Curbing Your Vehicle for the Environment

By: Oliver Truesdale

No matter how we look at it, just getting into our cars and turning them on can be destructive to our atmosphere.  But there are ways that we can be more conscious about vehicle use, starting with changing our purchasing habits.

Changing Purchasing Habits
As humans, we are most of us victims of impulse buying.  And more often than not, if we live in suburban communities, we drive to get what we want and think we need.  Re-thinking our impulses, or remembering what it is we crave, we can either avoid the cravings or stock up on things that we might want on that rainy day. 

Picking up items on a daily basis instead of doing weekly shopping or buying in bulk is another example of using our vehicles irresponsibly.  That short everyday drive creates emissions, along with considerable wear and tear on our cars as short distance drives are far more devastating to engines than going long distances.  If you are friendly with your neighbors, you can create a rotating shopping pool where each week one of you picks up items for the rest.  If you find yourself needing to shop for lightweight things often, take public transportation, or better yet, reacquaint yourself with walking or ride a bicycle with a basket.  The exercise will do you good. 

Our Addiction to Oil and its Health Ramifications
Often when oil prices begin to drop we get excited and back into our vehicles we go.  But oil is not an infinite resource, as we know by now.  Our addiction to oil has created enormous environmental problems, as each gallon of gas is equivalent to 20 lbs of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases. Besides carbon dioxide, our vehicles are emitting a plethora of toxic chemicals such as:

•    Nitrogen dioxide, which negatively effects our health over a long period of time while contributing to acid rain as well as eutrophication in coastal waters.
•    Sulfur dioxide contributes to pulmonary and respiratory problems and increases the acidification of our waterways.
•    Particulate matter such as soot is harmful to our respiratory system while being a potential cause of cancer.  Millions of people and animals die each year due to inhaling particulate matter.
•    Benzene is the precursor to the formation of fog and is carcinogenic to humans, plants, and aquatic life.
•    Formaldehyde is carcinogenic  for all life forms.
•    Polycyclic hydrocarbons have been singled out by the US department of Health and Human Services as chemicals that can be harmful to the skin and autoimmune system.

Studies conducted over the past several years show that vehicle exhaust creates hydrocarbon-based free radicals, which stay in atmosphere indefinitely. These free radicals are guilty of causing lung cancer, cardiovascular disease, and other physical problems, even with vehicle-installed catalytic converters that purport to break down pollutants.

By weaning ourselves away from oil and gas consumption, we not only help to heal the planet and its inhabitants, we also save ourselves a lot of money. 

Poor Driving Practices
Poor driving practices contribute to bad fuel economy. Driving badly can lower your mileage by up to a third, and this includes things like speeding, braking heavily, and accelerating too rapidly.  Keeping your car in idle mode burns way too much gas. Several countries have laws where motorists much stop their engines at red lights. Starting your car up too often is also not the best thing for your ignition system, so be judicious as to when idling is appropriate and when it is not.  Excess weight in your vehicle additionally causes more fuel use, so take out all the unessential items you have stored in your trunk or elsewhere to lighten your load. 

Tuning Up
Keeping your vehicle properly tuned is essential for cutting down on emissions.  This means attention to your idling speed, carburetor balance, spark plug performance, injection maintenance, fuel/air mixture, and distributor gap setting.  Keep your air filter clean as this will save up to 15% of your gas usage.  A worn air filter allows dirt into your engine, which cuts down on performance. Tires should be inflated appropriately, which means at least to your manufacturer's recommendation. Poorly inflated tires will cause drag on your vehicle, which is not only bad for driving efficiency, but dangerous. Using a high quality motor oil will help reduce friction, which means less gas usage. Make sure you are using the correct octane level for your vehicle. This is determined by how much fuel can be compressed before it ignites by spark. Ask your vehicle manufacturer or a knowledgeable mechanic for advice.

Cutting down on air-conditioning, heating, use of power seats and windows, and the like will also help with fuel efficiency. If you drive a stick vehicle, take it out of gear when going down hills. Be sure to stay in your correct gear range, as upper rev ranges consume more gas than lower ranges.   Every mile you avoid driving means you are saving approximately .59 lbs of greenhouse gas emissions per mile for a small car. If you drive a medium size car, this means 1.1 lbs, and if you drive an SUV, you save up to 1.57 lbs, which is substantial. 

By rethinking how we use our vehicles we can have a substantial effect on our environment in a multitude of ways. Through creative alternatives such as car-pooling, sharing buying tasks with neighbors, and discovering the joys of walking and cycling, we can find solutions without feeling deprived.

Oliver Truesdale is a frequent art critic whose interests also encompass finding ways to improve life through conscious living.