For serving the purpose of introduction, let me tell you that this is a list of tips best for fuel conservation. I would like to suggest each and everyone here to pay a little attention towards fuel conservation in your daily life. If we do our part of duty rightly, much of the fuel issues get reduced. Why blame the government alone!
Cooking
1) Plan your cooking before turning on the stove. Keep everything required for that session of cooking, near the stove, so that there will be no idle flame in between. Put off an idle flame at once. Even a few paise saved everyday will amount to a sizeable saving by the end of a month.
2) Pressure cooker saves time and fuel. If you have got separators in your cooker, make use of it to cook rice, grams and vegetables with one cook. It saves fuel in a high scale with every meal you prepare.
3) Don’t pour more water in cooking for safety. Use only the needed level of water. Surplus water consumes additional fuel.
4) Reduce the flame to simmer position when the water starts boiling. The low flame is enough to keep it boiling and to cook the ingredients in it. If you don’t reduce the flame there will be wastage of fuel for every cooking.
5) It will be good if rice, grams, dal, peas and cereals are soaked in water for a good time. It will cooked fast with a fuel lesser than normal.
6) It is always good to use wide vessels which cover the flame without letting it spread to the sides. If you can see the flame on to the sides of the bottom of vessel, remember that you are wasting some amount of fuel with it. A bottom diameter of 25 cms will be ideal.
7) Whenever possible, cover the vessel with a lid while cooking. In an uncovered one, when the heat gets spread to the atmosphere, it results in wastage of heat and thereby wastage of fuel. Try to block the wind to the kitchen too by closing doors and windows if necessary, as it consumes excess fuel.
8) Prefer the small burner to the large one, as the small one consumes lesser fuel than the larger one. If you are not in a hurry to finish cooking fast, always turn on the small burner only. You may take more time with a small burner, but it reduce the wastage of fuel in a good percentage.
9) A bright, steady blue flame means efficient burning. If you see an orange, yellow on non-uniform flame, clean the burner or wick as the case may be. Keep the burner clean. It prevents fuel wastage.
10) Cooking vessels should always be scrubbed clean. Even a thin coating in the vessel will increase the fuel wastage by 10%.
11) Don’t cook the frozen food straight. Allow it to get defrosted- especially the frozen meat. Bring down every ingredient to the room temperature so that it cooks easily and with lesser fuel. It is always ideal to keep all kinds of frozen meat out for four hours, which helps in better health and better cooking.
12) Make one time meal for all the family members at a particular time, so that you don’t have to cook separately or to heat things with the time of every family member. Plan the meal timing for fuel conservation.
Driving
1) Tests on Indian cars prove that you can get up to 40 % extra mileage at 45-55 Km/H as against 80 Km/H. So drive between 45- 55 km/hr, whenever it is possible for you.
2) Avoid accelerating or decelerating unnecessarily. Whenever you can, stay away from taking sudden turns and stops, by anticipating one from a distance.
3) If your engine emits black smoke, has poor pulling power or consumes large quantities of oil, get it checked immediately at a reputed garage. A delay in that causes an increased fuel expense. Get your car serviced at every 5000 kms for an ideal performance.
4) Incorrect gear is always wastage. For city driving, change to a higher gear when you are sure the engine will not struggle. Get into top gear as soon as possible. Use same gear for uphill and downhill journey. Also, it is advisable to follow the manufacturer’s recommendation.
5) Do not wait for your car to warm up. Drive in low gear till the engine warms up. At 10°C and below, your fuel consumption per kilometer doubles when you make trips of 5 kms or less. So combine trips. Do not park a car so that you have to reverse with a cold engine This will consume more fuel.
6) With every braking, a lot of useful energy is wasted in the form of heat. A stop-go-stop driving is not good for the vehicle. Hence anticipate stops for an ideal driving.
7) Riding the clutch causes loss of energy and damages clutch-linings. Don’t manipulate the clutch and accelerator to stay stationary because it wastes fuel. It is always better to take off the foot from the clutch and use it only for changing the gears.
8) Clean air filter, watch your tyre pressure and use radial tyres for better driving. Use the recommended grade of oil.
9) Fuel consumption in a highly congested road can be double the normal, and unnecessary loads increase fuel consumption. Hence for a long trip, plan the route before you start the drive. Stop the engine for stops more than 2 minutes.
HAPPY DRIVING! HAPPY COOKING!