As US gasoline prices hit records on almost a daily basis, an increasing number of motorists are following a radical driving technique designed to eke out every last mile from a tank of fuel.

The United States petroleum industry's cost to meet environmental regulations is projected at ten percent of the price per barrel of refined petroleum by the end of the decade.

The slide in oil prices in recent years was one of the main factors that helped to hold down American inflation, so prolonging the country's long economic expansion.