you can generate electricity cheaply, and in some cases even sell surplus electricity back to the electricity suppliers.
Solar Panels
People tend to think you can only use solar panels if you live in a sunny climate but this isn’t necessarily true. Though more sun does subsequently produce more energy your solar panels will still absorb light during the day.
The great thing with solar panels is that the number of panels you have is only limited by the space you have and you don’t have to put them on your roof, although this does mean they are less likely to be shadowed by surrounding objects.
Solar panels produce enough energy to run many household items and many governments now have schemes in place which allow you to sell electricity back to the board for a reduced energy bill.
Wood Burners
Wood burners are great for heating a room or providing energy to heat your water or central heating systems.
They are sustainable as long as the wood you are burning is sourced locally, otherwise the carbon offset is negligible if you start buying wood that has been imported and transported to your location.
The cost of burning wood is much the same as gas, but wood is more sustainable as it can be replaced more quickly than gas sources can.
Wind Turbines
Wind turbines are a good source of energy for those living in relatively windy areas; however, they don’t require you to live in a hurricane zone to make best use of them.
Like solar panels the electricity they generate can be sold back to the electricity board for money off of your energy bill.
Rainwater Harvesting
Rainwater harvesting is a relatively new concept which allows you to collect rain water from your guttering and immediate vicinity of your house. It then stores this water and uses it for activities such as laundry and flushing the toilet.
The rainwater can also be used for irrigation systems and feeding animals.
In some cases it has been used for human drinking water but this not advised (unless it’s an emergency) due to water sanitation requirements.
Whether you want to find a system to reduce your energy bills or do your bit for the world, choosing one of the above systems is now cheaper and easier to do than ever has been.
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