Driving Smarter and Greener
Aug
24
People once spent most of their work and social time within their own local community but the invention of the car gave greater mobility. Now some people commute over two hours each way to work and drive long distances to visit families and friends.
The mass production of cars powered by fossil fuels makes cars the most affordable way to stay on the road, which results in more fuel being used producing more greenhouse gases and increasing pollution levels.
The way to reduce the impact your car has on the environment is to cut down car use by walking, cycling, or taking public transport instead, and to use greener fuels to power cars. Just cutting down on your car use makes you greener.
If your car runs on unleaded petrol (and you can’t afford to invest in a new alternative fuel as described in the next section), you can still reduce your fuel use and therefore your carbon emissions by following these tips:
- Have your car serviced regularly. Older cars pollute more heavily than newer, better-performing ones and regular servicing can cut that pollution.
- Reduce your speed and avoid hard accelerating and heavy braking – driving more slowly and smoothly reduces fuel consumption. You use a quarter less fuel at 50 mph than you do at 70 mph.
- Switch off the engine when you’re stationary and don’t rev your engine when starting up the car. A car idling gives off 80 percent more pollution than one that’s moving. The US Department of
- Energy says it’s more economical and causes less pollution to switch off the engine and start it again if the car will be stationary for 30 seconds or more (there’s no equivalent UK research).
- Travel lightly. Take anything you don’t need out of your car to reduce weight, improve your fuel consumption, and reduce emissions.
- Make sure that your tyres are inflated to the correct pressure because soft tyres increase fuel consumption by as much as 3%.
- Use your air conditioner and other electrical gadgets only when you need to because they can use up to 10 per cent extra fuel.
- Avoid driving at peak times because idling in congested traffic wastes fuel.
Consider car-pooling and car-sharing wherever possible and think about buying a car with another person and sharing.
Motorbikes and powered scooters are greener, more fuel-efficient forms of transport.
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August 27th, 2008 at 6:53 pm
Interesting article. In the US, Barack Obama mentioned the importance of keeping your tires properly inflated, and John McCain was quick to make fun of it. I’d take a 3% energy savings any time.
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