One Habit at a Time – Drive Less, Drive Cleaner

Drive less, drive cleaner. According to the April 20, 2007, San Francisco Chronicle, “Motor vehicles are the largest single source of U.S. air pollution, spewing smog-forming gases, microscopic particles, nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide and sulfur dioxide into the skies. The manufacture of automobiles and trucks, as well as the refining and distribution of gasoline and oil products, also pollute the air”.

Driving less is the goal. Here are some ideas about that, many of them from www.italladdsup.gov:

* Trip chain more often. It’s easy! Chances are, you’re already doing it – combining your errands into one trip. It helps you get things done quickly and it helps reduce traffic congestion and air pollution. When you first start a car after it’s been sitting for more than an hour, it pollutes up to five times more than when the engine’s warm.
* Take mass transit, share a ride or car pool. Even if you do it just once a week, you’ll reduce traffic congestion and pollution, and save money. The average driver spends over 50 cents per mile including ownership and maintenance. www.511.org is a great resource for Bay Area mass transit. The CalTain/BART station at Milbrae makes it easy to take BART to downtown San Francisco or to the SF airport. Have you ever ridden BART to an A’s game or CalTrain to a Giant’s game? What about VTA Light Rail from Mtn. View to downtown San Jose or the SJ airport? Try it, you might like it a lot!
* Have fun! Ride your bike, in-line skate or walk. It’s a great way to travel and it can help you and the air get into condition. CalTrain and VTA buses allow you to take bikes on board, so you can combine biking with mass transit to get to more places. See last month’s article for biking tips. Walking 10000 steps (4-5 miles) a day is one fitness guideline. Wear a pedometer and see if you can meet that goal.
* Telecommute. Work at home some days. You’ll save time and money, and reduce emissions and traffic congestion. Your boss may be more supportive that you think!

Driving cleaner also helps. Some of these tips are from www.csaa.com:

* Care for your car. Regular maintenance, tune-ups, changing the oil, replacing the air filter and checking tire inflation can improve gas mileage, extend your car’s life, reduce traffic congestion due to preventable breakdowns and may reduce your car’s emissions by more than half.
* Get fuel when it’s cool. Refueling during cooler periods of the day or in the evening can prevent gas fumes from heating up and creating ozone, thus helping reduce ozone alert days.
* Don’t top off the tank, which releases gas fumes into the air, cancelling the benefits of the pump’s anti-pollution devices.
* Accelerate gradually. Slamming on the gas burns more fuel and produces more emissions than gradually accelerating. Maintain steady speeds whenever possible.
* Obey the speed limit.  Going too fast wastes gasoline and really doesn’t save that much time.
* Remove excess weight. Check your trunk and remove unneeded items like tire chains and excess equipment and supplies. Remove rooftop carriers and racks when not being used.
* Use the air conditioner only when needed.  Air conditioning dramatically reduces fuel economy. Most air conditioners have an "economy" setting that allows the circulation of unchilled air. Many also have a "maximum" or "recirculation" setting that reduces the amount of hot outside air that must be chilled. Both settings can reduce the air conditioning load—and save gas and spare the air.

Automobile emissions are a huge part of the problem of global warming. Let’s see if we can be more mindful of how and when we are using our cars and try to reduce that usage.

First Presbyterian Church of Palo Alto
www.fprespa.org/coolplanet
July, 2007