How to Green Your Car

So You Wanna Do More

Not content with just getting by? Go hardcore.

1. Speak up
Become an advocate for strong fuel-economy standards, better public transit, more bike lanes, better sidewalks, and more car-free areas in your city. Many communities are not designed for life without an automobile, but that can change with some good planning and political will.

2. Organize your coworkers
Get a ride--sharing network going at work. (Maybe you’ll even get a raise)

3. Good tires
Different tires affect MPG in different ways. When you’re in the market for new tires, look for the ones that help give you the best mileage. (And don’t forget about proper inflation!)

4. Push for congestion charges in downtown areas
Too many cars in the same area at the same time? Singapore, London, and Edinburgh, for example, all use congestion charging to tax cars that enter heavily congested areas during the workweek.

5. If you're the boss
If you are an employer, there’s almost no limit to the things you can do to encourage greener driving from your employees. A growing number of bosses are using rewards and perks to encourage employees to rideshare and drive hybrids or other fuel-efficient cars.

You can also subsidize passes for public transit, make your office bike friendly (anything from having good bike racks to having showers), and set a good example with your own transport choices. Facilitating telecommuting can also save on fuel, emissions, and time wasted commuting.

6. Start a biodiesel or veggie-oil coop
If biodiesel is not readily available in your area (or the local pump only sells B20), rally up the interested parties and start a cooperative. Los Angeles and many other cities have effective models running.

By the Numbers

Want the real deal? Here's where the rubber meets the road.

1. Keeping up on your car’s maintenance, things like regular oil changes, air-filter changes, and spark plug replacements can increase your MPG up to 25%.

2. The production of each car, on average, releases 4 tons of carbon emissions and nearly 700 pounds of other pollutants into the atmosphere.

3. In 2000, the U.S. produced 2 million gallons of biodiesel; in 2005 it produced around 75 million gallons. In September of 2006, sixty-five companies reported having plants currently under construction and thirteen more are planning expansions.

4. The average fuel economy of passenger cars peaked in 1987 when it was 22.1 miles per gallon for cars and light trucks. The EPA estimates that 2006 average fuel economy, despite two decades of improvements in automobile technology, is 21 mpg.

5. Switching from an average car to a 13 mpg SUV would use as much energy as leaving your refrigerator door open for six years. (Sierra Club)

6. The average rush-hour commuter spent 62 hours in traffic in 2000.

7. In small urban and rural areas, traffic and congestion is increasing 11% each year, which is twice as fast as in urban areas.

Each Summer, high levels of smog pollution lead to 159,000 trips to the emergency room, 53,000 hospital admissions, and 6 million asthma attacks.

The Sierra Club estimates that the average yearly cost of driving a single-occupant car is between $4,826 and $9,685, while the average cost of a year's worth of public transportation is between $200 and $2000.

Getting Techie

Not content with the high level? Here's the nitty gritty.

1. What is biodiesel, anyway?
Biodiesel, the common name for fatty acid alkyl esters, is a biological-based fuel that can substitute petroleum fuels in diesel engines. It can be made from virgin vegetable oil, animal fats, algae, or from recycled oils like those used by restaurants for deep-frying. Biodiesel burns cleaner than fossil fuel diesel and has less carbon monoxide, aromatic hydrocarbons, and particulate matter (soot). It does, however, release more nitrous oxide than regular diesel, a factor in smog.

Biodiesel is often called a carbon neutral fuel because while it does release carbon dioxide, it is the same carbon absorbed by the plant (or animal) source from which the fuel came. Fossil fuels, on the other hand, release carbon dioxide that could otherwise remain sequestered below the earth’s surface, out of the atmosphere.

2. And what’s veggie oil?
Diesel engines can also run on straight vegetable oil (SVO), but modifications are most often required. Since vegetable oil has a higher viscosity (is thicker), it needs to be heated before it can flow properly. A veggie oil conversion is a system that, in one of several ways, heats the vegetable oil to the appropriate temperature before burning it in the engine.

3. What is a plug-in hybrid?
A plug-in hybrid (PHEV) resembles a typical hybrid car but has additional battery capacity that allows it to travel significant distances on electric power alone. A PHEV functions like an electric vehicle for local driving, but has a gasoline motor which can kick in if the car’s charge is depleted. Plug-ins can get 100 miles per gallon or more but, unlike EVs, can always be refueled with gasoline if need be.

Currently, no car manufacturer sells a plug-in hybrid, but several companies are developing the technology and retrofit kits are available on the market for the Toyota Prius and the Ford Escape hybrids. A number of advocacy groups like CalCars and Plug-in America are also pushing hard to see plug-ins on the road. (See below for more)