Roof racks burned 100million gallons of fuel last year in US -

superbeets · Apr 30, 2016

[h=1]Roof racks burned 100million gallons of fuel last year in US - and putting one on your car uses up 25% of your gas[/h]

The drag created by roof racks is slowing cars and eating up fuel
They are undoing the effort that is going into fuel-efficient vehicles
And usage of roof racks is expected to increase by 200 percent by 2040
Changes in US policy could save 1.2billion gallons of gas by that year
The information was published in Energy Policy, a scientific journal

By JAMES WILKINSON FOR DAILYMAIL.COM
PUBLISHED: 14:20, 30 April 2016 | UPDATED: 15:24, 30 April 2016

superbeets · Apr 30, 2016

They might be convenient, but roof racks are eating up serious amounts of gas every year, a new report has revealed - so much so that they're responsible for draining 100million gallons of US fuel last year alone.
For individual drivers that cost is even bigger: depending on the configuration, roof racks can use up to 25 percent of a vehicle's fuel.
And for the US, that problem is only going to get worse, Autoblog reported Thursday.

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Carry on regardless: People who use roof racks, whether they're loaded or not, cost the US 100million gallons of fuel last year - and may be wasting 25 percent of their fuel, a research paper has revealed

Roof racks affect fuel usage by adding to the car's drag - that is, slowing it down, as air that would usually glide around the aerodynamic body of the car gets caught on the rack, pushing against the car, whether it is carrying something or not.
That means the engine has to fight harder to get up to speed, chewing up the gas - and eating into America's ever-dwindling supplies of oil.
And things will get worse, according to the scientific research paper, which was published in Energy Policy.
Usage of roof racks is on the rise - with an expected increase of 200 percent by 2040.
That will undo a lot of the work being done to create energy-saving and energy-efficient cars
According to the paper, the good done by fuel cell cars - which use self-contained hydrogen-and-oxygen 'cells' that create no emissions and are expected to save energy - will be counteracted by roof racks.
That's because the drag created by racks will use up six times the amount of energy that fuel cell cars will save.
And electric vehicles can expect to lose 40 percent of their fuel savings to racks in the future.

superbeets · Apr 30, 2016

But there is some hope, according to the authors of the paper, Yuche Chen of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory and Alan Meier of Berkeley Lab.
They suggested that car manufacturers can help by making their racks more aerodynamic and easily removable.
They also said that energy efficiency labeling will help warn consumers of the cost.
And while they said having the government minimize roof rack usage is 'extreme,' they believe a combination of policy changes and improved design could save 1.2billion gallons of gas in the US between now and 2040.
That would be almost 11.8 million tons of CO2 emissions - the same amount 86,717 modern cars would emit in the US over that period - Autoblog said.
Government interference is a controversial topic, but that 25 percent fuel saving will look very tempting to many Americans.

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What a drag: Air passing over a moving car gets caught on roof racks, creating 'drag' that forces the engine to work harder, using up more fuel. Changes to racks and US policy could save 1.2billion gallons of gas by 2040

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