Mindful Driving Practices- Effective eco-friendly Tips for a healthy environment

If you are an informed driver, it is pretty much possible that every time you leave your driveway you think about the carbon footprint your vehicle is leaving on the environment. Though electric scooter is a good alternative, it is not suitable for every commute. Cars become necessary for longer commutes. To overcome the guilt consider following nature-friendly tips

• Lesser fuel consumption is the recipe for less carbon food print. For that matter, avoid jerky moves. Acceleration and deceleration should be effortless. Maintaining a constant speed and navigating through cruise controls are the measures that improve the fuel efficiency of cars thus leaving a lesser carbon footprint.
• Maintaining your vehicle well is another deliberate measure to cut your carbon footprint. More fuel is needed to cater to road resistance or friction between internal components of the car. Practical steps involve maintaining tyre pressure for minimum rolling resistance and regularly oiling the motor to achieve high efficiency of the engine.
• Moving your butts is always a good idea than standing in long drive-through lanes. You could try parking at nearby points and walk a few steps to catch the hamburger.
• Although sounds frugal switching off engines and lights is a wise practice if you know the waiting time is more than a minute.
• Natural air and sunlight are necessary for our well-being. Keeping windows open as a natural ventilating mechanism and relying minimally on the car’s heating and cooling system can save burning of fuel.
• Combining trips and, ride-sharing and carpooling are other practical measures that attain objectivity of reducing carbon footprint along with fuel cost saving.
• Limiting luggage or additional stuff like carriers or roof racks when not required also saves fuel. The weight being carried in a car is directly proportional to the amount of fuel burned.

You can track the carbon footprint of cars via a modern carbon footprint calculator easily available online

How do driving habits impact fuel consumption?

Rash driving involving sudden brake application, abrupt acceleration and deceleration can easily uplift fuel usage by 80% when driving in cities and by 40% on highways. This is incredibly insane. Higher speed affects fuel efficiency. The vehicle has to exert more fuel to resist the increasing aerodynamic pressure

Driving patterns dictate the amount of fuel burned. If you can think and plan you can contribute to mitigating carbon footprint. Now the question is how? Using Google Maps to assess traffic situations, avoiding rush hours, taking alternate routes, knowing road conditions for maintaining a constant speed throughout the journey, and using coasting technique to let the car decelerate on its own rather than applying brakes are effective habits that save a lot of fuel burning.

Data validating the reduction of CO2 via eco-friendly practices

According to various studies about carbon footprint mitigating strategies are believed to have a profound impact on the environment. The data suggests that A simple practice of coasting when stopping the vehicle and maintaining a constant speed can give you savings on carbon dioxide emissions and a fuel saving of 10%. (Source: Research from the journal “Energy Policy”.

Regular maintenance of the vehicle and proper tune-ups can save the environment up to 25% from hazardous emissions of particulate matter and Nitrogen oxides. (Source: A study carried out by ICCT, International Council on Clean Transportation.

The fuel efficiency of cars goes up by 3% merely by maintaining the correct air pressure of tyres. This way one can save the environment from hundreds of pounds of CO2 annually. (Source: Data provided by EPA, The United States Environmental Protection Agency)

Electric vehicles when powered by sustainable energy sources have a profound impact on the environment. Electric and hybrid vehicles emit substantially fewer GHGs as compared to gasoline cars(Source: Studies conducted by IEA, International Energy Agency and UCS, Union of Concerned Scientists).