How Is The Gas Mileage

The first way you can determine how environmentally friendly your car is would be to see how many miles per gallon your car gets. Going to the pump more often generally means that your car burns gas quickly and can be putting out a lot more carbon and other pollutants into the air. Increasing your gas mileage could entail some easy corrections such as properly inflating tires and changing your braking habits. If that doesn’t work, it might be time to get a new car.

What Does Your Car Run On

A car that runs on clean diesel is generally going to be better on the environment than a car that runs on just gas. A hybrid car is also going to be better because some of its power supply comes with electricity. Cars that run on just gasoline are going to have the most noticeable consequences on the environment as fossil fuels tend to do more damage to the air.

How Well Is The Car Maintained

Proper maintenance of your car can make it easier for the environment to take. Just by maintaining your car properly, you can effect the environment. Make sure that everything is working properly in your car as that can effect emissions significantly. Check your exhaust system and keep your car clean of debris and other objects that can get caught in your air systems. Any broken or clogged parts can reduce gas mileage and increase emissions unnecessarily. A quick tune-up can reduce your carbon footprint and make your car more environmentally friendly.

How Old Is Your Car

Older cars are going to have less efficient emissions systems and may get lower gas mileage. A car that was built in the 90′s might be lucky to get between 20-30 miles per gallon. Certain bigger cars especially struggle with getting decent gas mileage. An older car will also have more wear and tear on it that can cause it to emit more than it should.

There are many ways to tell if your car is environmentally friendly. Consider the gas mileage it gets and also consider how well maintained the car is. A clean diesel or hybrid car is going to be better for the environment than pure gas simply because it is cleaner when emitted.

Miles Walker is a freelance writer who normally writes feature articles on car insurance quotes for CarInsuranceComparison.org. He recently wrote about New Hampshire car insurance.

Green Living

• Green Car Maintenance? Have A Green Car By Maintaining It The Green Way!

Regular Care And Maintenance Of Your Car

It’s important that you regularly measure your tire pressure. This has a two-fold benefit:

1. When the tire pressure is at the optimum level you actually use 15% less gas.

2. You increase the life of your tires by 15%.

Change your oil every 3,000 to 4,500 miles if you make short runs under 6 miles at a time, if you frequent city traffic with many stops and starts, if your car tows a trailer or heavy load regularly, or if you drive in salty, sandy or dusty conditions.

If your oil isn’t changed often enough this can result in advanced engine wear and tear with the loss of fuel economy and overall performance which means accelerated oil consumption and with it, increased carbon emissions. Doing this on a regular basis will not only extend the life of your engine but keep your car in optimum working condition while helping it burn less fuel.

Check and replace windscreen wipers when the rubber in them has worn out, if you don’t, not only will they be ineffective, but they may also scratch the windscreen causing you to replace them earlier and pay more money in the long term.

Water Conservation

Most people aren’t aware that how they clean their car can be almost as important to the environment as how you maintain it. It only takes 1 quart of oil in our waterways to contaminate 1 million quarts of water so it pays to know what we’re putting into our storm water drains.

Before you wash your car, especially as it gets toward those summer months, are there any water restrictions currently in place? Car washing is likely to be out if your area is experiencing drought conditions and will likely to be the first activity to be restricted.

Hosing your car while on your driveway should be avoided because not only does it waste water but it introduces dirt, grease, detergents, oil and gas residue into storm water drains eventually ending up in our river systems which gradually make their way into our oceans, the very oceans that we depend upon for our survival.

Instead, place your car on a grassy area to minimize the amount of water run-off.

Using biodegradable vegetable oil based soaps to wash your car are a good option as they readily breakdown if any runoff escapes down storm water drains. If you opt to use car shampoos always wash your car on your lawn as these types of shampoos usually contain phosphates similar to those found in fertilizers. The reason why this is a disadvantage is because it artificially introduces nutrients to photosynthetic algae where there otherwise would not have been, enabling them to overgrow clogging natural waterways and killing marine life by overwhelming entire ecosystems. You can opt to use phosphate free alternatives in place of the regular kind.

It’s ironic that manufacturers include this component to their cleaning products knowing that it will eventually end up in our waterways, tighter regulation needs to be put in place while a ban on phosphates in all cleaning products become a reality. The positive outlook is that at the state level change is gradually taking place. Through greater awareness policy-makers are working to ban the use of phosphates in cleaning products with the state of Virginia joining the cause to phase out the use of phosphate based cleaning products by 2010.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/03/10/AR2008031002744.html

Using a sponge and bucket or a watering can takes a little more time than using a hose but can save a lot more water, in fact using a hose to wash your car uses four to five times more water than a humble bucket and sponge alone. This is because when using a hose you’re unaware of the volume of water you use, however a set amount of water as you would when using a bucket not only saves on your water bill but you save our greatest precious resource in the process.

Don’t let water go to waste. Using “grey” water to wash your car can get maximum usage out of the same water. Grey water is typically water that has been recycled from the other processes such as water from your laundry for example. Collect the water in a bucket as it drains off during a rinse cycle to wash your car with. This ensures you get double the use from the same batch of water.

Washing your car in the shade ensures slower evaporation, helping conserve water and avoids telltale streaks on the paint finish.

Eliminate the use of expensive chemical finishing treatments. Armed with a simple chamois with some good old vigorous polishing is the best way to achieve a streak free finish.

By having a green car through eco conscious methods will not only ensure you save money but will extend the life of your car too.

Green Living

• How Environmentally Friendly Is Your Car?