With gas prices hitting an all time February high and the current national retail average price for a gallon of self-serve regular gasoline hanging at $3.65, many drivers are anxious about what to expect in the coming months.

“Every driver is impacted by the increased cost of fuel,” said Marshall L. Doney, AAA National Vice President, Automotive, Financial Services and e-Business. “There are several easy things drivers can do to stretch each tank of gas and find the lowest fuel prices when it is time to fill up.”

AAA provides these fuel-saving tips and advice to consumers:

Properly inflate tires
Only 17 percent of cars have all four tires properly inflated, yet the U.S. Department of Energy reports that proper tire inflation can improve fuel economy by up to three percent. It’s important not only to check tire pressures at least once a month, but also make sure it’s done correctly; a survey found 85 percent of motorists don’t know how to properly check tire pressures.

Check the pressures when the tires are cold and have not been driven recently. Tires should be inflated to pressure levels recommended by the vehicle manufacturer, NOT the pressure levels stamped on the tire sidewall. The proper pressure levels can be found on a sticker on the driver’s side door jamb or in the owner’s manual.

Be gentle on the gas and brake pedals
One of the easiest and most effective ways to conserve fuel is to change driving styles. Instead of making quick starts and sudden stops, go easy on the gas and brake pedals. If there is a red light ahead, ease off the gas and coast up to it rather than waiting until the last second to brake. Once the light turns green, gently accelerate rather than making a quick start. The U.S. Department of Energy reports aggressive driving can lower a car’s fuel economy by up to 33 percent.

Let AAA find lowest gas prices
Drivers equipped with the AAA TripTik Mobile iPhone application can find the lowest gas prices close to home or on the road. Using AAA TripTik Mobile, the first free app to offer frequently updated gas prices, motorists can compare fuel costs at stations near to their location or in a specified area. The AAA app’s GPS technology enables users to quickly locate stations on a map and see the price for all available grades of gasoline. Visit AAA.com/Mobile. AAA’s TripTik Travel Planner also provides gas station locations and fuel price information.

Drive the speed limit
Slowing down to observe the speed limit is safer and can conserve fuel. The U.S. Department of Energy reports that each 5 mph driven over 60 mph is like paying an additional $0.24 per gallon for gas. Leave yourself plenty of time to reach your destination to avoid feeling rushed so you can arrive safely and with a little more fuel in the tank.

Plan errands in advance
When running errands, try to combine multiple tasks into one trip. Several short trips starting with a cold engine each time can use twice as much gas as a longer multipurpose trip covering the same distance when the engine is warm. Also, plan the route in advance to drive the fewest miles. Online mapping tools are available to help plan routes, such as AAA’s TripTik Travel Planner which is available free to all motorists at AAA.com.

Lighten the Load
A heavier vehicle uses more fuel. Lighten your vehicle by cleaning out the trunk, cargo areas and passenger compartments. Also try to avoid using a car’s roof rack to transport luggage or other equipment — especially over long distances on the highway. A loaded roof rack affects the vehicle aerodynamics and creates extra drag that reduces fuel economy.

Stretch your gas money
Members who pay for gasoline with their AAA Member Rewards Visa credit card receive double points on gas purchases.  Members also receive one point for every dollar they spend, triple points on AAA and all travel purchases and double points on gas, grocery and drug store purchases. Members can redeem points for cash, travel or gift cards. The card may not be available in all areas. Members can apply for the AAA Member Rewards Visa credit card at AAA.com/creditcard.

Keep up-to-date on vehicle maintenance
Keeping a car running properly helps achieve maximum fuel economy. Be sure to follow the vehicle manufacturer’s recommended maintenance schedule, and do not ignore vehicle warning lights that indicate something is wrong. Warning lights can signal problems that will greatly decrease a car’s fuel efficiency. To help motorists find reliable, high-quality vehicle service, AAA has inspected and approved nearly 8,000 auto repair shops across the country. To locate a nearby AAA Approved Auto Repair shop, visit AAA.com/repair.

As North America’s largest motoring and leisure travel organization, AAA provides more than 53 million members with travel, insurance, financial and automotive-related services. Since its founding in 1902, the not-for-profit, fully tax-paying AAA has been a leader and advocate for the safety and security of all travelers. AAA clubs can be visited on the Internet at AAA.com.

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After more than three years in space, NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is extending its view of the high-energy sky into a largely unexplored electromagnetic range. On January 10, the Fermi team announced its first census of energy sources in this new realm.

Fermi’s Large Area Telescope scans the entire sky every three hours, continually deepening its portrait of the sky in gamma rays, the most energetic form of light. While the energy of visible light falls between about 2 and 3 electron volts, the LAT detects gamma rays with energies ranging from 20 million to more than 300 billion electron volts.

At higher energies, gamma rays are rare. Above 10 GeV, even Fermi’s LAT detects only one gamma ray every four months.

“Before Fermi, we knew of only four discrete sources above 10 GeV, all of them pulsars,” said David Thompson, an astrophysicist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. “With the LAT, we’ve found hundreds, and we’re showing for the first time just how diverse the sky is at these high energies.”

Any object producing gamma rays at these energies is undergoing extraordinary astrophysical processes. More than half of the 496 sources in the new census are active galaxies, where matter falling into a supermassive black hole powers jets that spray out particles at nearly the speed of light.

Only about 10 percent of the known sources lie within our own galaxy. They include rapidly rotating neutron stars called pulsars, the expanding debris from supernova explosions, and in a few cases, binary systems containing massive stars.

More than a third of the sources are completely unknown, having no identified counterpart detected in other parts of the spectrum. With the new catalog, astronomers will be able to compare the behavior of different sources across a wider span of gamma-ray energies for the first time.

Just as bright infrared sources may fade to invisibility in the ultraviolet, some of the gamma-ray sources above 1 GeV vanish completely when viewed at higher, or “harder,” energies.

One example is the well-known radio galaxy NGC 1275, which is a bright, isolated source below 10 GeV. At higher energies, it fades appreciably and another nearby source begins to appear. Above 100 GeV, NGC 1275 becomes undetectable by Fermi, while the new source, the radio galaxy IC 310, shines brightly.

The Fermi hard-source list is the product of an international team led by Pascal Fortin at the Ecole Polytechnique’s Laboratoire Leprince-Ringuet in Palaiseau, France, and David Paneque at the Max Planck Institute for Physics in Munich.

The catalog serves as an important roadmap for ground-based facilities called Atmospheric Cherenkov Telescopes, which have amassed about 130 gamma-ray sources with energies above 100 GeV. They include the Major Atmospheric Gamma Imaging Cherenkov telescope on La Palma in the Canary Islands, the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System in Arizona, and the High Energy Stereoscopic System in Namibia.

“Our catalog will have a significant impact on ground-based facilities’ work by pointing them to the most likely places to find gamma-ray sources emitting above 100 GeV,” Paneque said.

Compared to Fermi’s LAT, these ground-based observatories have much smaller fields of view. They also make fewer observations because they cannot operate during the daytime, bad weather, or a full moon.

“As Fermi’s exposure constantly improves our view of hard sources, ground-based telescopes are becoming more sensitive to lower-energy gamma rays, allowing us to bridge these two energy regimes,” Fortin added.

NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope is an astrophysics and particle physics partnership. Fermi is managed by Goddard. It was developed in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy, with important contributions from academic institutions and partners in France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Sweden, and the United States.

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A recent survey conducted by Harris Interactive on behalf of Whirlpool Corporation reveals consumers want to make a habit out of saving time, money and energy with their home appliances. And as 2011 wraps up, they’re looking for more tools to help them do just that in the new year.

According to the survey 75% of consumers aged 18-34 have already taken ‘green’ steps, but they are looking to do even more to save energy, water and money. That’s something companies such as Whirlpool say they’re keeping in mind when it comes to product development.

“We are not surprised to see that consumers are devoted to living an energy-efficient lifestyle,” says Monica Teague, Senior PR Manager at Whirlpool Corporation. “Whirlpool is constantly innovating new products that conserve water and reduce energy consumption in order to help consumers live a more eco-friendly lifestyle.”

It’s a lifestyle many want and to which they are turning. And while 78% are interested in monitoring their household’s energy use – they’re hungry for more information on how to save. According to the survey, a quarter of those interested in saving are not at all aware of the energy and water usage of their appliances.

Many consumers have already made significant lifestyle changes in an effort to save energy and money. 65% of consumers already use ENERGY STAR qualified appliances and CFL light bulbs, 36% purchase green products when possible and 15% actually seek out green products, according to the survey.

And consumers seem willing to invest in saving money over time. Almost half of those who took part in the survey, 49%, said they would consider paying more money for an appliance if it would reduce their utility bills over time. Replacing appliances that were made before 2000 with ENERGY STAR qualified products can help save on both energy and water costs. According to the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), replacing a washer and refrigerator made before 2000 with such models can save up to $135 and $40 each year, respectively.

For those not currently in the market but still looking to save, there are plenty of ways for consumers to be more efficient using the appliances they already have in their home.

• According to the survey, 87% still pre-rinse their dishes (even though it’s unnecessary). By scraping and skipping pre-rinsing, consumers can save up to 20 gallons of water per load and by using the dishwasher, vs. hand-washing, save up to 230 hours per year (that’s a 10-day vacation!).
• Run your dishwasher, washer and dryer late in the evening to avoid the peak hours.
• Proper appliance maintenance like emptying the lint trap, vacuuming refrigerator coils and cleaning your washer on a regular basis can help keep appliances running efficiently.
• Use pots and pans with flat bottoms that fit the burners. A 6″ pot on an 8″ burner wastes over 40 percent of that burner’s heat. Using the right-sized pot can save up to $36 annually for an electric range, and $18 for a gas range.
• Don’t open the oven door during cooking; each time you open the door, you can lose about 25 – 30 degrees of heat. Try cooking with a full oven too, and using the broiler when possible, which uses less energy and does not require preheating.

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How many days a week a person washes their clothes? If you are a student I understand that once a week would be more than enough, but lets take in mind all the people that are not students, specially the family sector. Where children need clean clothes everyday, and therefore the number of day’s laundry is required to do increases.

Every year, the number of laundry loads per household, encloses approximately a cipher of 400 loads. According to Energy Star, the total water consumed by the yearly loads is about 13,500 gallons of water.

Water is the main natural resource on the planet. Therefore any attempt to take care of it or reduce its waste is valuable. So by thinking about this, why don’t we start saving water on our daily chores such as laundry? Based on reports by Proctor and Marks & Spencer, between 75 to 80 percent of our clothing’s lifecycle impact comers essentially from both processes such as washing and drying.

On the first hand, it has to be taken into consideration the amount of energy that is being used to heat the wash water, and second, the energy consumed by the drying cycle.  Due to this, a new machine named the Energy Star-qualified top-loading machine is now on the market and it can save as much as 7,000 gallons of water per year.

Buying a new washing machine, that compensates its price for the long lasting duration it provides. It would be wise to think in an eco-friendly perspective, and help the environment by buying a washing machine that use the sufficient amount of water without exceeding.

Also, regarding the dryer procedure. According to the U.S Department of Energy, the dryer checks and costs per average household normally overpass the $70 per year in energy. It is impressive the costs of energy dryers generate, so a good advice if you want save on your utility bills you can use methods such as clothesline or drying rack. This advice will help on reducing the carbon footprint linked with our wardrobes.

Therefore, an environmental-friendly laundry regimen is provided, for you to get some tips and facilitate you in the process.

It is just a way of living, and caring for the environment. If you could save energy or water by finding alternative ways to make your laundry more eco-friendly, feel happy cause you are already putting your grain to the world.

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