Talk about local improvement gone amok! I shouldn’t have a hybrid car–I’d be too busy optimizing my fuel efficiency to pay attention to the road.
The Washington Post reports about the cool new trend of optimizing fuel efficiency, which also helps the environment. Since hybrid car drivers get instant feedback on their fuel efficiency, they are permanently changing their driving habits to save fuel.
Best of all, this is an opportunity for us OR practitioners to explain what optimization means to people (although most optimization applications are much harder than optimizing fuel efficiency!)
Punk Rock Operations Research 
June 17th, 2008 at 1:57 am
Some gasoline-only cars, such as my Audi, also have efficiency read-outs. At 80 mph its efficiency is around 22 mpg, whereas at 65 it goes above 30 mpg. The difference is surprising and vivid.
Since the recent rise in gas price (over $4.60 per gallon of super-unleaded out here in California) my car’s fuel efficiency read-out has helped me slow down to 65, thus optimizing time between refueling.