Five. Five dollar. Five dollar footlooong. Everyone loves the catchy tune, as well as the five dollar deal meal that has spread from Subway to Quizno’s to Arby’s, but soon enough, you might as well buy that sandwich and then shove it directly into your gas tank, for we are rapidly approaching the day of five dollar fuel.

Five. Five dollar. Five dollar petroleuuum. Although the tune is just as trendy, it may have to wait just a little longer. Over the past two weeks, gas prices have declined by an average of eight cents across western Washington, due in large part to a decrease in fuel consumption following the spring fuel scare. Between March and June, fuel prices increased 37% across the nation, averaging 1.22 cents per day. If this rate had continued, gas would be close to $5.50 on the first day of school. Fortunately, gas should not be this horrendous by September, but breaking the five dollar mark in September is not out of the question by any means.

The recent plateau and slight decline in gas prices have reassured some that this summer was only an aberration, that everything is going to work out and life will return to normal. Although there is still the possibility that things will work out, high gas prices are here to stay. Regardless of whether prices continue to rise or remain in the $4.30 range for the next five years, $50 to fill up a 12-gallon Civic tank is still difficult to stomach.

While the majority of teenagers do not have children to feed, it can still be difficult to find money in one’s pockets after buying gas, especially when holding down an $8.07 an hour job. Being a member of the minimum wage club myself, I have challenged myself to see how high I can get my fuel economy. My current record is 34.6 mpg in a 2001 Civic that ordinarily gets around 30. Although it doesn’t look like much, that’s a 15 percent increase that can save you muchos dolares at the gas pump.

Since it is a noble cause, I challenge everyone to increase their gas mileage by as much as possible, and post it on this article. The easiest way is to reset the trip odometer when you get gas, and the next time you fuel up, record the miles traveled as measured by the odometer, and also the number of gallons you guzzled (the number that you just bought). Simply divide miles over gallons, and presto, you have your miles per gallon.

The concept is simple, record the highest fuel economy without endangering any form of life. Examples of forms of life include pedestrians, drivers, passengers, birds, cats, and squirrels. Since I have been working on this endeavor for a while, I will share an iota of my infinite wisdom with everyone:

1. Don’t drive like a teenager. We’ve all heard stories of our friends driving recklessly, maybe you were even the one telling the story, and aside from being an enormous safety concern, driving like a teenager is terrible for your gas mileage. Sudden acceleration and braking make your car far less efficient; not to mention if you get in a crash, your fuel economy will be zero until your car is up and running again.

2. Choose faster roads if possible. I’m not going to suggest that anyone make a trip to the Audubon to determine whether a ‘02 Jeep is faster than a ‘97 Saturn, but if possible, try to drive on roads with higher speed limits. There is a reason why car commercials advertise higher gas mileage on the highway than in the city, it’s because your car runs more efficiently at higher speeds than lower speeds (although there are exceptions as the next tip will explain). Driving at a limit of 35 will yield a higher efficiency than driving in a 25.

3. Slow down on the highway. Don’t drive like the 85 year old grandmother going 45 you just passed on East 90, but don’t set 65 as your speed minimum on the highway as so many high schoolers do. Studies have shown that decreasing your speed from 65 to 55 can increase your fuel economy by ten percent, which is outstanding. If you got 300 miles on your last tank of gas, presto, turn that into 330 miles. That 30 miles could be the difference between getting gas in the morning and being stuck three miles from home with curfew ten minutes away. Although you may think that driving the limit of 60 on most highways will increase travel times, driving even 70 won’t save you that much time. Driving 60 for the 15 miles between Issaquah and Seattle would take approximately 15 minutes. Driving 10 miles per hour faster, the same trip will take 13 minutes. Is it really worth that much money to get there two minutes early? Not to mention, if you’re trying to rush because you’re running late, if you’re running late enough to drive quickly, two minutes isn’t likely to make much of a difference.

4. Neutral is your friend. When going down a hill, or coasting to a stop when approaching a stop light, put your car in neutral, and obviously put it back in drive when you need to accelerate out of the light or going back up hill. Although it may sound reckless, it only takes a little practice before you have mastered this technique and are a pro. When in drive, your car still uses gas even when your foot is not on the peddle (which is why cars idle). However, when in neutral, your engine is exactly that; in neutral: operating neither forward (drive) or in reverse. Although it is hard to say how much gas this can save you, when going down 228th everyday after school, it can definitely make a difference.

5. Buy gas in the morning. Although it may not be as pleasant buying gas in the freezing cold, it is absolutely worth it, and all that is needed to justify it is a little chemistry. Temperatures are highest in the afternoon, and coolest in the middle of the night. As such, the temperature of gasoline at the gas stations will cool as well overnight. Why is this so important? Everyone knows that when you heat something, it will expand (hence melting, evaporation, etc), and the same is true for the reverse. If the gasoline gets “smaller,” meaning that the same number of particles occupy less space, the density of the gasoline (mass/volume) will increase. When you buy gas, you pay for it by the gallon, a measure of volume. However, when gas is burned, to say, power your car, the amount of energy generated from the fuel depends on the mass burned. See the connection? The higher the density, the more mass of gas you get per volume that you are paying for. The more mass of gas you get, the more energy you get for the same price. Don’t think it makes a difference? What if I told you that when truck drivers fuel up they get a price adjustment for every single degree the temperature is above a set value? Thought you’d never use chemistry in the real world? Think again.

6. Work up a sweat! Possibly the most die-hard of tips, drivers have to make a true sacrifice to follow this suggestion, one that I rarely follow. Keep all windows rolled up, and don’t use the air conditioning. Although this may be fine during the winter, it’s not so pleasant during the summer. The reasoning is that when the windows are rolled down, your car is less aerodynamic, which in the end translates to more energy used (gas guzzled) to move your car the same speed than if it were more aerodynamic. Likewise, the air conditioner in your car also uses gas at an exorbitant rate, so if you really want to save money at the pump, get ready to bake. If no one else is in the car, just make sure you change out of your sweaty clothes once you get home. If you have passengers, it’s probably not worth risking your friendship for a couple dollars by exposing them to the wonderful aroma that is a sweating teenager. Follow this tip at your own discretion.

There you go, there are the basics to improving your fuel economy as I have found through research and experimentation. The poster with the greatest percent increase in fuel economy [(recorded mpg - expected city mpg)/(expected city mpg)] will win a free five dollar footlong. I encourage everyone to try to improve their fuel economy in order to save a little cash, and more importantly, decrease fuel consumption in order to buy alternative technology more time.