Pollution is beginning to get out of hand with the population boom, and until we can find efficient alternatives to fossil fuels and make it easy for people to switch to those alternatives, we will just have learn to drive in a more eco-friendly way. Now, being an eco-friendly driver doesn’t mean you have to sell your car and get a Prius, or any hybrid or electric car for that matter. Being green is all about lowering your emissions, which has an additional bonus of making a full tank last longer, thus saving you quite a bit of money in the process of saving the environment. Sounds appealing, doesn’t it? You basically have nothing to lose, so here are 4 great tips on lowering your emissions and becoming an eco-friendly driver.
1. Don’t be afraid to use your legs
It seems that we have gotten to a point where just crossing a street seems too much of a hassle, so we rarely opt to use our inbuilt mode of locomotion – the legs. Don’t get me wrong, it is almost impossible to get around without a car in a lot of places, but still people in New York, Tokyo and London for example rely heavily on public transport. It is not always just a matter of convenience, but a matter of feasibility. However, unless you live in a really rough neighborhood, traveling half a mile by foot isn’t that difficult to pull off. So whenever you need to cross only a short distance (under a mile) you can walk. This includes lunch breaks at work, where the little extra exercise you get from walking to get food while the car stays at the parking lot, will go a long way to help you stay fit or lose weight.
2. Don’t overload your car
The heavier the load your car has to drive around, the more gas it will burn in the process. So having a trunk full of all sorts of survival gear, your kid’s toys and sport equipment isn’t really necessary if you are only driving to work and straight back home and it doesn’t take hours upon hours to reach the office. Of course things like a first aid kit, spare tire, tools, some food and water, a change of clothes, some makeup or a gun are all perfectly acceptable – things like these represent necessary weight. If it is important for your safety and survival, then keep it in the car, but all unnecessary junk should be thrown on a shelf in the garage.
3. Offer to drive friends and coworkers
Another example of additional weight being good is if you are driving someone else, because then that little bit of additional fuel consumption will be much less overall than if you and three of your colleagues all drove separate cars to work. If you don’t feel like drinking or can’t because of medicine, offer to be your friends’ designated driver for the night. If you and your husband/wife work relatively close you can drive together and pick them up after work. If you are going to see a movie with friends, have one friend pick you all up and you can chip in for the gas. There are many opportunities to like these where you can drastically lower overall emissions within a group, so keep your eyes open and suggest such deals to your friends – the designated driver spot can be filled by a different person every week.
4. Sit down and map out your journey
Whether it is your daily commuting or a big trip with family and friends, you can benefit greatly if you have preselected the most efficient route. You get there faster, so less time on the road means less stress and emissions. In this modern age, you really don’t have an excuse for not looking up the different restaurants, fast food joints and stores between your house and your job, and trying to find the shortest route that will enable you to get some food going to work, or buy some groceries or supplies when coming home from work.
Assuming that your car is working fine, by sticking to these four little rules you will greatly help the environment – lowering your emissions and getting your friends and family involved as well – while at the same time making sure that you have a bit more money to spend on the finer things in life.
Damian has been a guest blogger and freelance writer since 2010. He enjoys in writing about business, finance, cars and life. Damian currently works on a volvo parts project, defining future strategy to increase online visibility.