Strategies for Reducing the Environmental Impacts of Transportation

Green Transportation

Strategies for Reducing the Environmental Impacts of Transportation

Choose as environmentally friendly a car as you can.

For most people, their choice of a vehicle is their single most significant environmental decision. Most people could find a car that gets twice as good gas mileage as their current one. That would have the same impact on gas use as reducing your driving in half and it usually be easier to do.

Even if it is not practical for you to buy a car that gets double the gas mileage of your current car, you should still think about the environment when purchasing your next car. Even small difference in gas mileage can make a big difference to the environment. For example, if you buy a minivan that gets 24 miles per gallon rather than one that gets 20 miles per gallon, that will represent a 20% improvement in gas mileage and a 20% reduction in greenhouse gas emissions. If you were to drive the minivan 15,000 miles in a year, you will use 125 fewer gallons of gasoline and produce 2,500 fewer pounds of carbon dioxide, the main contributor to global warming. You would also save about $200 on gasoline. Just imagine those extra 125 gallons of gasoline piled up in front of your house! And, over the multi-year life of the car, the annual differences in gas use and carbon dioxide emissions will really add up.

You can also consider purchasing one of the new hybrid-electric or electric cars on the market. Not only will this significantly reduce your own environmental impacts, but you will help ensure that these new vehicles are a commercial and economic success. The manufacturers of these vehicles are currently only producing a relatively small number of them, so purchases from a relatively small number of Americans will signal to the manufacturers that they need to produce more green vehicles in the future. If as few as several thousand–or even several hundred–people buy some of the new vehicles, they will be perceived as commercial successes and other manufacturers will be stimulated to produce similar. Click here for vehicles you can buy.

Think carefully about what type of vehicle you really need before you go out and purchase one. For example, if you are only going to be doing rugged off-road driving twice a year, do you really need a sport utility vehicle (SUV) or could you get by with a station wagon and then rent an SUV for those two special occasions? Are you interested in an SUV because its massive size makes it seem safe, even though accident records show that, because of poor handling, SUV’s generally do not end up being safer than standard cars? Could you find status and satisfaction in a cutting-edge environmentally sound hybrid-electric or electric battery car?

Drive Less

Most people know that it would be good for the environment to drive less, but it can be a hard thing to do. Cars are so convenient and it can seem like a burden to always be thinking about ways to avoid using them. To help motivate yourself to drive less, you can think of the financial benefits, as well as the environmental ones. Given just the costs of gasoline and car maintenance, you will save 10 cents or 20 cents or even more for every mile you don’t drive. Here are a few suggestions that may help:

If you move, choose a place to live that reduces the need to drive. When you are moving, you have an opportunity to make a one-time decision that will have a significant environmental payoff for as long as you are in your new home. Even if you can’t find a house or apartment that is in walking distance to your work or school, some of the possible choices will be in better locations than others. Some will be more or less convenient to mass transit or to shopping centers or to recreation. Try to figure out the total amount of driving you will have to do in the different possible places you could live. Even a 10% difference in the amount of driving will be environmentally significant.

Think twice before you purchase an additional car. Most households now own two cars, and quite a few own three or more. Sometimes that is necessary, but if you want the extra car only because it will be a little more convenient stop and consider two things. First, the mere purchase of a car harms the environment because it encourages the manufacturing of more automobiles. Second, not having an extra car will discourage you from making unnecessary car trips and force you to make more effective use of the car you have.

Give yourself a concrete goal and develop a strategy to reach that goal. You can start by figuring out how much you drive in a typical month or year. Then set a target of reducing your driving by perhaps 10%. Perhaps you could make every Thursday a car-less day, or you could eliminate one big trip each month.

Look for opportunities to carpool. With a little planning, you can probably find at least a few trips each month where you can drive with a friend, neighbor, or co-worker.

Whenever practical, walk, bicycle, and take public transportation. Before stepping into the car, try to think about whether the trip is one you could make conveniently with public transportation, walking, or biking.

Practice good driving and car maintenance habits.

Although the biggest factors in your environmental impact from cars are how much you drive and what vehicle you drive, you can also help the environment by keeping your car well maintained and using environmentally sound driving practices. Here are a few suggestions:

Maintain your car well. Regular tune-ups, changing the oil frequently, and keeping car emissions controls in good shape all reduce air pollution significantly. They also prevent your car's gas mileage from declining as it gets older and extends the life of the car.

Don't top off the tank. When you are at the gas station, don't try to squeeze those last few ounces of gas out of the pump. Topping off can spill gas on the ground and it release harmful gas vapors into the air.

Maintain proper tire pressure. Under-inflated tires reduce your car's gas mileage.

Try to avoid rush hours. Congested conditions with their slow speeds, frequent acceleration, and stop-and-go movement increase air pollution and greenhouse-gas emissions. So, if you can make your trip at a time when the roads are not crowded, it will be a less polluting one. In addition, traffic congestion represents a health hazard since drivers can be exposed to higher ozone and carbon monoxide levels.

Combine errands. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, When you first start a car after itÕs been sitting for more than an hour, it pollutes up to five times more than when the engine's warm." So, if you do your errands one after another, you will keep the engine warm and the air pollution emissions down.

Dispose of waste properly. Used motor oil, antifreeze, car batteries, and tires can all be bad for the environment if they are released into the environment. If you do your own maintenance, make sure you take the used materials to a safe disposal center in your community.