The Green Life: Guide to the Green Life: Commute Green

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Pump ‘em up

When second-grader Savannah Walters studied the arctic and its animals, she learned that if every American kept their tires properly inflated, they could save more gas than we would get by drilling in the arctic.

Americans waste four million gallons of gas every day just by failing to check their tire pressure. Savannah wondered why we would keep wasting gas and looking for more when we could just pump up our tires, and she began an awareness campaign.

In an effort to make checking tires simple, Savannah and her volunteers give out free tire gauges to people across the country. Now young volunteers can download the information they need to start Pump 'em Up chapters in their own communities.

Check out Savannah’s website to learn more about the project, and www.pumpemup.org

Get More from Your Miles

Be a Better Driver

Driving your car responsibly can do a great deal to improve your fuel efficiency. Cars are manufactured to drive most efficiently at 60 miles per hour. Any faster, and you are just burning gas. Depending on your car’s fuel efficiency, you lose anywhere from seven percent to 23 percent of your fuel efficiency for every five miles per hour over 60, according to the EPA and the US Department of Energy. So, driving 65 miles per hour can cost as much as $.62 per gallon more.

Other poor driver actions, such as gunning the engine and slamming on the brakes can lower gas mileage from five percent to 33 percent, or as much as $.90 per gallon. This is in addition to the biggest benefit of driving more responsibly: decreased chance of a serious accident.

Clean Up and Tune Up

Taking good care of your car can save you and your environment. Even if your car could have better gas mileage, you can improve it quite a bit by keeping your car in good working condition. Here are a few examples of the difference you can make with simple, regular maintenance.

*Properly pumping up your tires can inflate mileage three percent, or $.08 cents per gallon (see sidebar)

*Cleaning your clogged air filters improves mileage by ten percent, for a savings of $.27 per gallon.

*Fixing a faulty exhaust-pipe oxygen sensor can save you 40 percent, or $1.80 per gallon.

(source: US DOE and EPA)

Drive a Better Car

If you drive a gas guzzler, you’ve probably already been thinking of upgrading to a hybrid. Although hybrids do cost more than comparable gas-only cars, consider the savings:

A hybrid uses as little as $589 per year in gas, compared to $1,453 for a sedan and $1,831 for a standard SUV. Also, if you buy this year, you get a tax break of up to $3000 for buying a new hybrid. This is in addition, of course, to the benefit to our planet.

Toyota's Prius has become the model for fuel-efficient cars. Every major car manufacturer now either has on the market or has plans for a hybrid.

The hybrid industry exploded along with gas prices in 2005. Now, most major automakers are producing or promising hybrids to make up for their losses in SUV sales. This is good news, but it shouldn’t be the end of automaker’s responsibility. We need to push for greater fuel efficiency and more use of renewable resources in car design. When you’re in the market for a new car, make fuel efficiency one of your top priorities. Car manufacturers are already recognizing that SUVs are on the way out, and lighter, smaller, fuel efficient cars are on the way in. Let’s make sure it isn’t just a passing trend.

For more information on climate change: World Resources Institute,
Union of Concerned Scientists

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