Sustainable development blog : ecology and humanitarian aid

If you are worried about the price of gas (which is edging steadily upward again as we approach spring - just wait until summer!) and you care about the emissions coming out of your exhaust, you may want to consider your driving habits. The following video gives afew tips about how to be more ecologically-friendly when you drive.

I have some information too, from a friend of mine in California, who has basically been an "eco-driver" for years. His primary motivation, as he'll be the first to admit, is fuel economy, but the results of his own calculations are pretty impressive. Dave has been playing with the gas mileage on his Dodge Dakota pick up truck. "Compared to driving "with the pack", I made a strick rule about "Green Driving" (never exceed 60mph, slow to a stop when ever possible.....) and I find it saves between 10-15% on mileage," says Dave. "Filling up the 20 gallon tank on my truck saves 2 gal/fillup=2X2.60/gal=$5.20 each time I fill my truck's tank.  Green Driving saves more than "chump change". Dave figures that with careful driving he can get 26 mpg from his truck (whereas "normal" driving knocks it back to 22 mpg). Doing the math, if he drives 500 miles a week, he's saving 3.5 gallons of fuel a week (and at say $2.70 a gallon (wish those were Canadian prices) that's  $9.44 a week by driving in his words "laid back". "That works out to $37.77/month or $491.02 yearly," says Dave. "182 gallons of gas a year are saved. The Dakota is more like what average mileage is for most American cars. If a good portion of our drivers drove their cars and trucks "laid back style", say 10 million drivers that would save almost 2 Billion gallons of gas a year!" Time to tread more lightly on the accelerator don't you think?