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Dear NASCAR-forget your environmental impact-SAVE THE RIGHT TURN!

November 19th, 2009

I think it is important for me to step away from the normal topic of my blog (going green) and bring up a topic that I feel needs to be addressed if we are to move forward as a people. NASCAR needs to start respecting the right orientation now. I started this topic with the intention of relating it to this week’s task of increasing driving efficiency, but looking through the various NASCAR tracks I noticed almost NO tracks where they could turn right. It appears that NASCAR is bigoted against the right turn and I am asking you to sign a petition for orientation equality! Save the right turn.

Yes to the Right Turn

I was trying to write an article that highlighted the horrible gas mileage (about 5 mpg) over long periods (about 500 miles) and not really going anywhere, but this obvious bias to the left turn kept on nagging at my soul! I think I even got to the part where they indicated between 9 and 14 sets of tires are used during a race, but then had to change my topic. NASCAR needs to stop being bigoted to the right turn!

There are many things that are wonderful about the right turn. Some of which are follows:

Could you even have a left without the right?
You can turn right on red lights.
This song would not be the same without the right orientation.
Most people would not be able to write without their right hands.
The loss of Righty Tighty / Lefty Loosey will cause hours of inefficiency and worldwide safety issues.

There are many other things that are wonderful about the right turn and NASCAR should act now to treat the right turn as an equal to the left turn. NASCAR might be turning over a new leaf and just starting to try and go green by putting someone in charge of green innovation, but I still think they should put someone in charge of right turn equality. Some may think it hard to excuse the 14,000 TON carbon footprint of the 2008 Daytona 500, but I think the obvious bias to turning left cannot be overlooked any longer and this is where the real outrage should be. Save the right turn!

People of the universe… join me in this great cause. Once I have collected as many signatures as possible, I will submit this to NASCAR along with this post.

We, the people of the universe, believe that you favor the left orientation and demand that the right turn be provided equality. The right turn is just as good as the left and want to see more right turns in NASCAR racing. Save the right turn!

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Posted in Air, Week 5 Driving

Tags: CO2 green nascar vehicles

Ashley’s tips for efficient driving and conserving fuel

November 18th, 2009

This week’s task, efficient driving, is somewhat new to me. I started researching it more when the gas prices were soaring way above my comfort level. I needed to make my tank of gas last longer between fill-ups. I came across an article in thedailygreen.com just around that time that talked about several ways you can conserve gas just by changing your driving behavior. You can save 10% on gas by utilizing these simple changes.

Ben already touched on some general car maintenance tips that will help save you gas, but I would like to go more into what I believe gives you a noticeable change in your gas consumption right away. Some of these things require some thought right away, but you eventually it becomes a part of the way you drive that you don’t even think about it anymore. First thing, pay attention to the traffic lights. If you notice that the light has turned yellow and you are still far enough away, take your foot off the pedal. This will slow you down enough, that you probably won’t have to break, and the light will turn green before you get there. This not only saves idling time, but also wear and tear on your breaks. Cost savings: 66-70 cents per gallon.

Second tip; don’t use your cars’ heat or air conditioning unless you absolutely need to. This last summer I don’t think I even used my air conditioner once. I opened the nice little window, and that worked enough to keep me comfortable. Also don’t idle your car. This incorporates warming up your car in the winter, which I am not sure if I believe it doesn’t help, but if I am planning on waiting over 30 seconds, I turn off my car.

Third tip; clean out your car. For every 100 extra pounds carried around, your vehicle loses 1 to 2% in fuel efficiency. Not only does this make your car easier to car-pool your favorite co-workers, but also saves you an extra 3 cents per gallon for every 100 pounds of junk removed.

Fourth tip; slow down. This has many facets to it. First don’t “jack-rabbit” start and stop. Rapid acceleration and breaking can decrease fuel economy by 33%. Also, mind the speed limit. You burn 10% more fuel at 65 mph than you do at 55. At 70 you lose 17%, and 75 mph you are 25% less fuel efficient. Ah-hem Ben! Mr. “I like to drive 80 mph to keep up with everybody else” Myhre. I also learned that there is an organization drive55.org that promotes this notion of staying at 55 mph or below will keep you safer and improve the fuel efficiency of your car dramatically.

A lot of things to teach yourself, but these things become a part of your driving habits quickly. Before I would fill up every 2 weeks; now that it’s colder, and I have implemented these new driving habits I have increased the amount of time between fill-ups by a week. If there is any other tips you have for improving the efficiency of your car, leave us a note in the section below.

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Posted in Air, Ashley's Posts, Week 5 Driving

Tags: driving fuel efficiency global warming greenhouse gas vehicles

If you drive efficiently you might save 2 tons of greenhouse gases this year

November 17th, 2009

This week’s task is to try and improve the environment through better driving. Since Ashley and I drive little Saturn vehicles, I did not think we could do a whole lot more to improve, but I was 100% wrong and astonished with the information I found. I understand that the less gas we use the less impact on the environment and will convey what I learned about a driver’s impact on the environment.

What is the impact that one gallon of gas has on the environment and why is it important to conserve gas? According to Slate, one gallon of gas equates to 19 pounds of greenhouse gases. The average person drives about 12,000 miles and Google.org indicates that the nation average mpg for trucks and cars are 19.8 mpg. This equates to 606 Gallons of gas per year or approximately 11,500 pounds of green house gases per person per year. If a person drives for 50 years, this ends up being 575,000 pounds or 287 tons of CO2 per driver over a lifetime. With over 190.5 million drivers in the US, this adds up to 2,190,750,000,000 pounds CO2/year or 109,537,500,000,000 pounds over a lifetime. Holy Greenhouse! This seems high to me and if anyone notices my math is messed up, please let me know!

OK, so now that I am dizzy with numbers, what can we do as one person? How about this short list:

Make sure your tires are filled. Properly inflated tires result in a savings of 20 gallons of gas every year or saves 380 lbs of greenhouse gases.
Keep your engine tuned. Using statistics found here (based on 12,000 and 19.8mpg), keeping your engine tuned can save you about 24 gallons of gas a year or 456 lbs of greenhouse gases
Drive sensibly. Aggressive driving lowers your mpg. The sited link indicates a driver can increase efficiency from 5-33%. Using an average of 15% (based on 12,000 and 19.8mpg), that is 91 gallons of gas or 1729 pounds of greenhouse gases.
Follow the speed limit. Apparently fuel efficiency dramatically drops after 60 mph. The link indicates a fuel economy benefit of between 7-23%, but I am just going to average it out at 10%. This ends up being 61 gallons or 1209 pounds of greenhouse gases.
Remove excess weight – Do you have extra heavy stuff hanging out in your car that could be removed? This can provide 1-2% fuel economy or about 12 gallons/228 pounds of greenhouse gases.
Avoid idling – You get 0 mpg if you are standing still.
Use your Cruise Control when appropriate – This will save you gallons on the highway.

Just by following these few simple tips, we can reduce our greenhouse gas output by 4002 pounds per year! Every driver can reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 2 TONS if they take just a few steps. Once again, the numbers I have found amaze me. I can be responsible for tons of waste spewing in the air. Over 50 years of driving, that is 100 tons of greenhouse gases.

To be proactive on this topic, I am going to act like my late grandpa (love and miss ya Ralph!) and start a log to keep track of my mileage. Like my grandpa, I am assuming that I will save boatloads of money every year, but possibly I am making a huge impact (or lack of) on the environment also. If you know of other things a person can do to increase mileage or have any additional information about my information, please post in the comments area below.