Web winners focus on cutting down on gas prices

Gasoline prices keep climbing, and that’s not good for the pocketbook or the economy. There are ways to minimize the hit from $4 gas, and these sites explain a lot of them, such as taking the bus.

• Consumer Reports explains how to maximize fuel economy in your car. Recommendations include keeping to moderate speeds, inflating tires properly, and avoiding idling. Time-honored myths are also busted — you won’t save by buying gas in the cool of the morning (except when the price is being raised later in the day!) and you won’t hurt your mileage by opening the windows. A video demonstrates. http://is.gd/hZPrSm

• Gas hunting: GasBuddy keeps track of the lowest — and highest — gas prices as users of the service post the numbers. To keep people interested in posting prices, the site awards points and prizes. It also charts the rates of state gasoline taxes and explains what OPEC is and how much gasoline and other products come out of a barrel of crude oil. http://gasbuddy.com

• Lighten the load: The Federal Trade Commission gives gasoline-saving tips here. It says to lighten your car’s load by emptying the trunk of unnecessary stuff, and it warns consumers to be skeptical of “gizmos that promise to improve your gas mileage.” The FTC monitors gasoline prices with an eye to detecting “anticompetitive activities.” http://is.gd/awz8oa

• Car-shopping site edmunds.com has this fuel-economy page with tips on saving by switching from premium to regular, even if your car’s manual says otherwise. There are articles on the sudden increase in the number of gasoline-powered cars getting 40 miles per gallon or more, on why today’s cleaner diesel cars just haven’t caught on, and how to decode the miles-per-gallon claims of electric cars. A calculator shows the possible savings from trading in a gas guzzler. http://www.edmunds.com/fuel-economy