A first step to greener motoring

Strip away the marketing hype that is the flavour of the month/year/decade and the reality is somewhat stark. There are no truly green cars.

Cars are inherently 'ungreen' -- even an electric one powered by the sun. If you want your personal mobility to leave no footprint on the environment, just use the two flat things on the end of your legs as your sole (no pun intended) form of transport.

That said, just as there are ways you can do your bit around the house and office, there are greener alternatives when it comes to using your car. Here are a few things to consider...

Munching energy even before it's turned a wheel
All cars consume using substantial quantities of energy being produced. They are comprised of sometimes rare materials, ripped out of the earth, either as ore, fossil fuel, or sand. The modern car is home to explosive safety devices, constructed from advanced lab formulated synthetics fitted within a forged, stamped, milled and welded body that used vast amounts of energy and cooling water to be produced. Their bodies are multi-coated often using solvent-based paints.

None of that is environmentally sympathetic.

Indeed, the amount of energy used in the production of one vehicle is immense. And that's before the car has even left the production line at the factory. In the case of imported cars, they then have to be conveyed to a port, placed on a ship and sailed around the world, then transported again to your door.

You'll drive it using thousands of litres of fuel, possibly dozens of litres of oil, cooling and brake fluids, several sets of tyres, replacement windscreens, brake pads and such, until the day comes when the car proceeds no further and it is dumped unceremoniously at the wreckers. After being picked over by owners of similar-aged models for the viable bits, the carcass is shredded and possibly recycled, though that again consumes vast amounts of energy. Worst case it becomes landfill.

What does all this mean? At the risk of upsetting the builders of the latest and greatest hybrids and fuel sippers, from a green point of view, one of the best things you can do is keep driving the car you've got... But only when you need to!

How can I make my car greener?
Exhaust emissions are directly linked to fuel consumption. The less fuel you burn, the fewer emissions that come out of the tailpipe. But just because a car emits a low amount of carbon dioxide, doesn't make it a green car. Low fuel consumption merely reduces one element of the vehicle's impact on the environment.

The less you drive your car the less impact you have on the environment from an emissions perspective. For example, you can reduce the miles you travel by planning a route to ensure you complete all your errands in one go; that you don't spend time idling in traffic and that you don't needlessly burn fuel revving your engine and tearing away from the lights.

If you drive as if there was an unboiled egg between the sole of your shoe and the accelerator, caressing the throttle as you go, rather than stomping on it, you'll save plenty of fuel.

Keep your car healthy
Catalytic converters made a huge stride forward in the reduction of harmful emissions in the 1990s. They required lead-free petrol because the lead in fuel would destroy the precious metal reactive materials within the converter.

Catalysts do not let you know when they have stopped working and currently no Australian state or territory mandates the annual testing of the catalyst to ensure it is still doing its job. You might want to get yours checked. But be warned; a new catalyst is very expensive.

Equally no Australian state or territory requires you to drive your car in its peak state of engine tune. So you can drive a poorly tuned car, which uses more fuel, potentially blowing all sorts of harmful mixtures out of the tailpipe. Unless you are pulled over for a random check, there's no requirement to keep your car running cleanly.

Keeping your car healthy also means maintaining correct tyre pressures. Under-inflated tyres wear more quickly, and provide more drag, which increases fuel consumption. And while you're at it, remove unnecessary roof or bike racks, which also add considerably to drag.

Keep the paint polished up. Oxidised paint drags on the air more than a polished surface (you can test this by sweeping your hand across a dull finish and comparing it with how easily your hand slips across the shiny surface). Air does the same thing…

Things to remember

What you can do

» Can a diesel car really be green? Read more here