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Become an Eco-friendly Driver

You don't necessarily need a hybrid vehicle to become an eco-friendly driver. By making small changes to your vehicle and the way your drive it, you can have a significant impact on the environment.

Are you ready to be part of the climate change solution?

There are so many ways drivers can contribute to the climate change solution - like carpooling to work, walking to the mailbox, taking public transit and limiting idling. CAA Autogreen shows you how to easy it can be to reduce your environmental footprint.

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Changing driving behaviour makes a big difference

All motorists contribute to the climate change problem. Each year the average Canadian produces approximately 5 tons of greenhouse gases - with about 50 per cent of that coming from vehicles alone.

While light duty vehicles may only represent 12 per cent of the overall amount of greenhouse gases produced in Canada, there is considerable room to reduce our environmental footprint by altering our driving behaviour.

Making small changes in the way you drive helps the environment - and can make you a safer driver. Here are some tips to clean up - and green up - your driving:

Details to know

Avoid aggressive driving
Drive steady at the posted speed limit
Avoid idling
Limit your use of air conditioning
Make one long trip instead of several short trips
Drive less
Use public transit
Get active

Avoid aggressive driving

Fast starts and hard braking can cause fuel consumption to soar. A European test showed that aggressive driving - which includes "jackrabbit" starts from traffic lights and hard braking - reduced travel time by only 4 per cent. However fuel consumption increased by 39 per cent, and some toxic emissions were more than 5 times higher.

Drive steady at the posted speed limit

Increasing your cruising speed from 100 km/h to 120 km/h increases fuel consumption by about 20 per cent. On the other hand, reducing your speed from 100 km/h to 90 km/h improves fuel economy by about 10 per cent.

Avoid idling

Every 10 minutes of idling costs at least one-tenth of a litre in wasted fuel. Every litre of gas your vehicle uses produces about 2.4 kg of carbon dioxide, a primary producer of greenhouse gases.

Limit your use of air conditioning

To stay cool at highway speeds, use your car's flow-through ventilation. When driving in the city, open a window.

Make one long trip instead of several short trips

Trips that are less than 5 km burn more fuel because the engine and drivetrain don't reach their most efficient operating temperatures.

Drive less

Carpool, car share or join a vehicle cooperative. Many urban centres allow vehicles with multiple passengers to use special High Occupancy Vehicle (HOV) lanes, saving you time and money. An average vanpool of seven passengers emits about 7.5 times less pollution per kilometre than drive-alone commuting.

Use public transit

Try taking the bus once a week to work. One bus takes 40 vehicles off the road and keeps 25 tons of greenhouse gas emissions out of the atmosphere each year, according to Natural Resources Canada statistics.