I´ve been thinking this week about fuel efficiency (not exclusively!). With the recent fluctuations in petrol prices more people are wising up to the need for more efficient cars and/or to use fuel more economically.
Obviously it´d be great if everyone left their cars at home and used public transport instead. But there will always be times when for one reason or another that´s just not an option. What do you do then? If you care about the environment and don´t want your wallet to take a beating is there an alternative?
Well, the answer is yes, try smarter driving techniques. Basically these are ways of driving that use up less petrol, so you create fewer emissions and don´t have to spend as much on fuel. They are all simple things such as switching your engine off if you will be idle for more than three minutes and getting your car serviced regularly.
You might be wondering why this particular topic has been occupying my thoughts. Well it was actually Top Gear that got my brain whirring. Last Sunday´s crazy challenge was to race from Switzerland to Blackpool – on one tank of fuel. Amazingly all of the presenters made it. By using a combination of highly-efficient cars and smarter driving techniques they were able to make a tank of fuel stretch for, quite literally, hundreds of miles. I doubt that carbon emission reduction and saving the planet was on Jeremy Clarkson´s mind when he took on this task. He did however prove that even when you´re up against the clock smarter driving can work.
In case you can´t tell what I´m babbling on about consider this: 57% of the miles travelled by employees of public sector organisation is in business vehicles for business reasons (instead of for commuting). If all those employees used smarter driving techniques that could equal huge savings – both money and carbon – for the businesses. Not that they are the answer to reducing all transport problems. Smarter driving won´t get rid of congestion, it can´t stop you breathing in some emissions while you´re in your car, but it could be part of an overall solution to combat climate change.
In case you´re wondering about the situation in Manchester regarding congestion charging – the public vote closes on 11 December so we should have some more news then…
If you want to find out more about smarter driving click here or here