Green Driving Tips

How you drive is as important as the type of vehicle you drive. Follow green driving tips to conserve fuel and reduce harmful emissions.

Green driving tips:

  • Avoid “jack rabbit” starts and aggressive driving. Flooring the gas pedal wastes gas. It also leads to drastically higher pollution rates. One second of high-powered driving produces a massive volume of carbon monoxide emissions. The volume is almost the same as a half hour of normal driving.
  • Think ahead. Try to anticipate stops and let your vehicle coast down as much as possible. Avoid accelerating hard and braking hard. Accelerating and breaking hard:
    • Increases pollution
    • Wastes gas
    • Wears on your brakes
  • Follow the speed limit! Driving 75 mph instead of 65 mph will lower your fuel economy by about 10 percent. This speed can dramatically increase tailpipe pollution in many vehicles.
  • When possible, plan your trips to avoid rush hour. Stop-and-go driving burns gas and increases emissions of smog-forming pollutants.
  • Combine trips. Warmed-up engines generate much less air pollution. Combining several short trips into one makes a big difference.
  • Take a load off. Carrying an extra 100 pounds reduces fuel economy by about 1 percent. Take a few moments to unload your cargo area.
  • If your vehicle has it, use overdrive gear at cruising speeds. When driving a manual transmission, shift up as soon as possible. Running in a higher gear decreases the rpm and will decrease fuel use and engine wear.
  • Try using the vents and opening windows to cool off before you turn on the air conditioner. Air conditioner use:
    • Increases fuel consumption
    • Increases NOx emissions in some vehicles
    • Involves environmentally damaging fluids

Unlike many older cars and trucks, modern vehicles don’t need to warm up. Modern vehicles have automatic chokes. You don't need to step on the gas pedal before starting the engine.

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