I’ll be the first to admit up front that I have some work to do to actually become more environmentally conscious. Not that I try to do anything harmful, but I generally haven’t been to spend a lot of time thinking about ways I could save the earth. A few thoughts on the environment do enter my mind here and there, but not to the point of it being a big passion of mine.
Just being real here.
That being said, it really is up to each of us to make decisions that can help the environment and keep the earth clean and safe for future generations. Being a parent gets one to think about such things a bit differently, and of the big picture. I want future generations, including my kids and their peers, to live responsibly and enjoy Earth without destroying it further.
If that’s not enough reason to at least think about the environment a little bit more, here is another one: saving money!
With that being said, here are 3 ways that you can save some greenbacks by making green choices with transportation:
Drive a Fuel-Efficient Car
This is probably easier for some of us than for others. By this, I mean that many people place higher value on other attributes when purchasing a vehicle. You know, things like Zero-to-Sixty speed, horsepower, brand name, etc. I’ll admit I like many such things too, of course! That being said, in some cases we can save a good deal of money buying a car that simply gets more miles to the gallon, all other (important) things being equal.
Let’s say Car A gets 20 mpg, and Car B gets 25 mpg (use similar logic outside the U.S.). If each car is driven to 200,000 miles in its useful life, it would mean that Car A used 10,000 gallons over its lifetime and Car B used 8,000. Of course that comes out to 2,000 gallons less for Car B. At $3.50 per gallon, that means $7,000 less in fuel costs over the life of the car.
That’s pretty good, don’t you think? It’s just one example and cost differences can vary based on vehicles being compared, but you get the idea. Money can be saved, and less fuel can be used along with subsequent car emissions. That seems like a win-win, for your bank account and for the environment!
Carpool
Let’s say you can’t take public transportation, but you have the option to get to work without driving as often. Wouldn’t that still be nice?
The trick is, technically you would still be in a car. However, you wouldn’t be in your own car the whole time. If you carpooled with just one other person, you could cut your commuting-related expenses by up to 50%! Realistically it will probably be a bit lower savings than that, as the two of you aren’t likely to be living at exactly the same location. However, the savings could still be substantial.
Let’s say you were each driving 40 miles to work round trip. With carpooling, perhaps there would be some additional driving – perhaps it would come out to 60 miles round trip in total driving when you drive together.
When driving separately, that’s 80 miles of driving – and fuel – that’s required to take 2 people to work. When driving together, it’s just 60 miles of driving in total. Thus, 20 less miles – perhaps a gallon of gas – are required for this purpose. The environment wins.
You might win as well! Taking turns in this example, you would end up cutting your fuel costs by 25% (40 miles in gas vs. 30 miles in gas carpooling). Plus, an even bigger amount of savings might come from the reduced wear and tear on your vehicle.
Take Public Transportation
By taking public transportation, we can get cars off the road! Carrying 100 people on one train line on one commute route would seem to be better than having those people driving 100 separate cars in to work. Would those 100 vehicles cause more impact to the environment than would one train? I would guess so though I can’t for sure. Seems logical, right?
In addition to the benefits of few cars and their emissions, as well as less gas used by all those vehicles, there are other considerations as well. There are some real advantages to public transportation, including saving money.
As a side note, I’ve also seen someone use a clever approach to getting a free train ticket, though I would never recommend it 🙂
My Questions for You
Do you think about the environment when considering your transportation choices?
Have you taken any of these 3 actions in order to save and go green?
Do you have any others to add?
My car is one of the more efficient regular cars when I bought it. I drive a Honda Civic and it gets pretty good gas mileage!
That’s a good choice!
Riding a bike is becoming a big option for a number of people. For both the environmental and health benefits.
True, good benefits all around. Do you commute or get around frequently via bike?
Walk or bike are great ways to save on transportation cost. I don’t drive much anymore because I don’t have to go to work. We take a lot of public transportation too.
Our Mazda5 isn’t very efficient, but we don’t drive much so it’s not a big deal right now.
That’s great not to have to drive much. Makes life simple, good all around.
I would have titled this “3 Ways to Save Green and Go on Transportation”. 🙂 I look for ways to save money on transportation and the result is almost always being green (environmentally speaking).
I walk the kids to school, to the park, community center, and library. I also walk to the grocery store and restaurants and to other shopping. It might only save me $0.25-0.50 per walking trip, but the health benefits are great, and I guess I’m putting a couple less pounds of CO2, NOX and SOX into the air I breath.
Also drive a honda civic, even though we have 3 kids. It’s a squeeze, but spending $30 to fill the tank is awesome. I also retired recently, so I’m driving very few miles per month. Maybe 200 on average.
200 miles per month? Remarkable. At 2,400 annually, that means a car could last quite a while.
Here in Europe most of us drive smaller cars, that are fuel efficient (which is a good idea, provided the gas price is double compared to the US prices). I don’t carpool (I work from home, so I can’t really help anyone out) and the public transportation in my city is a bad joke. The reason I actually bought a car 😀
Well, sometimes public transportation isn’t good in certain cities. That’s understandable. Or, it could be highly inconvenient, in which case it could be more than worth it to own a car.
I’m really lucky and live next door to a small mall with many services. Thus, I walk to CVS, the grocery and several recipes. I also walk to Starbucks and HOme Depot. I telecommute so I save a lot on gas!!!
That’s great, also sounds healthy in that you do that walking as well.
We live out in a rural farming community so we are very careful with our driving. I work from home, so don’t have to go out often. I make sure I run all of my errands on the same day. I often don’t have to leave the house for a week or two. (I guess it is a good thing I like nature!)
Wow, that’s a different life than what I have – in terms of your not having to leave the home for that long. If you’re far from shopping, I can see how it would be imperative to consolidate errands.
I always do public transportation because I don’t have my own car yet but if ever I would get one soon, it must be a fuel-efficient SUV.
Fuel-efficient is great. Just curious, why an SUV?
What struck me as odd in the post is that the ways to go green on transportation also happen to save one loads of cash in the long run. Take a fuel efficient car forexample, less gas, less maintenance, lower insurance premiums (maybe), in the long run you save a bunch. Win for the planet and for your pocket.
My favourite though, good old bike! I save on gas and other car related expenses, I get fit and healthier, I enjoy the scenery on my way to and from work and other errands, zero emissions!
Yes, going green can be a versatile saying 🙂
We just don’t drive much anymore….retirement is great!
Sounds great to have that type of freedom!
Hello
I have followed these three recommendations. Its easy for me as I dislike driving and I avoid it as much as possible. Still, it is inevitable So for me, a car is a necessary evil
Hence, if Im gonna have a car, it better be a fuel efficient and reliable. I think both helps the environment and my pocket.
I treat a car nicely because that way it doesn’t wear much
That way you save on gas and on spare parts and mechanics
Also, I feel so bad when take my car to the repair shop and I see how many filters, spark plugs, brake pads and so and so go to the waste!! Aren’t we polluting our planet just by taking our car to regular maintenance?
Call me crazy, but I do my car maintenanc only once a year instead of twice a years as recommended
I think replacing spark plugs, gas filters, oil filters, air filters, oil itself, coolant, brake fluids, transmission fluid, and so and so, doing such each 6 months is a criminal act towards nature!! We are throwing so much waste into poor mother nature!!!
By the way, I wanted to ask this: what is a expensive car for you?
Above what price you consider a car being expensive (either new or used).?
Regards
Good questions.
To me, what constitutes being expensive probably depends on the financial situation of a given individual. Now, this is separate from the question of what makes a car overpriced or a value. Rather, I’m taking the question as being what makes a car expensive for an individual.
I think that cars are generally needs for many if not most people. The thing is, as long a car is functional, reliable, and safe – upgrades just might be a matter of people confusing wants and needs. Along those lines, I’d say that a car that costs maybe 15% of a person’s annual income is probably at the high end of what’s affordable as a very general, broad rule of thumb. In other words, if a person made $100,000 per year, a $15,000 car would be at the high end. Even then, if it requires a 5 year loan to purchase then it’s too much as well. Each person has different financial obligations than the next. So, the more of that 15% figure that could be paid in cash, the better.
At the end of last year, we purchased a new Toyota Prius. It gets over 50 mpg no matter where we are driving it. I also used to ride a motorcycle for commuting. It got over 50 mpg and allowed me to use the carpool lanes, so I got to work faster and burned less fuel than sitting in traffic. Unfortunately, health problems made riding difficult, if not downright dangerous, so I sold the motorcycle. We live 13 miles from our work. It takes 20 minutes to commute if traffic is light. It takes two hours to travel the same 13 miles by bus. So much for public transportation.
Sorry about the health problems. Driving seems safer overall anyway, thought I don’t have any stats to back up that general impression. I could be wrong about that. What does makes sense in your case is driving instead of taking public transportation. 20 minutes is far better than 2 hours, even more so when considering that we’re talking about one way trips here.
Separately, that just has to be great to get 50mpg. I’ve never had that type of mileage from a car before, it would be nice.
When I lived in DC I took public transportation all the time. Here in Indiana, public transport isn’t nearly as useful. I’d love to see more of it and as a voter I would definitely support public transport projects.
Yes, Indianapolis isn’t a big public transportation hub. I’ve spent time there, and recall the ring highway 465 being a big mode of transportation – along with a few north south thoroughfares like Meridian street. That’s a city that doesn’t have big traffic issues anyway (from what I recall), so you’re fortunate that way. Though admittedly I don’t know if the suburban growth that’s occurred there has changed that.
Hence, if Im gonna have a car, it better be a fuel efficient and reliable. I think both helps the environment and my pocket.