Road to green
Are You on the Road to Green?
(News USA) - Today you can't turn on the television or open the
newspaper without hearing about the impacts of global warming. And
while you've probably already
begun taking the initial steps to transition yourself into a greener
lifestyle by recycling and
reducing your daily energy consumption, there's more you can do to
protect the environment without
making a large financial investment.
Consider something that plays a large part in your everyday life -
your vehicle.
There are several steps you can take with your current vehicle to
protect the environment and save
money.
* Stay in tune. Regularly have an automotive technician check your
vehicle's mechanics
with a thorough checkup. This is especially important before long
trips, but should be done
regularly if a driver is frequently in stop-and-go traffic. These
tuneups can reduce vehicle
emissions, too.
* Conduct a clean sweep. Be aware of extra cargo because additional
weight in your
vehicle makes it work harder and lessens your fuel efficiency. So,
if you have a trunk full of
junk, empty it out for better fuel economy.
* Don't let pressure get you down. When tires lose air pressure,
drivers lose miles
per gallon and unnecessarily waste fuel. A drop of 8 pounds per
square inch (psi) can equal:
approximately 2 mpg fuel-economy loss, 18 percent loss of your
vehicle's load-carrying capacity and
25 percent tire tread wear loss. Therefore, it is important to make
sure to check the tire pressure
on all four tires - and the spare - at least once per month, but
avoid over-inflating tires, as it
is dangerous and will cause tires to wear prematurely. To obtain an
accurate pressure reading, your
vehicle must be idle for three hours or have been driven for less
than a mile at the time of
testing.
* Stay in motion. Today, there is no need to let your car idle.
Limit idling because it
creates excess emissions and may damage the catalytic converter. Not
to mention, idling for more
than thirty seconds consumes more fuel than turning off and then
re-starting the engine.
* Slow things down. Driving 75 mph instead of 65 mph will lower your
fuel efficiency by about
10 percent and dramatically increase tailpipe pollution. Try
dropping your highway speed by 10 mph
for a greener ride.
For more information, visit www.carcare.org.
Trisha Hessinger is a former racecar
driver and nationally recognized automotive education specialist for
Firestone Complete Auto
Care.
