Inflating tires results in a 3% savings in fuel efficiency. That’s significant when applied across the board to the US vehicle fleet. I’d add: lowering the speed limit, purchasing fuel-efficient vehicles instead of gas-sucking SUV’s, taking public transit occasionally, plus major infrastructure investments and subsidies of domestic and alternative energy initiatives including natural gas, solar, nuclear, biofuels and wind.

Post 9/11, from 2001 to 2006, our consumption of foreign oil increased by 25% — POST 9/11!! Fully 50% of that increase was due to changes in the composition of the US vehicle fleet. Bigger cars and trucks with poorer gas mileage, SUVs, Hummers, F150s, etc.

So while we watch our buildings get knocked down and fight a war over in the Middle East with 4000 Americans dead and ~30000 permanently injured, we drive back and forth to our shopping centers in ridiculously large vehicles that burn lots of fuel and we make fun of people who talk about conservation.

For this, we send warehouses full of US money and gold to places like Saudi Arabia every single day, and in turn they send it out to their Wahhabi madrassas in Afg/Pak, Indonesia and East Africa, the minor leagues for Al Qaeda, who then use it to recruit and brainwash fanatics to blow up more of our buildings.