Car Facts

It’s been a little while, but now it’s time to continue on my path to reducing my carbon footprint. It happens to be perfect timing for me to tackle my worst offense, my car. I have to bring the car in tomorrow for an inspection so that I can still legally drive it, but there are a few other simple things I can do to ensure that my car is as green as possible.

My Car Facts:
-2005 Hyundai Elantra
-53,127 miles driven
-purchased at 24,634
-I have driven 28,493 miles since September 2007. By September 2009 I will have driven about 30,000 miles, or 15,000 miles per year, which is 3,000 more miles per year than the average American.
-I get about 30 miles per gallon of gas. That means in 2 short years I have purchased about 1,000 gallons of gas. So I have been to the pump 80 times with my little 12.5 gallon tank. YIKES!

Since my car is going to the mechanics on Monday anyway, I’m going to ask him to check a few other things (though they’re usually routinely checked by my mechanic anyway).
-My tire pressure
-My filters
-Change my oil

What I will continue to do is pick a day each week to check some of these things myself – like my tire pressure. If I check that every Sunday, along with my oil I am helping to ensure that my car is running as efficiently as possible.

Also, I am going to take all of the junk I have in my car’s trunk, out! I don’t mean trash, but just odds and ends and bags of things that I had to move from my backseat to allow passengers to sit in my car. But the added weight cuts down on my car’s fuel efficiency.

So if I can keep my trunk empty, my tires filled and my filters clean I’m doing much better than before.

Next step:

How to stop driving?