Every car enthusiast who wants to help fight climate change and save the environment may have come to the crossroads on whether or not they can truly be eco-friendly and live a sustainable lifestyle while still being involved with their passion for vehicles. Can you be eco-friendly while sharing your love for vehicles?
Tips for Car Enthusiasts
Cars do contribute to the destruction of the ozone layer and extracting fossil fuels is in part due to vehicles. While there are still some problems that need to be solved, and things that need to be addressed with automotive. You can indeed be eco-friendly, work towards a sustainable lifestyle, while also continuing your passion for cars.
While the idea of having to be rich, or even have enough money to jump-start being more eco-friendly or making your car eco-friendly may sound far-fetched. Electric vehicles are still very expensive and depending on the area you’re living in, you may not be able to find a charging station. There are plenty of ways that you can lead a sustainable life while lowering your car’s environmental impact as well. So these are some helpful tips for getting your car to become eco-friendly.
If you’re moving, use your car
So this isn’t a tip to necessarily change your car, but it’s a lifestyle tip to help you out. This may sound a little crazy, but if you plan on moving, such as cross country for example there may be a high chance that moving with your car is going to be far more eco-friendly than using a moving service. Most moving vans are quite old and many haven’t switched to electric vehicles yet.
Of course, you should do some research on this beforehand and maybe even ask around. However, if you need to look into car transport companies to move your vehicle, then it may be best to do extensive research on an eco-friendly moving company or ask someone with an electric vehicle for help. While the idea itself may sound a tad inconvenient, it truly will help the environment.
Get regular tune-ups
Until you can afford to purchase a new car such as a Tesla, you’re better off using your car as much as you can before switching. Maintaining your vehicle is going to help it run smoothly. Regular car maintenance doesn’t have to be expensive, especially if it’s regular tune-ups. This is going to help ensure that fewer emissions are going to be produced but it also lowers the risk of having the vehicle sit at a junkyard. Getting tune-ups for your car regularly will result in around a 4% boost for your gas mileage. Maintenance problems will affect the fuel efficiency of your vehicle, an example would be a faulty oxygen sensor.
Getting regular tune-ups is going to help the maintenance issues which then have the potential to improve the fuel efficiency by 40%! It’s important to look into your owner’s manual to determine how often you’re going to need to get a tune-up for your car. If your car is newer, then it may need it no more than three times a year. Tune-ups tend to be expensive if there are a lot of issues with the vehicle. If there are little to no issues, then the tune-up will be far less expensive.
Avoid the AC
This may be a tough one, but the AC does increase the strain on your car’s electrical system. This then makes your engine work harder, which in turn causes more fuel to be consumed. It does take a lot of willpower to not use the AC, but you can either roll down your windows or maybe make a special exception for when you’ll be using the AC.
Check your emissions system
The emissions system is very complex. Your “Check Engine Light” will usually show up if there are any emissions issues. You can alternatively go and get it checked.
Look into eco-friendly tires
Did you know that eco-friendly tires exist? Not a lot of people do, but hopefully, it will be marketed more in the future. Eco-friendly tires are made from safe materials that are not harmful to the environment. This includes synthetic rubber blends. So how is this eco-friendly? Not only are the materials safe for the environment, but it has better rolling resistance compared to traditional tires. These boost gas mileage and reduce emissions as well.
Before you get up and run to purchase these, it’s best to just go ahead and use the current tires that you have until they need a replacement. A part of living a sustainable lifestyle includes using what you already have before switching to something environmentally friendly.
Look into getting reusable air filters
It’s very important to regularly look into your air filters. Since air filters get clogged with dust and dirt easily, this is going to prevent enough clean air from getting into your engine. This is also just going to cause long-term damage to your engine as well which will then make it run far less efficiently. It’s important to look into replacing a clogged up air filter. But hold on, you don’t actually need to buy a brand new one each and every time. Instead, look into purchasing a reusable air filter. This is going to be far cheaper for you in the long run plus, it’s more sustainable.
Carpool
While this isn’t a tip for transforming your car into a lean mean green machine, carpooling is still wonderful for reducing your carbon footprint. Sharing is caring, so you can either ride with someone else or give them a lift instead. By not using your vehicle, you’re going to be cutting down drastically on the wear and tear. Plus, this is going to require much less maintenance as well. If you have coworkers, talk to them about the opportunity of carpooling and taking turns.
Remove extra weight
Did you know that the more your car weighs, the more fuel it’s using? It’s important to try and only keep the essentials inside of your car. This doesn’t immediately mean that you need to remove your back seats or stereo (unless you want to).