Posted by Fiona Saiter on Nov.27, 2009

©iStockphoto.com - BeckyRockwood

You may think there is not much you can do about greening your car except for buying a hybrid but you would be wrong. There is so much you can do to make your car better for the environment. Read below for ways to green your car.

1. Tires

Make sure your tires have the right amount of pressure in them. If not you could be wasting $840 per year and 250 lbs of carbon dioxide, according to Alan Green of Raising Baby Green. You can fill your tires at the gas station and if you have a slow leak you can patch them. If all else fails replacing them will save you money and the environment, which will be worth it.

2. Air Filter

Keeping up on your car’s maintenance will help the environment. The air filter is one of the more simple ways you can maintain your car, one which can easily be done at home. In fact Alan Green states by keeping your air filter clean you save $130 per year or 800 lbs of carbon dioxide. Air filters need to be changed about every 15, 000 miles. Check your car’s manual to see what type of air filter you need to buy, it may be available at your all purpose store in the automobile section.

To change the air filter park in the shade and make sure you car is cooled down, pop the hood and make sure it is held up properly. On most modern cars the air filter will be located in a square or rectangular box near the engine. You can pop it open with a screw driver or butter knife. Then remove the air filter and examine it. If it looks dirty replace it with a new filter. Make sure to wipe out any dirt before replacing it. Once you learn to replace the air filter you won’t have to pay the huge mark up that oil lube places charge.

3. Don’t Carry Around Extra Weight

Going into the holiday season we don’t want to add on extra weight and we want to reduce it in our car too for maximum fuel efficiency. If you have to carry around something heavy don’t do it all the time and if you have extra seats in your car that you’re not using you may want to take them out and make your car lighter, and more fuel efficient.

4. Carpool

Share a ride when you can and it will save lots of pollution going into the air. You can find rides at ERideShare.com.

You can also borrow a car and many are hybrids from companies like zipcar.com. You simply sign up, reserve your car, drive it and return it. The company provides a gas card so you don’t have to pay for gas. By borrowing and driving a hybrid when you need to you are being kind to the Earth.

5. Public Transport

Use public transport when you can instead of driving. You can also walk when you just going up the road to the store for a few things or dropping the kids off at school if the walk is not too far from home. Rethink how you live and know that you don’t have to jump in the car for short trips. It’s better for your health, money and the earth to walk, run, ride a bike or use public transport instead of driving everywhere.

6. Avoid the Heat

By parking in the shade you will stop emissions from polluting the environment. You can save 4-7 degrees by staying in a shady spot. Another way to save is get gas in the evening or first thing in the morning. You will decrease the evaporation of gas into the atmosphere by pumping when it’s cool out. Also don’t fill gas up when it automatically shuts off or you could be creating more emissions into the environment; also look for gas stations that have a capture device which will stop fumes from escaping.

You can also save by opening the windows instead of using the air conditioning.

7. Do all Errands at Once

If you’re going to drive your car then do all of your running around at once. It is harder on the environment to keep warming up the car to run out for a quick trip. By combining all of your trips you save on gas, and help the Earth.

By following a few simple steps you can live a greener life with the car you have now and consider a hybrid or more fuel efficient car in the future when you are ready to purchase another vehicle.

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Posted under Eco-Friendly Ideas, Living.