Apr
9
Greening YOUR ride…
I received the following tips on greener driving from Your Daily Thread, an eco blog based out of Los Angeles. Since CNG burns cleaner than regular gasoline, it’s an obvious choice for greening your ride but here are a few other simple tips taken from the article that you might find helpful. Full article can be found here.
Green Your Commute
Living life in the fast lane? Perhaps it’s time you put on the brakes to pause and consider this from BBC News: in the United States, carbon emissions from transportation (e.g. automobiles) account for about 26% of the national total. For every gallon of gasoline your car uses, about 19 pounds of carbon dioxide are burned and released into the atmosphere, according to an article on The Daily Green.
(Note from Castlen: In CNG vehicles, for every gallon of CNG your car uses about 13.7 pounds of carbon dioxide are released. That’s almost 30% less than gasoline.)
While we strongly encourage you to leave the car at home and take advantage of alternative modes of transportation, we’re here to recommend some tips to increase your fuel efficiency, save you money and get your car in top green shape in case, like me, you’ve got one parked in your driveway.
Work It
1. Stop idling. Idling emits about twenty times more pollution than a car traveling at 32 miles per hour, according to Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas M. Kostigen of The Green Book. Next time you find yourself waiting in the car, shut off the engine and roll down the windows.
2. Slow down there, speedster. Rapid acceleration and braking can decrease fuel economy by 33%.
3. Instead of washing your car at home, take it to the car wash. Commercial car washes use about 100 fewer gallons of water than washing your car by hand (The Green Book). In addition, they often recycle and reuse their water. Water used is required to be drained into the sewer so it can be treated properly. Before heading out, however, find out if your local car wash is as squeaky clean as they claim your car will be, by making sure it complies with environmental, labor, health and safety laws.
4. Make sure your tires are properly inflated to improve your gas mileage by more than 3%.
5. If your car doesn’t require the use of high octane gasoline (i.e. “premium” with a 92 or 93 rating at the pump), don’t use it. Not only is high octane more expensive, it requires the use of many “toxic substances” to create it, which are then released into the environment. To find out the type of gasoline your car requires, check your owner’s manual.
6. Ride with an amigo and help save up to 500 gallons of gasoline and 550 pounds of poisonous exhaust emissions every year (The Green Book). Commuters sharing a ride to work would be the equivalent of taking 67.5 million cars off the road
