Resource of the Week — fueleconomy.gov
By Shirl Kennedy, Senior Editor

This site — jointly maintained by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency & Renewable Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection — is kind of a no-brainer choice for a Resource of the Week, given what is going on at the nation’s gas pumps. I will soon be working just five miles from home on a daily basis, and I downsized my motorcycle to a little guy who gets close to 60 mpg, so I am officially opting out of this mess as much as I possibly can.

On the other hand, I’ve used information found on this site to easily answer several ready reference-type questions in the past week alone. It’s a remarkably decent mix of educational and practical content. So even if you’re getting around on foot, bicycle or public transit, you’ll definitely want to have a look around here.

It’s not a bad idea to start with the FAQ. Here you’ll find a lucid explanation of how fuel economy ratings are derived, whether you can or can’t determine where the gasoline at your local station comes from, how to report suspected price gouging, and much more.

An entire section of this site is devoted to gas prices. Here you’ll find gas mileage tips, fuel economy information for new and used cars (back to 1985), links to sites that will help you find the cheapest gas in your area and get an idea of how prices in your state compare to prices elsewhere, and an extensive FAQ about fuel prices. (Hint: Here is where you’ll find extensive information about historical gas prices, which is something I’ve been asked to find on several recent occasions.)

Teachers and students, take note. There is much fodder here — especially via the articles highlighted in the News section — for school reports on such topics as how electric cars and hybrid vehicles work, alternative fuels, and new technologies being explored by automobile manufacturers.

There’s even a “social media” element here — the Your MPG feature allows you to post the actual fuel mileage for your vehicle(s) and see how it compares to what other owners are getting. And you can get a detailed “energy impact score” for your vehicle that shows — among other things — average mileage (including that reported by other drivers), petroleum consumption, air pollution, and safety. You can even do a side-by-side comparison of up to four different vehicles.

Oh, and mobile device users get their own version of fueleconomy.gov, which offers:

• Fuel economy ratings for all cars and light trucks sold in the U.S. back to model year 1985
• Annual fuel cost estimates
• Annual petroleum use (barrels of domestic and imported petroleum)
• Carbon footprint (tons of carbon dioxide emitted annually)

Especially in “these troubled economic times,” we think fueleconomy.gov is an excellent use of tax dollars. E-government at its best.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 28th, 2008 and is filed under Resource of the Week, Resources for Educators, Source File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.