'Hypermiling' to Save Big on Gas

Take a spin with John Flory on a glorious summer day and you'll notice a certain focus from the Yale lab supervisor. He ignores the Connecticut countryside and sprawling homes, eyes fixed on the road and his miles per gallon gauge. "Going downhill is kinda like road candy," he smiles. "Here's some free miles per gallon for you."

Flory is among the growing numbers of "hypermilers" -- drivers obsessed with tire pressure and wind drag, controlled starts and rolling stops. He does his best to time green lights and only uses his air conditioner while coasting downhill. He shuts off the engine at stop lights and only parks "nose out." They may seem like annoyingly minor techniques, but they add up to big savings. The sticker on his Honda hybrid promised him 66 miles per gallon. He wants to double it. "For my 68-mile commute, I've averaged 103.6 mpg. That's my best so far, but I think I can do better."

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With gas well over $4 a gallon, many people are downsizing their vehicles or seeking magic-bullet engine gadgets and fuel additives. But when it comes to squeezing more miles per dollar, hypermilers are proving that the most effective weapon is the person behind the wheel. And the man who coined the term doesn't care what Americans drive -- he wants to change the way Americans drive.

"Anybody, no matter what they own and drive, can improve their fuel economy by at least 50 percent over that sticker in the summer -- maybe 20-25 percent in the winter," says Wayne Gerdes. "It's very easy to do." Traffic to his Web site, CleanMPG.com, has doubled in recent months, as people swap strategies and learn the basics.

Click here for CleanMPG.com, an online community to help you learn how to raise fuel economy and lower emissions.

"My trigger was tripped on 9/11. When the towers came down I said, 'I have to make a difference.' My difference was to start driving for better fuel economy," he says. "There's people that are worried about global warming, CO2 emissions, local smog-forming emissions and of course there are people worried about putting the buck in their pocket instead of into the gas station. Hypermiling works for all those people."