Make your car greener
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Green Up Your Old Car So maybe your well-loved box-on-wheels car has seen better days. (If it’s the same car you drove in college, it’s probably seen some pretty bad days, too.) It was around before being environmentally friendly was a “thing”; maybe it was around before the environment itself. It’s stuck around for you—don’t ditch it just yet. Before you go out looking for a bright, shiny, new eco-friendly model, consider this: in 2004, Toyota calculated that up to 28% of a typical, gasoline-powered car’s total CO2 emissions occur during its manufacture and transportation to the dealer. That’s a lot of carbon dioxide. (This is not a guilt trip – it’s science!) Turning the lights off when you leave the room, keeping reusable shopping bags on hand, composting your food waste—no matter your level of eco-commitment, there are plenty of things you can do to make your existing car more eco-friendly. Whether you’re a DIY fiend or just looking to save a buck, doing just one of these things will earn you plenty of good eco karma. Go to a good mechanic / auto body shop. This is more drive-it-yourself than traditional DIY, but it’s important to have a qualified mechanic service your car. - Have new spark plugs installed. - Check your oxygen sensor. If it’s faulty, you might need a new catalytic converter and exhaust system. On the bright side, there won’t be unidentifiable black stuff coming out of your exhaust pipe. - Replace your air filters regularly with high-flow options. Replacing clogged filters can up your mileage by up to 10% and will keep your engine chug-chug-chugging for much longer. (If you’re familiar with under-the-hood operations, you can probably do this yourself.) - Replace your fuel filter. (Again, you could probably DIY if you have some familiarity with your car’s setup.) - When your oil is changed (by you or the mechanic), choose synthetic oils with energy-conserving compounds. (They’ll be labeled as “Energy Conserving” by the American Petroleum Institute. Can’t miss ‘em.) Make your own biodegradable car washing soap.
Transcript of Make your car greener
Green Up Your Old Car
So maybe your well-loved box-on-wheels car has seen better days. (If it’s the same car you drove in college, it’s probably seen some pretty bad days, too.) It was around before being environmentally friendly was a “thing”; maybe it was around before the environment itself. It’s stuck around for you—don’t ditch it just yet.
Before you go out looking for a bright, shiny, new eco-friendly model, consider this: in 2004, Toyota calculated that up to 28% of a typical, gasoline-powered car’s total CO2 emissions occur during its manufacture and transportation to the dealer. That’s a lot of carbon dioxide. (This is not a guilt trip – it’s science!)
Turning the lights off when you leave the room, keeping reusable shopping bags on hand, composting your food waste—no matter your level of eco-commitment, there are plenty of things you can do to make your existing car more eco-friendly. Whether you’re a DIY fiend or just looking to save a buck, doing just one of these things will earn you plenty of good eco karma.
Go to a good mechanic / auto body shop.
This is more drive-it-yourself than traditional DIY, but it’s important to have a qualified mechanic service your car.
- Have new spark plugs installed.- Check your oxygen sensor. If it’s faulty, you might need a new catalytic
converter and exhaust system. On the bright side, there won’t be unidentifiable black stuff coming out of your exhaust pipe.
- Replace your air filters regularly with high-flow options. Replacing clogged filters can up your mileage by up to 10% and will keep your engine chug-chug-chugging for much longer. (If you’re familiar with under-the-hood operations, you can probably do this yourself.)
- Replace your fuel filter. (Again, you could probably DIY if you have some familiarity with your car’s setup.)
- When your oil is changed (by you or the mechanic), choose synthetic oils with energy-conserving compounds. (They’ll be labeled as “Energy Conserving” by the American Petroleum Institute. Can’t miss ‘em.)
Make your own biodegradable car washing soap.
Avoid spending $20 on a voluntary, 10-minute battle with claustrophobia…ahem, the crazy chemicals at the automatic car wash. You can make your own soap for less money and adrenaline.
Combine 1 cup eco-friendly liquid dish soap, 1.5 cups eco-friendly powder laundry detergent, and 3 gallons of eco-friendly water (just kidding, normal water is fine). Wash away your troubles…or just dirt and dust.
Make your own natural air freshener.
For an extra defense against whatever lurks between your back seats, you can make a DIY air freshener that does not smell like chemicals or pine extract.
Just grab some scrap fabric and cut it into an inventive (or predictable) shape. Find a piece of cardboard, cut it into the same shape, and glue the fabric to it. Finally, soak the whole thing in your favorite essential oil. (Word to the wise: you might want to let this air out for a bit after soaking, unless you want your dear old Volvo/Honda/Buick and everything in it to reek of said scent.) When the scent gets weak, you can just re-apply the essential oil. Easy.
There’s definitely an app for this.
If you have a smart phone (which may or may not have about as much market value as your car), use it to keep tabs on your car’s efficiency.
TrackYourGasMileage.com and MPGTune.com will help you keep track of your car’s gas mileage.
FuelEconomy.gov has fuel efficiency stats for lots of cars dating back as far as 1985. You might be surprised at how fuel-efficient your car can be!
How ‘bout it?
Do you feel a little better giving your world-weary old car a few more years? If you keep up with maintenance, you’ll save a good bit of money on gas and repairs—and you’ll spare Mother Earth tons (but actually, tons) of CO2 emissions.
