SHADES OF GREEN: Cars and driving

We Americans run around a lot. Our transportation system is primarily roads, highways, and lots of vehicles. At the personal or family level, it’s not unusual these days for everybody with a driver’s license to have a vehicle of their own. In towns and cities, the distances to go shopping may be modest; if you live in the country, it’s a longer trip.

In any case, people think nothing of getting in the SUV and going somewhere, for any reason. Families with young children are constantly running the kids here and there. All of this is a recent trend. Our immediate ancestors, three, four generations back, had to hitch up a horse to go anywhere on their own, and they thought twice about it.

Transportation is a big fraction of our energy use, dollar expenses, and our impact on the environment. At first glance, in our own driveways, it is also resistant to improvement. You have a lot of money tied up in that light truck sitting there and you wouldn’t just throw it away to buy a little passenger car, much less a hybrid. But, there may be hope in all of this.

Let me relate my personal experience with the transportation fraction of our “sustainability adventure.” I have found that what you drive is important, but also how you drive.

Driving habits are formed early in your driving life, and take on a kind of invisibility as life goes on. It’s only when you ride with somebody else that you notice how differently other people drive, and how unconscious they are about it. Suppose you decide to adopt some new habits, in order to drive in a more economical way. How would you go about this, and can it be done, realistically? You may wonder how resistant to change your own style of driving may be.

I found that at first some of the practices I am about to describe felt awkward, and required a certain amount of mental attention, but after a short while the new driving “software” runs rather nicely in your head, and feels comfortable.

Driving well comes down to three words: “Take it easy.” On the highway, the fuel consumption “sweet spot” for most vehicles is between 45 and 50. Above 50, the curve of consumption begins to rise sharply.

You don’t want to block traffic or incite road rage, but on a four-lane divided highway, believe me, it is just fine to watch all those people pass you, and it’s quite safe, unless traffic flow is dense. So, you can plan ahead and cruise along at 52 or so.

Accelerate slowly. No aggressive speed changes. Brake smoothly. Look ahead and anticipate traffic flow, so that you fit in to that flow instead of fighting it. (Driving isn’t a contest. We’re all out here on the road together, and it’s a co-operative venture.)

When you are stopped for any period of time and out of traffic, turn off the engine.

Here’s a typical experience I have: I’m in the drive-through at the bank and someone is in the lane next to me. She’s a young lady, looks like she weighs about 100 pounds, and she’s driving this big vehicle, tall, with big tires; be it a crew cab truck or an SUV, and she lets the engine run the whole time she’s there. Her fuel use for this little transaction at the bank is therefore a bit beyond what’s reasonable, and yet nobody gives this kind of thing a second thought.

I’ve become what is called in some circles a “micro-miler” – that is, somebody who makes a game of seeing just how economical driving can be. The results can be fairly striking.

We drive a couple of Saturns, which are mid-sized or compact sedans. One is an 18-year-old four-door, the other an 11-year-old three-door, sporty looking type. Both have manual transmissions and I use synthetic oil in both engines.

Synthetic oil has superior lubricity, which translates into perhaps a percent or two better fuel economy and in the bargain, practically eliminates engine wear. It’s more expensive than traditional oils, but you can generally run it for longer periods between changes. Automatic transmissions (with the exception of a few continuously variable types now in some cars) will cost you plenty in terms of repair complexity and reduced efficiency.

Fuel consumption in our cars varies with the kind of driving we do, and the time of year. In winter, driving around here, to and from Plymouth, I have to be satisfied with 34 or 35 miles per gallon. In summer, this should rise to 38 or 39. I travel to Door County sometimes, in warm weather. With the older car, which is not as good as newer cars in terms of its fuel management system, I have consistently gotten 47.3 mpg!

This is practically in hybrid performance country, yet this car is nothing out of the ordinary. The newer Saturn does slightly better on fuel use, and is peppier, too, so there’s been some progress in the industry between the build dates of the two cars.

The other thing to note about this overall picture is the matter of taking care of cars and having them last for a long time. Cars are expensive, and that money cost translates into energy and environmental impact, too.We have become used to running our vehicles, not paying enough attention to maintenance, yearning for a new design and features, and so on to a new car. Think of how many cars a person has owned in his or her lifetime: it’s usually a high number, and that is something to think seriously about in the context of how sustainable our society is, and our own lives are. The message in all of this is that, right this minute, you have a lot more control over your need to get around than you think you have.