I love the message. What a simple thing to do and considering the cost of a speeding ticket, rise in insurance rates, and living in a no-fault state, I will keep the planet in mind, and the police off my back! Now if I can only convince my husband!

I simple, straightforward idea that would cost virtually nothing to implement. Bravo!
~~Peter

This video is truly elegant--it saves time and space in the manner it asks us to save gas. The video seems to smoothly and professionally get its message across. It is extremely clever, but in a consciously simple way!

Yes, I try to accelerate slowly, and never use my brakes. Braking is a pure waste of energy (unless you have regenerative braking in an electric car. When I get to the top of the Sepulveda Pass, I get going 65+ and then put the car in neutral and see how many miles I can go, nearly for free, at 99+ MPG!

And who wouldn't want to take their time, on a nice drive with Rachel J.... esp. if the hot date is being nar(R)-rated by Gregory Wright!

Nice tone, to the point, easy to view. Nice Job... Thanks!

Great video! Succinct, illustrative and well concieved. We need to post it everywhere.

Greg and Nick

Job well done! I like the message. When the hybrid cars are mass produced and are cost effective for consumers, and new legislation is made to penalize the large polluters, then we'll see a major difference in CO2 reduction.

Still an effective and simple message to everyone, especially in LA.

Keep up the good work.

Romulus

wonderful idea, i had no idea...whose the driver? she's a wonderful actress, so convincing

I am definitely with you on saving fuel and agree with 99% of what you said. However, the very title "light on the pedal" can be misleading. I recently got my highest mpg reading in a test by accelerating full throttle in the highest gear, and science and physics support that result.

Look at #6
http://www.motortrend.com/features/consumer/112_0609_ten_tips_for_fuel_temperance

There are other mechanical engineering sites on the web you can research showing being easy on the gas pedal can actually waste a lot of fuel.

Many people confuse pressing on the gas with low efficiency when in fact it's the exact opposite. The motor is choking for air when you are "light on the pedal" exactly like it is with a completely clogged air filter, and therefore incredibly inefficient.

People are also misconstrued to think pressing on the gas leads to poor mpg because we hear that aggressive driving wastes energy. True, but only the braking part! People who accelerate fast are also more likely to brake hard and throw all that momentum away, so we mistakenly relate the two. And understandably, because those drivers are at the pump more often, and so we blame everything we see them do.

Also driving at high speed wastes a lot of gas and people know to drive at faster speeds you have to press on the gas more, but that is air friction = K(1/2)V^2 showing that the key factor is the square of the velocity. So again this makes people think that pressing on the gas or accelerating is bad. Not true! In fact it is good for mpg.

But the key is to keep the RPM's between 1,000 and 2,500 and shift early. For instance when going up a hill to get better fuel economy, press the gas to the floor in top gear. You will have the lowest fuel consumption. If you have an automatic, you have to lift on the pedal brefly to trick the transmission to upshift then press on the gas but not all the way, or your transmission, which is not designed for efficiency, will just downshift again wasting fuel.

I know it's complicated, but maybe someone will make a video explaning it called "Step on it to save the planet" I know it's counter intuitive, but it's true, and if you do a fuel economy test, you'll see the results.

Good job with the video though.

The writer of 'Light on the Pedal, Light on the Planet' thanks Terry for his detailed analysis of the relationship between driving style and fuel use/carbon emissions.

"Light on the Pedal" is a light-hearted term for the whole panoply of fuel-efficient driving practices that, as a whole, increase fuel efficiency and decrease greenhouse gas emissions --
including many of the "ten tips for fuel temperance" on the Motor Trend webpage he cites, including:

1. Speed Kills (Economy).
Wind drag increases with the square of speed at a cost of about 10 percent in economy for every five mph over 60 mph. At $3/gallon, plan on spending $10 to $30/hour for the time you save by speeding.

5. Drive Smarter, Not Harder.
....find the sweet speed at which you can make all the green lights on frequently traveled routes.

10. Cruise More.
Unless your foot is uncommonly steady, running cruise control can eliminate consumptive slowing and accelerating when driving in the flatlands. In the hills, you're better advised to let the car slow down a bit uphill and regain speed on downhills.

As for
6. Floor It to Save Gas.
Cracking the throttle wide open reduces pumping losses and improves efficiency, but only at low revs (2000 and below), which means this works only on manual-transmission cars or manumatics that won't downshift. It also won't work on turbocharged or supercharged engines. But for all the others, using full throttle and shifting early (so you're not accelerating any harder) is the smart bet:

Until I went car-free and carbon-less last year, I drove a manual 'stick shift' (a Chevette-like Pontiac 1000) in which I intuitively shifted early and then got up to BUT NOT OVER the speed limit on the surface streets and freeways of Los Angeles. I also learned to get up to a full 58-to-60 mph at the bottom of the nearby long uphill freeway grade -- where we taped the uphill scene -- then drop back to 55, then 50 mph as I neared the top... and the backed-up traffic that almost always lies over the crest of that hill!

In other words, "light" driving with 'CO2sciousness' (and money-saving and auto safety) always in mind.

A CO2scious colleague is preparing to form the Mile-A-Minute Association (MAMA) to promote 60-mph cruise-controlled, courteous, CO2scious driving. Google Mile-A-Minute Association later in '07 to find us and join!

Greg Wright, greg@newciv.org

Greg, well said. And you are absolutely right. And since all of us are trying to give people information they can use to reduce their carbon emissions, I felt it would be a good time to share a piece of information that most people would find interesting to know.

In a nutshell for those who don't understand how to practically apply this: If you have a transmission you can control, if you need "X" amount of power for driving on the highway, going up a hill, etc... it is more efficient for the engine to make that power with the gas pedal pressed 90% of the way in 5th gear than it is to press the gas 10% of the way in 3rd gear, because pressing on the gas helps reduce the cyclic pumping losses. So when going up that hill, be more afraid of downshifting, than you are of pressing the gas. And for you automatic transmission owners, it is best for you just slow down a little, if you think your transmission is about to shift into "high CO2" production gear.

Since we have lots of concerned drivers who wish to leave the smallest carbon footprint reading this discussion, I thought many would also appreciate knowing just how much speed hurts fuel economy, which fits perfectly with your message.

http://metrompg.com/posts/speed-vs-mpg.htm

Notice in a regular car, a 1998 Pontiac it is possible to get over 80 mpg at 35 mph, and the Prius close to 100 mpg at 31 mph.

The sad part is knowing that most cars on the road could get over 70 mpg right now, and that we're in such a hurry that we'll all settle for less than half.

I want to thank Greg, and the others for creating a great tool to help drivers become more CO2scious.

Great message, cheesy video. The dialog was very stiff and the music reminded me of a bad driver's ed video. All that aside, great tips that will stick next time you hop in your car. Better yet, take your bike or walk instead!

nice video, simple, succinct, clear about the message. Good reminder to drive steady.. as said above it's not so much the speed as it is irregular driving that causes inefficiency in gasoline usage.

Good job, guys!!!Keep up the good work

Hopefully people will try driving UNDER the speed limit, not AT it :-)

Did you know that the government pick the speed limits by taking the average top speed of traffic on that road and using that as the top speed limit for the road, rather than predicting what the safest top speed would be? It's bizarre. The best way to keep the world healthy is to drive slowly enough so that you can easily stop to avoid hitting someone - be they human, canine, bovine, or robot!