Treehugger on green driving

by Jo-ann Hodgson in Your car on 04.08.08

Michael Graham Richard, cars and transportation editor at Treehugger.com, gives his advice on how to cut your driving emissions.

How much money do you think the average UK driver wastes per year by failing to run their car in a fuel-efficient way?

I don’t have these numbers, but I do know that the average driver could easily improve their fuel economy and thus save a lot of money. Part of the problem is that most people have no idea what kind of mileage they are getting. One of the things that make hybrid-car drivers more efficient is that big screen with lots of feedback. This shows the driver what he or she is doing right and wrong, creating a virtuous cycle of improvement.

What models or specifics of car would you suggest to those looking to reduce their carbon footprint and cut the costs of driving?

If you can do it, the real answer here is to live closer to work and to the places you need to go so that you drive less, or can walk, bike or take public transit. But if that’s not possible, you should make a realistic list of your needs and then do some research to find the most fuel-efficient vehicle that fills those needs. It will be different for different people.

How can vehicle maintenance reduce carbon emissions and driving costs?

Out of tune cars can sometimes produce more smog-forming emissions or burn fuel less efficiently. One simple maintenance tip is to keep your tyres properly inflated to reduce rolling resistance – just imagine pedelling on a bicycle with flat tyres to get the idea of how much more energy is required.

What would be your top five eco-driving tips?

• Plan ahead. By combining trips, carpooling, etcetera, you can reduce the number of kilometers you drive.
• Drive at a relatively constant speed – constantly braking and accelerating burns more fuel.
• Avoid excessive idling – you get zero miles per gallon when idling.
• Remove unnecessary weight from the car. Don’t have a full trunk if you don’t need what’s in it.
• Keep speed down. That doesn’t mean driving slowly, but on the highway, try to keep your engine in its RPM sweet spot – it will be different from car to car, but lower is better.

What are the most common avoidable driving behaviours that cost both the environment and motorists?

Reverse the list above.

What can the UK Government do to help motorists reduce their carbon emissions and fuel bills, without further increasing the tax burden?

Some are proposing to tax pollution/carbon and use that revenue to cut income and business taxes so that overall, it is revenue neutral. That would probably be effective because on average, when you tax something, you get less of it; do we really want less work?

How successful and practical are car-share schemes and is there anything you feel could be done to improve such initiatives?

In urban areas, car-sharing is very successful and has saved some people enormous amounts of money at a very small cost to convenience. I think that these initiatives will get better as they acquire more members. Economies of scale will allow them to have better vehicle fleets and more sophisticated technology to manage it all.

What do you think prevents motorists from investigating and adopting eco-driving measures?

It simply wasn’t very high on people’s priority list until recently, but this is changing because of high oil prices and concerns about global warming. Now the challenge is to make the information available so that people can make good decisions. For many it can be confusing and hard to separate greenwashing from the real deal.

 IMAGES by Flickr users Per Ola Wiberg, Bob Jagendorf and Sir Mervs