Fuel efficient Driving

Driving a car is one of the most polluting things we can do. However, there are ways to make driving a car more environmentally friendly. By changing your driving style and maintaining your car sufficiently, you can help reduce your emissions and fuel bills by up to 20%!

This is how it can be done:

Fuel efficient driving techniques

Here are some techniques you can use when driving to cut emissions and save money on fuel.

Accelerating and braking more smoothly cuts down fuel consumption. This means try not to accelerate and brake too aggressively.
Driving in a higher gear uses less petrol - change up gears quickly and stay in a high gear (try to avoid labouring your engine and losing speed though).
When you are in a traffic jam and won’t be moving for a while, switch off your engine
If the speed limits allow, drive at your car’s optimum fuel consumption speed This is usually about 56mph.

Plan ahead for your journey

Getting lost on your journey can be very frustrating and also cost you money, time and produce more emissions. Planning your journey ahead will reduce the overall number of miles you drive and reduce your chances of getting lost. Try to avoid driving at peak (rush hour) times as this can cost you money, time and produce more emissions. Use a route planner website, which will calculate your quickest route.

Looking after your car properly

Looking after your car helps to keep it running to its optimum performance and this will make it more energy efficient. Keep your car serviced and keep the tyre pressure at the right level, this will cut down on drag and improve the fuel efficiency of your car whilst also making the car safer.

Reduce luggage & increase passengers

Remove any extra weight from your car, like roof racks, golf clubs in the boot etc. This extra weight increases wind resistance, meaning your car needs to burn more fuel to keep it moving. However this doesn’t apply to your passengers, taking more passengers reducing the number of vehicles on the road and is therefore one of the greenest ways of travelling (whilst also saving you money by splitting fuel bills).

Avoid using the air conditioning

Using air conditioning can increase fuel consumption by about 10%! Instead of using air conditioning, wind down your windows and allow natural air conditioning.

Look for green car insurance companies who use paperless billing.

Energy-saving tips

Turn over a green leaf