Which is better, gas or electric? This has been an age old question without a whole lot of answers. The answer is all about what method you prefer and your personal situation. First you need to check on installation costs, whether or not natural gas/propane is available in your region, the cost factors of either using electric or gas for your home. Once you know what is available, and assuming both are there are other positive and negative reasons to use each service. These following factors are the pros and cons of using both electric and or natural gas:

Natural Gas/Propane-

Natural Gas is a more popular choice for those who live in the north, because of its ability to withstand power outages during a snowstorm. There is a wide variety of natural gas ran products ranging from furnaces, stoves, hot water heaters, and even refrigerators. You can get this form of energy through a natural gas company where you pay a monthly bill, or you can use natural gas in the form of a propane tank and fill these up when needed. Here are some of the pros and cons of using natural gas:

•    Pros-You can still use them even if the power goes out to heat your home, cook, and heat your water with. Natural gas/propane heaters take up less space than conventional. There is a large fuel supply to run these. You save money on your electric bill, because electricity is not used when running a gas heater.

•    Cons- Natural gas/propane is not cheap, depending on the company; a tank fill could run you between $300 and $400 while a natural gas bill could run you slightly less. Carbon monoxide can become an issue with using gas; you will need to invest in a carbon monoxide detector. You will need a boiler to run your natural gas heater.

Electric-

Like Natural gas/propane you can purchase most of your major appliances, furnaces, and water heaters. The costs of these important items for your home are slightly less than those that run natural gas. Here are some of the pros and cons of using electricity for heat and major appliances:

•    Pros-You can find electric heat almost anywhere in the country. A few different power companies will offer you a subscription to a green- power system which it may be slightly higher; you are using electricity from renewable sources. Electrical products are very energy efficient. You do not need to store fuel such as propane.

•    Cons-If you are using an electric heater, the cost could be higher for your bill. Plants that process electricity can create pollution such as greenhouse gases. Though appliances and heaters are energy efficient, it takes a lot of energy to produce the electric itself. If you have a power outage, well your appliances and heater will not work. If you are heating with electricity, they are limited to a certain number of kWh, where large areas may not be heated as well.

These are just a few of the pros and cons of using both electricity and natural gas. Again whether one is better than the other depends on your personal situation and preferences. Evaluate your home, and base your choice on personal need, usage and experience.

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In the arena of ’save energy tips’, one of the ones that hit closest to home in the past few years has been saving gas. I live out in the sticks, and doing almost anything involves driving several miles each way (nearest grocery store is a 9 mile round trip, for example). As such, when gas prices started spiking in 2008, gas economics became a big deal to me. Again, cause I live out in the sticks, most of the traditional tips like “share a ride to work” or “take bus” or “walk” or “ride a bike” just weren’t feasible. I realized pretty quickly how pedestrian unfriendly the country life can be

So I started looked at other ways to increase my fuel efficiency, thereby saving money. Obviously just driving less was important. I started prioritizing and grouping trips out more than I had. To be honest, I’d been starting to do that even before the gas spike, but more for time reasons. When each trip is a minimum of 30 minutes, “popping out” to do anything is going to be longer than it was when Iived much closer to civilization.

Next, I started keeping better care of my car. It’s nothing fancy, but I started being rather religious about regular oil changes and other maintenance. I found a good local garage that handles most maintenance services, and they make sure my tires, filters, oil, fluids, etc, are all as they should be. I don’t do the oil every 3000 miles – that always struck me as a little too often. The car’s manual isn’t much help, and recommends either every 3000 or 5-7000, depending on some factors they list, none of which seem to apply to me directly. I still get it changed around every 5000 miles to be on the safe side.

Next I started taking junk out of the car. I’m a bit of a packrat, and every few weeks I’d be carrying around a load of extra books and boxes and such that were easily adding another 50-80 pounds to the load. Not a huge amount, to be sure, but it was adding weight, so I ditched it (and kept reditching every few weeks!)

A friend of mine has a hybrid Civic, and we got to talking about ‘hypermiling’. He doesn’t do it himself, but it’s an interesting phenomenon in the hybrid world, where people try to eke out as many miles per gallon as possible. There’s not much I can do in my non-hyrbid beyond coasting, but I’ve become pretty good at that. I can time my coasts to get through the area lights without accelerating, I know when to speed up or slow down, etc. There’s a few area lights that can hold for up to 2 minutes. I’ll cut the engine if it’s going to be that long (easier to do in the winter than summer!)

Most of all, though, I’ve learned to drive slower. I use my cruise more, and often will cruise at or just below the speed limit. It makes a big difference, and helps me to remain a bit calmer while driving (I’ve given in to road rage a few times in the past – not fun).

Will all of these make a difference to you? Only if you put them in to practice. My car is rated at 26 mpg highway, 18 city, and 21 combined. My own driving habits in the first few years of owning the car were pretty carefree, and I averaged around 25 mpg (combined highway and city). After taking all these steps, I routinely average 28 mpg – a 10-12% increase. When I try to watch myself even more, I get 30 mpg (mostly city). I took a highway trip last year and got 35 mpg by keeping my cruising speed at 65. That’s not quite as good as the hyrbids get, but it doesn’t cost me anything (except a bit of time getting to my appointments). Would it be worth it to you to lower your gas bills by 10-15-20% every fill up? With gas prices on a recent upswing, it’s sure worth it to me!

Technorati Tags: Beat, Better, driving, habits, higher, Prices

There are more than half a dozen of major gas suppliers in UK like British Gas, E.ON, EDF Energy etc and equal no. of smaller ventures like Green Energy and EBI Co. Although gas prices have been rocketing high for quite some time, few of the top retailers have really brought their tariff down. Below is a list of some of UK’s most important players in gas retailing and their new revised tariff rates:

Company

Sub Brands/Tariff Names

In effect from

Ave. main tariff CHANGE (1)

Gas

Major Companies’ and their Tariffs

British Gas

Scottish Gas, Nwy Prydain

(19/02/09) 07/05/09

(-10%)

E.ON

Staywarm ( not included in price cuts)

(31/03/09) 03/07/09

-3.3%

npower

Juice

31/03/09

0%

Scottish power

Manweb

31/03/09

-7.5%

EDF Energy

London Energy, SEEBOARD SWEB Energy

31/03/09

0%

Scottish & Southern Energy

Atlantic, SWALEC, Scottish Hydro

30/03/09

-4%

Smaller Companies’ and their Tariffs

EBI Co

Equi-Power, Equi-Gas

30/03/09

-2.5%

Utilita

03/09/08

+49.8%

Utility Warehouse

01/04/09

-2.3%

Excepting a few gas suppliers like Utilita and Ecotricity, all other companies have brought down their charges. Utilita eventually turns out to be the biggest choker with an increase of almost 50% in gas prices . People can opt for better deals by switching suppliers while being simultaneously well aware that fuel prices do have seasonal fluctuations. Some websites provide great comparison tools which can help one to decide on a particular retailer. Some switching agencies also give cash-back offers which might just help in saving a few extra pounds. Agencies like Energyhelpline*, Energylinx*, UKPower* give a cash-back offer of £ 15 per switch. There are also many others who come up with different offers from time to time. Although the home gas prices are low, it has been claimed that the low-carbon transition plan by the government which was launched earlier this month, could have a significant effect on business gas bills.

Whatever be the current charges over gas consumption ,one cannot afford to waste energy as conservation is also a form of savings. Avoiding overheating or overcooking of food and water are just some of the small measures which would help in saving energy and minimize heedless wastage. British Gas can be commended as a gas supplier for opening a new skills centre in Wales which will train people in how to install energy-saving technologies. Hope others will also follow suite.

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As gas is getting more expensive every day, those of you with a long commute or many driving miles can feel the weight of ever growing gas expenses.

Luckily it’s easy to lower your gas bill and below I list seven strategies that are easy to implement and does not require you to invest money in a new car or snake oil add-on kits.

1. MAINTAIN PROPER TIRE PRESSURE

Driving with under inflated tires is not only dangerous as the tires could overheat, it also uses more gas than driving with properly inflated tires.

Inflate your tires at least to the maximum allowed by the car’s instruction manual, and check the pressure at least once a month using a reliable pressure gauge.

Many hypermilers inflate their tires more than that, to the maximum pressure printed on the sidewalls of the tires themselves. This can be as much as 60 percent more than the vehicle manufacturers recommendation and results in additional fuel savings due to the lower rolling resistance of a hard tire.

The downside is a harder and less comfortable ride. And I can’t even recommend you to do this, even if it IS safe, as there is a possibility of uneven tire wear in some conditions.

2. REMOVE SKI BOXES, TRAILERS AND ROOF RACKS

If you thought it’s too much of a hassle to remove the roof rack or ski box when it’s not needed or to unhook the trailer, think again!

Anything that you attach to the outside of the car will spoil the aerodynamics of the car and with that your fuel economy. Always remove roof racks, bicycle holders, ski boxes and trailers when not needed and use a truck bed cover to enhance the aerodynamics of your pick-up truck.

3. TURN OFF THE A/C

Even if some argue that the air conditioning unit does not affect fuel economy, it actually consumes lots of energy. That energy is taken stright from your tank and from your fuel economy. Turn it off when possible and if that’s too uncomfortable set it to a higher temperature as that will make it use less gas.

TIPS: Park the car in the shadow, have the doors open for a minute before leaving, drive at night if going for a longer trip in hot weather.

Keep in mind that driving fast with all windows open is worse for your MPG than turning on the A/C, thus use the air condition instead of opening windows.

4. BETTER YOUR DRIVING STYLE

Your driving style is one of the biggest factors affecting your fuel economy. Keep your top speed below 60MPH or 100KM/H, avoid breaking by letting the car roll to a stop when you’re not in the way for other traffic and do not push the pedal to the metal when accelerating.

5. WALK

Many times if you’re not going that far, walking or biking is a lot more economic than taking the car. You’ll save a lot of fuel and you’ll also avoid the other maintanance costs associated with driving.

6. FIX YOUR FUEL LEAKS

Obviously if you have a fuel leak you will spill your hard earned gas on the ground costing you money and polluting the environment. Repair all fuel leaks immediately.

TIP: If the gas cap is broken or missing a lot of gas will evaporate through the missing or broken cap and escape into the air.This is especially true in hot climates and when parking in the sun. The loss can be sizable and the gas vapors will harm the envirnment.

7. FIND A CAR POOL

Sharing a car on your daily commute can be a fair amount of hassle compared to going alone but you’ll save more gas and money than from using any of the other tips except for actually walking or biking.

Joining with just one other person to use the same car for your commute will save you half your monthly commuting cost.

ADDITIONAL GAS SAVING TIPS

Those tips are the easiest, most readily available, low cost ways you can save lots of fuel. A no gadgets needed gas saving bag of tricks.

There are many additional ways to improve your gas mileage. You can get a more fuel efficient vehicle (hybrid, diesel, smaller car), make adjustments to your driving style, improve your cars aerodynamics, use tires with a low rolling resistance, plan your trips, adjust for extreme weather conditions and a lot more that this article is too short to cover.

There’s also many ways to NOT save gas, like installing one of those fuel saving gadgets advertised everywhere. They usually cost a lot but give barely measurable improvements in MPG.

To keep track of your actual gas mileage you can use a handy online gas mileage calculator or you can use the fuel consumption display that’s included in many new cars or an aftermarket fuel consumption display that can be installed in most newer cars.

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If you’re tired of wasting money and you’re starting to wonder about how to cut your electric bill in just days join the club! take a look at the following few paragraphs – your bank account will thank you for it! The general public relies on the electric company for their energy; however, there is a secret way that enables you to get free and unlimited power supply amazingly easily and yes, inexpensively.

You may raise an eyebrow at this claim, but let me assure you that even the average person can make their own electricity supply with an easy-to-use new green technology, and do away with those expensive monthly power bills once and for all! Just imagine – no more worrying about how you’re going to pay the monthly bill, only an abundant energy supply to provide all the electricity you need.

If you’re ready to do a google search for information on how to cut your electric bill in just days; you have to realize, for your own financial well-being, that you can take advantage of a new technology already used by literally thousands of people in the united states and around the world that gives you the power to seriously decrease your power bill if not eliminate it once and for all! You are no doubt starting to wonder how this can be done; you just need to use what mother nature has provided – the transformation of energy that is found everywhere into electricity, with just two or three days of easy work, right in your own yard. And here is what makes it really ideal – everyone is capable of this, although you probably aren’t an electrician or a technician and although you probably haven’t studied the field of electricity.

Prior to continuing your researches on how to cut your electric bill in just days, listen to some more great information – using this new technology, not only you help to preserve our planet, but with tax credits and by selling extra power to your electric company, you can save money, and even make money! Take a moment to see yourself having a cool house in the summer and a warm one in the winter, with no concern about the price, and actually making extra money by using green technology. Are you still skeptical? Do yourself a favor and just see what’s involved; I think that you will be eager to get up and running.

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