Drive Greener on the Cheap and Easy Plan

Drive Greener on the Cheap and Easy Plan

By Mac Demere, Contributor

Doing good doesn’t have to cost a lot.

Drivers can take many low-cost actions to limit automotive air pollution and help the environment. Some will even save money.  Most are common sense, but, sadly, often ignored in today’s hurry-up world. Here’s a rundown of the top ways to help reduce your automotive footprint without demolishing your bank account.

Slow down. The most productive thing you can do to increase fuel economy, and reduce closely related tailpipe emissions is to slow down. It’s surprising how much worse gas mileage is at 75 miles per hour  than at 65. That’s because wind resistance increases at the square of the speed. Translation: Going a little faster hurts mileage a bunch.

Driving at more than 60 mph in most cars means you’re probably not getting optimum fuel mileage. Some large SUVs make their best mileage around 50 mph. Driving slower also makes your vehicle’s parts last longer: There also will be less tire and brake dust in the air and less energy spent on building replacement components. Go Surfing.   For years, we’ve been admonished to combine errands to save fuel and reduce air pollution. Except for Eagle Scouts skilled in orienteering, this was difficult advice to follow.

Today, several free internet mapping sites make it easy to plan an efficient multi-stop route. You may have to tweak the order a bit to, say, avoid a hazardous left-hand turn or make the supermarket the last stop, but if you're willing to surf the Intenet, you'll find thart the tools are there. And they’re getting better and easier to use.

Embrace Inflation. You’ll get only a small boost in mileage with properly inflated tires. But they’ll last longer and that reduces the energy and resources needed to build more and to find final resting places for the nylon, Aramid, steel, and other tire components -- many of them toxic -- that can take centuries to decompose.

So inflate your tires. Over-inflate them, in fact,  to 3-5 pounds per square inch ( psi) of pressure above what  your automaker recommends. (You can find a car-maker’s suggested tire pressure in the owner’s manual or on a plate usually mounted on the driver side door jamb.

Here’s how to prove to yourself and your friends that it’s good to run your tires slightly above the recommended pressure: Inflate your tires at 35 psi some afternoon when the outside temperature is 80 degrees. Early the next morning, check them again. Every 10-degree drop in ambient temperature overnight lowers tire pressure about 1 pound, so if you measure on a 50-degree morning, the tire gauge will read about 32 psi.

Check Often. Inaccurate pressure gauges and normal air loss can kill tires quickly, so check you pressure often.

I once had an expensive gauge that was optimistic by 3 psi. When it said 35 pounds,  the true pressure was really only 32. Also, even the most diligent tire checker occasionally can forget the monthly pressure check , and  many tires will lose almost  a pound of pressure over a 30-day period.

Add up the result of an optimistic gauge, a two month hiatus between pressure checks and a 30 degree drop in temperature overnight and the recommended 35 psi you thought your tires were maintaining becomes a marginal 28 psi. That’s nearing the danger zone.

Tire engineers say that its far better to have the pressure slightly high than to run them even one pound too low.

Lower resistance.  When replacing tires, look for those boasting “low-rolling resistance”.

They are designed to help increase gas mileage. (There’s no free lunch though, these tires often have reduced grip on wet streets.) If your car’s selling point was excellent fuel-mileage, then it likely came with low rolling-resistance tires.

To maintain the same fuel economy, replace worn-out rubber with the identical tires, right down to the part number. To change your existing rubber to low rolling resistance tires, search tire companies’ websites (or call their customer-service numbers) to find tires that claim low-rolling resistance or increased mileage.

Maintain.  A properly maintained vehicle not only emits fewer tailpipe emissions, it is less likely to have a parts failure that will dump toxic fumes into the air and/or hazardous fluids into the water supply. Your vehicle should never leak anything (except clear water from the air conditioning system): Even a drop or two of oil or transmission fluid adds up quickly.

If your vehicle is more than seven years old, it probably needs new radiator and heater hoses. A burst hose will leave you stranded and foul the ground with a sweet-smelling liquid that will poison an animal that licks it. The spilled anti-freeze also   will carry heavy metals it picked up inside the engine as it gradually washes into nearby streams.

Worn-out shocks and suspension components or a misaligned suspension quickly wears out tires and decreases fuel efficiency.

Remember this mantra: It’s not cheap to properly maintain a vehicle, but not maintaining it is expensive.

Stretch.  Extend the time between oil changes to at least as long as your automaker recommends: That’s 10,000 miles or more for some cars.

Advocates of 3,000-mile oil-change intervals say such frequency is cheap insurance, but the result is that much more oil has to be pumped out of the ground, processed and, we hope recycled when changed. And If you regularly drive for 20 minutes or  more without stopping, you’ll be getting your engine’s oil hot enough to boil off moisture and combustion by-products. That makes it safe to follow your automaker’s recommended oil change interval and maybe even go a bit farther, especially if you use synthetic oil.

Hey, big spender. If you’ve got more wiggle room in the budget and really want to help the environment,  dump your old vehicle for a newer, more fuel-efficient car that meets the latest emission standards.

Photos Courtesy of iStockPhoto

John O'Dell:  is an AutoObserver Senior Editor. Follow @AutoObserver on Twitter.