If everybody turned off the engine while waiting at a red light

[Goosemaster]

Originally posted by: HomeAppraiser
I shut it off at railroad crossings. We have some trains that last longer than Freebird and Stairway back to back.

jeeeeze man..that must be awful (assuming that you forget your 8-tracks when the rid lights of thunder come down like a hammer

 

[nutxo]

wanna save fuel?

Build expressways

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Originally posted by: George P Burdell
Do you think it would a negligible number, or a lot?

The total number would be big, but in reality, you'd save about $0.01 a week on gas.

 

[IHateMyJob2004]

Oh, and the only thing that will solve the world energy "problem" is hte goverment mandating new energy technologies. Mandate that no new coal burning plant be built unless replacing an outdated one (and the new has to be "green") and invest in solar tech and wind power .... that's the solution. This hybrid crap has to stop.

 

[mobobuff]

It would play hell on your ignition, and you'd be late unless you leave 10 minutes earlier, a string of 20 cars behind a red light all having to turn their cars back on and put it into drive and take off? Also harder on the battery.

 

[iamaelephant]

Originally posted by: HomeAppraiser
I shut it off at railroad crossings. We have some trains that last longer than Freebird and Stairway back to back.

These are the standards for measuring elapsed time these days.

 

[Mrvile]

Originally posted by: Jawo

Originally posted by: johnnq1
you would definitely save money...if turning your car off and risking getting pulled over by the cops is worth it to you, nobody is stopping you.

Yea...I'm pretty sure that it's illegal to shut off your car at a red light. But I did read a "Maxmize your fuel economy" article where this was one of the tips :Q

Talk about stupid advice!

 

[JC86]

Originally posted by: suicidalpigeon

Originally posted by: Flammable
dont cars in japan have this feature or something around it?

You're probably thinking about hybrid cars switching to the electric engine when at a standstill.

exactly . . . i drive a prius . . . i forget the exact amount . . . but a significant % of the fuel savings is the fact that the engine isn't on when the car is idle.

 

[PhattyB]

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
Oh, and the only thing that will solve the world energy "problem" is hte goverment mandating new energy technologies. Mandate that no new coal burning plant be built unless replacing an outdated one (and the new has to be "green") and invest in solar tech and wind power .... that's the solution. This hybrid crap has to stop.

or what about Ethanol? We're paying farmers NOT to grow crops.. why not make them grow corn for fuel. Renewable and mostly clean..

or Hydrogen.. the exhaust is water!

The auto manufacturers will not change until absolutely made to do so by the government or extreme oil shortage. In the case of the latter, it could be an economy crippling blow if all the gasoline transportation needs replaced immediately without being properly phased out.

 

[Shame]

The savings would be offset by the gas used to fuel the tow trucks towing away all those GM cars that couldn't get restarted.

 

[MrPickins]

Originally posted by: PhattyB

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
Oh, and the only thing that will solve the world energy "problem" is hte goverment mandating new energy technologies. Mandate that no new coal burning plant be built unless replacing an outdated one (and the new has to be "green") and invest in solar tech and wind power .... that's the solution. This hybrid crap has to stop.

or what about Ethanol? We're paying farmers NOT to grow crops.. why not make them grow corn for fuel. Renewable and mostly clean..

or Hydrogen.. the exhaust is water!

The auto manufacturers will not change until absolutely made to do so by the government or extreme oil shortage. In the case of the latter, it could be an economy crippling blow if all the gasoline transportation needs replaced immediately without being properly phased out.

Ethanol takes more energy to make than you get from burning it, and Hydrogen has similar problems, added to the lack of infrastructure...

 

[RelaxTheMind]

I turn my car off at bridge openings and train tracks (w/train). My 07 mazda3 already has double the gas mileage compared to my 90 camaro (which I would not turn off)

 

[wetcat007]

Originally posted by: PhattyB

Originally posted by: IHateMyJob2004
Oh, and the only thing that will solve the world energy "problem" is hte goverment mandating new energy technologies. Mandate that no new coal burning plant be built unless replacing an outdated one (and the new has to be "green") and invest in solar tech and wind power .... that's the solution. This hybrid crap has to stop.

or what about Ethanol? We're paying farmers NOT to grow crops.. why not make them grow corn for fuel. Renewable and mostly clean..

or Hydrogen.. the exhaust is water!

The auto manufacturers will not change until absolutely made to do so by the government or extreme oil shortage. In the case of the latter, it could be an economy crippling blow if all the gasoline transportation needs replaced immediately without being properly phased out.

Ethanol could only be a crutch because we could never produce enough to power all vehicles, however hydrogen would be plausible, granted we had a way to generate the power requirements for separating hydrogen and oxygen. IMO electric cars are going going to be the way of the future, after all they already have a method of distribution available. Electric engines can perform as well as gas engines easily, the only problem is storing the power, and there's been quite a few recent changes on that. The great thing about using electricity is, is as cleaner ways of generating power come about, no one has to change car engines, the cars just take the electricity and power plants are modified or rebuilt. Besides the fact that since a lot of the car already depends on electricity there'd be no need to have electric power and a gas powered engine to charge a battery for the electric system. Hmm this is really long, I'm not rereading what I wrote so I hope it makes sense

 

[Amused]

Millions of gallons would be wasted... Spilled on the road after impatient motorists pump countless rounds of ammunition into cars holding up traffic.

Not to mention hundreds of lives lost... many of them children.

Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Originally posted by: Amused
Millions of gallons would be wasted... Spilled on the road after impatient motorists pump countless rounds of ammunition into cars holding up traffic.

Not to mention hundreds of lives lost... many of them children.

Won't somebody PLEASE think of the children?

Not to mention the paper wasted composing letters to your wife about how fat she's getting while waiting for the idiots in front of you to start their cars...

 

[FoBoT]

buy a Saturn "Green Line" hybrid , or at least test drive one

they do that! it is weird having your car 100% silent in traffic and then it starts right up when you take your foot off the brake to go

 

[BlancoNino]

I'd take it one step further. I say everyone should just turn off their car, put it in neutral, and then push their car when it's bumper to bumper traffic.

 

[FoBoT]

Originally posted by: George P Burdell
Do you think it would a negligible number, or a lot?

this car does that

http://www.saturn.com/saturn/vehicles/vue/greenLine.jsp

 

[Minerva]

Originally posted by: FoBoT
buy a Saturn "Green Line" hybrid , or at least test drive one

they do that! it is weird having your car 100% silent in traffic and then it starts right up when you take your foot off the brake to go

The Honda insight shuts off the engine when sitting too. Really weird and very smooth when it re-starts. Too bad the thing looks like a roller skate going down the road. :Q

 

[Modular]

Originally posted by: RelaxTheMind
I turn my car off at bridge openings and train tracks (w/train). My 07 mazda3 already has double the gas mileage compared to my 90 camaro (which I would not turn off)

Just gonna go out on a limb here and say that the reason you get double the gas mileage has nothing to do with turning off the engine at lights...


On topic: the #'s posted about start-up don't state whether or not the car is being "cold" started. At a cold start a car will use much more gas than during a warm or "hot" start.

Either way, shutting off the engine at lights ans such is really just creating unnecessary wear. Think about the abuse an engine goes through during almost any start-up. No oil pressure in the head...you are significantly lowering the life of your engine by shutting it off and starting it for red lights. I'll bet that the money you save in gas is not worth the replacement cost of rocker arms and cylinder honing.

 

[AstroDogg]

None it would waste more gas than being burnt up at idle. Not only that I'd shoot you in the back of the head for not moving when the light turned green. Got anymore stupid questions??

 

[B00ne]

Originally posted by: 2Xtreme21
Doesn't it use more gas to turn your car on?

Yeah right, that why all those gas saving cars (as well as newly anounced BMWs) have a start-stop automatic which turns off the engine automatically whenever you stop and restarts when you press the gas again