Check your tires weekly to make sure they’re properly inflated.

Proper inflation can improve gas mileage by more than 3%. Since every gallon of gasoline saved keeps 20 pounds of carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere, every increase in fuel efficiency makes a difference!

Background Information

A tire-pressure gauge is a pressure gauge used to measure the pressure of tires on a vehicle. Since tires are rated for specific loads at certain pressure, it is important to keep the pressure of the tire at the optimal amount. Tires are rated for their optimal pressure when cold, meaning before the tire has been driven on for the day and allowed to heat up, which ultimately changes the internal pressure of the tire due to the expansion of gasses. Many modern cars such as the Cadillac SRX and Jeep Liberty now come with a built in tire pressure sensors that allows for all four tire pressures to be read simultaneously from inside the car.

As of 2005 most on board TPMS utilized indirect pressure monitoring. The anti-lock brake sensors detect one tire pulling more than the rest and indicate a low tire pressure to the driver. Most owners only check their tire pressure when they realize that their tire is nearly flat, which can negatively affect ride quality, fuel consumption and car safety. By 2007 all new automobiles below 10,000 pounds sold in the United States will be required to incorporate a direct pressure measurement for each tire. The driver must be notified if any tire is underflated by 25% or more than the rated placard[1] tire pressure. Most owner’s manuals recommend checking tire “gauge” pressure (cold inflation pressure) at least once a week at vehicle start. Environmental conditions can introduce a 13% to 15% variability in pressure due to temperature (0C to 40C), and additional changes can result due to altitude. Most car owner manuals do not state rated pressure as a function of temperature or altitude and leave it to the user to make appropriate measurements.

Drive carefully and do not waste fuel

You can reduce CO2 emissions by readjusting your driving style. Choose proper gears, do not abuse the gas pedal, use the engine brake instead of the pedal brake when possible and turn off your engine when your vehicle is motionless for more than one minute. By readjusting your driving style you can save money on both fuel and car mantainance.

Background Information

The emissions produced by a vehicle fall into three basic categories:

1. Tailpipe emissions: This is what most people think of when they think of vehicle air pollution; the products of burning fuel in the vehicle’s engine, emitted from the vehicle’s exhaust system. The major pollutants emitted include:
Hydrocarbons: this class is made up of unburned or partially burned fuel, and is a major contributor to urban smog, as well as being toxic. They can cause liver damage and even cancer.
Nitrogen oxides (NOx): These are generated when nitrogen in the air reacts with oxygen under the high temperature and pressure conditions inside the engine. NOx emissions contribute to both smog and acid rain.
Carbon monoxide (CO): a product of incomplete combustion, carbon monoxide reduces the blood’s ability to carry oxygen and is dangerous to people with heart disease.
Carbon dioxide (CO2): although this is a product of the complete combustion of hydrocarbons, is plentiful in the atmosphere, has no immediate harmful effects to humans and is essential to plant life, emissions of carbon dioxide are considered a pollutant because it is a significant greenhouse gas and increasing its levels in the atmosphere contributes to global climate change.

2. Evaporative emissions: These are produced from the evaporation of fuel, and are a large contributor to urban smog, since these heavier molecules stay closer to ground level. Fuel tends to evaporate in these ways:
Gas tank venting: the heating of the vehicle as the temperature rises from the night-time temperature to the hottest temperatures of the day mean that gasoline in the tank evaporates, increasing the pressure inside the tank above atmospheric pressure. This pressure must be relieved, and before emissions control it was simply vented into the atmosphere.
Running losses: the escape of gasoline vapors from the hot engine.
Refuelling losses: these can cause a lot of hydrocarbon vapor emission. The empty space inside a vehicle’s tank is filled with hydrocarbon gases, and as the tank is filled, these gases are forced out into the atmosphere. In addition, there is loss from further evaporation and fuel spillage.

3. Life cycle emissions: These are produced in activities associated with the manufacturing, maintenance, and disposal of the automobile and include such items as:
Manufacturing plant power requirements
Volatile solvents utilized in the manufacturing process (auto paint finishes, etc)
Outgassing of synthetic materials utilized to reduce weight and simplify manufacturing
Maintenance requirements such as oil and filter changes, battery replacement, etc.
Disposal requirements including contaminated lubricants, tires, heavy metals, and landfill

Significant reduction of emissions by incrasing driving efficiency come from:

• driving technique (some 10-30% reduction)
• unobstructed traffic conditions
• cruising at an optimum speed for the vehicle
• reducing the number of cold starts

Keep your car tuned up

Regular maintenance helps improve fuel efficiency and reduces emissions. When just 1% of car owners properly maintain their cars, nearly a billion pounds of carbon dioxide are kept out of the atmosphere.

Background Information

Fuel efficiency sometimes means the same as thermal efficiency, that is, the efficiency of converting energy contained in a carrier fuel to kinetic energy or work.

Fuel efficiency can also mean the output one gets for a unit amount of fuel input such as “miles per gallon” or “liters per 100 kilometres” (l/100 km) for an automobile (sometimes called fuel economy). Here, vehicle-miles is the output, but for transportation, output can also be measured in terms of passenger-miles or ton-miles (of freight). While the thermal efficiency of petroleum engines has improved in recent decades, this does not necessarily translate into fuel economy of cars, as people in developed countries tend to buy bigger and heavier cars. Nowadays, a hybrid vehicle is more fuel efficient: that is, consumes less fuel (and produces less carbon dioxide grams) than a conventional vehicle with the same engine.

Non-transportation applications, such as industry, benefit from increased fuel efficiency, especially fossil fuel power plants or industries dealing with combustion, such as ammonia production during the Haber process.

When comparing fuel consumption, it should be borne in mind that the use of different kinds of fuels has different consequences in terms of air pollution, greenhouse gas emission, and depletion of resources. When considering electric power produced from nuclear power, there are nuclear wastes produced as well. One cannot automatically say that a form of transportation having a lower fuel consumption than another is necessarily “better”.

Vehicle inspection is a procedure mandated by national or subnational governments in many countries, in which a vehicle is inspected to ensure that it conforms to regulations governing safety, emissions, or both. Inspection can be required at various times, e.g., periodically or on transfer of title to a vehicle. If required periodically, it is often termed periodic motor vehicle inspection; typical intervals are every two years and every year.

In some jurisdictions, proof of inspection is required before a vehicle licence or license plate can be issued or renewed. In others, once a vehicle passes inspection, a decal is attached to the windshield, and police can enforce the inspection law by seeing whether the vehicle displays an up-to-date decal. In the case of a vehicle lacking a windshield (e.g., a trailer or motorcycle), the decal is typically attached to the vehicle body.

With regard to safety inspection, there is some controversy over whether it is a cost-effective way to improve road-traffic safety.[1][2]

Don’t leave an empty roof rack on your car.

This can increase fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by up to 10% due to wind resistance and the extra weight - removing it is a better idea.

Start a carpool with your coworkers or classmates

Sharing a ride with someone just 2 days a week will reduce your carbon dioxide emissions by 1,590 pounds a year. eRideShare.com runs a free national service connecting commuters and travelers.

Background Information

Carpooling (also known as ride-sharing, lift-sharing), is shared use of a car, in particular for commuting to work, often by people who each have a car but travel together to save costs and in the interest of other socio-environmental benefits mentioned below. There are sometimes special facilities for carpoolers, including designated pick-up points and high-occupancy vehicle lanes which are also at times opened up to designated cars with multiple riders. Carpool projects have been around in fairly structured form going back to the mid-seventies, and in recent years have begun to make much more extensive use of the internet and software support systems. With the recent advent of mobile phones and SMS, there is a push to integrate these technologies into more flexible systems on the web. Ride sharing is an alternative to get to and connect with people at other large events, such as music festivals and conferences.

Carpools may be formed through word of mouth by friends and colleagues, or through online carpooling services. There is also another system, car sharing, which is often mistaken with carpooling.

Reduce the number of miles you drive by walking, biking, carpooling or taking mass transit wherever possible.

Avoiding just 10 miles of driving every week would eliminate about 500 pounds of carbon dioxide emissions a year! Look for transit options in your area.

Eat less meat

Methane is the second most significant greenhouse gas and cows are one of the greatest methane emitters. Their grassy diet and multiple stomachs cause them to produce methane, which they exhale with every breath.

Background Information

http://johnmuir.ucdavis.edu/presentations/ccs2005/mitloehner.pdf

Buy organic foods as much as possible.

Organic soils capture and store carbon dioxide at much higher levels than soils from conventional farms. If we grew all of our corn and soybeans organically, we’d remove 580 billion pounds of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

Background Information

At first, organic food comprised mainly fresh vegetables. Early consumers interested in organic food would look for chemical-free, fresh or minimally processed food. They mostly had to buy directly from growers: “Know your farmer, know your food” was the motto. Personal definitions of what constituted “organic” were developed through firsthand experience: by talking to farmers, seeing farm conditions, and farming activities. Small farms grew vegetables (and raised livestock) using organic farming practices, with or without certification, and the individual consumer monitored.

Consumer demand for organic foods continues to increase, and high volume sales through mass outlets, like supermarkets, is rapidly replacing the direct farmer connection. For supermarket consumers, food production is not easily observable, and product labelling, like “certified organic”, is relied on. Government regulations and third-party inspectors are looked to for assurance.

A “certified organic” label is usually the only way for consumers to know that a processed product is “organic”.

In several surveys that have looked at smaller studies to build an overall comparison between conventional and organic systems of farming a general agreement on benefits has been built. In these surveys it has been found that:

• Organic farms do not release synthetic pesticides into the environment—some of which have the potential to harm local wildlife.
• Organic farms are better than conventional farms at sustaining diverse ecosystems, i.e., populations of plants and insects, as well as animals.
• When calculated either per unit area or per unit of yield, organic farms use less energy and produce less waste, e.g., waste such as packaging materials for chemicals.
• See “Organic FAQs” in the journal Nature for more details.[13]

One study found a 20% smaller yield from organic farms using 50% less fertilizer and 97% less pesticide.[14] Studies comparing yields have had mixed results.[15] Supporters claim that organically managed soil has a higher quality[16] and higher water retention. This may help increase yields for organic farms in drought years. One study of two organic farming systems and one conventional found that, in one year’s severe crop season drought, organic soybean yields were 52% and 96% higher than the conventional system and organic maize yields were 37% higher in one system, but 62% lower in the other.[17] Studies are also consistent in showing that organic farms are more energy efficient.[18]

Seek out and support local farmers markets

They reduce the amount of energy required to grow and transport the food to you by one fifth. You can find a farmer’s market in your area at the USDA website.

Links

USDA

Buy fresh foods instead of frozen.

Frozen food uses 10 times more energy to produce.

Background Information

Frozen food is food preserved by the process of freezing. Freezing food is a common method of food preservation which slows both food decay and, by turning water to ice, makes it unavailable for bacterial growth and slows down most chemical reactions.

Freezing only slows the deterioration of food and while it may stop the growth of micro-organisms, it does not necessarily kill them. Many enzyme reactions are only slowed by freezing. Therefore it is common to stop enzyme activity before freezing, either by blanching or by adding chemicals.

Foods may be preserved for several months by freezing. Long-term freezing requires a constant temperature of -18 °C (0 degrees Fahrenheit) or less. Some freezers cannot achieve such a low temperature. The time food can be kept in the freezer is reduced considerably if the temperature in a freezer fluctuates. Fluctuations could occur by a small gap in the freezer door or adding a large amount of unfrozen food.