Will cruise control improve fuel economy?

The answer: it depends.

On level highways with light traffic, it is YES: cruise control holds a vehicle to a steadier speed than most drivers can, and that’s more efficient than continuous acceleration and deceleration. 

However, in hilly terrain, cruise control 'tramps on it' when it encounters a climb, trying to maintain a constant speed - and that consumes a lot of fuel.  So in hilly areas, a driver with a skilled foot can easily get better mileage than cruise control.  (A skilled foot means allowing the vehicle to slow down on the upgrades instead of tramping on the gas, and then using the other side of the hill to pick up speed.)  

One caveat: safety first!  Always ensure your driving style is compatible with road and traffic conditions.

Thanks to Stephanie McClellan in St. Anthony, NL for the question that led to this Green Idea!

In the news:

Coral reefs around Indonesia seem to be dying faster than ever as ocean temperatures hover at 4 degrees C above normal, say scientists.

Renewable IS doable in Ontario, says a new Pembina Institute report – pointing out that the growth of green power is exceeding expectations.

Think local food – it’s flavour, freshness and nutrition, but a whole lot more too.

Does the type of transmission in your vehicle affect your mileage?

It does!  Generally speaking, vehicles with automatic transmissions use more fuel than similar vehicles with manual transmissions.  A comparison of the 2010 models listed below produced the following results:

On average, manual transmissions will result in fuel savings of about $60 per year.

In city driving, manual transmissions will go about 7% further on a litre of fuel, or about 32 KM further per tank.

In highway driving, manual transmissions will go about 1.3% further on a litre of fuel, or about 8 KM further per tank.

Note that savings vary for every model of car, so it’s wise to check NRCan’s Fuel Consumption Ratings here before buying.  Also, some models now have continuously variable transmissions, which are often even more efficient than manual.

2010 models compared: Chevrolet Aveo and Cobalt; Ford Fusion; Pontiac G3, G5 and Vibe; Honda Civic; Nissan Frontier and Versa; Toyota Corolla, Matrix and Yaris

In the news:

Yet again, evidence: a recent report by climate scientists in 48 countries highlights 10 key climate indicators as 'unmistakable' scientific evidence that our world is warming.

The Empire State Building: can the tallest be the greenest?

While mowing the lawn, have you ever paused to wonder...about the lawn?

With a simple click, you can save a square meter of rainforest every day

Most of us don't think about which website opens when we start our internet browser every day; it's usually Facebook, MSN or something similar.  But we can use our first click of the day to help preserve the planet's rainforests.

Here’s how: make the Rainforest Site, www.therainforestsite.com, the home page you start from every day.  Then just click the box "Click here to give - it's FREE".  And with that simple action, you've preserved just over a square meter of the world's rainforests, the lungs of the planet that can absorb back some of the CO2 'exhaled' by our burning of fossil fuels. 

It's not much, but those square meters add up - over 100,000 people click the site every day, and nearly 30,000 hectares have been preserved so far.  

The land is paid for by sponsors who advertise on the Rainforest Site.  If you visit, you'll also see similar sites in support of breast cancer, hunger, literacy and more - all causes you can support with the simple click of a mouse.

You can make The Rainforest Site your home page by going to it, then clicking Tools - Internet Options - General - Use current.

In the news:

Lake Superior, a huge natural climate change gauge, is running a fever.

Poisoning ourselves to look and smell better???  That’s exactly what we’re doing, according to The Story of Cosmetics: a new video that tackles the issue of toxic product ingredients.

Free hot water?  Yep, and lots of it – from the sun! 

October 10, 2010: a day for local actions and global solutions

If you’re yearning for solutions to climate change and environmental degradation, mark October 10 – 10/10/10 – on your calendar.

That’s the day www.350.org is organizing work parties all over the world to tackle solutions through local actions.  From solar panels to community gardens to wind turbines to bike workshops: people will be working together to share information and implement the types of solutions our planet so desperately needs.  If you’re ready to turn your good intentions into great actions, why not take part?  Your planet needs you! 

Register here to join or lead a local activity - in your community, school, workplace, faith community or home. 

Click here for great project ideas, big and small. 

And click here to see a slideshow about 10/10/10 and learn what the 350 stands for.

Help make 10/10/10 a turning point.  Think globally, act locally!

In the news:

Good news for our fossil fuel industry: let the subsidies and tax breaks continue.

Check out this 2-minute video of an aviation breakthrough: a solar powered plane flies for 26 hours!

If you think you have no addiction problems, think again...you and I are both hooked on the same thing.

Fresh local produce will soon be hitting the farmers markets and grocery stores.  When you buy local, you’re doing a good thing for many reasons:

1.  You’re supporting neighbours and your local economy instead of anonymous, faraway suppliers.

2.  You’re helping build local food production capacity because the more local food people buy, the more farmers will produce.

3.  You’ll know where your food comes from, and can have confidence in higher standards of quality and food safety.

4.  You’ll be doing the environment a favour, because long-distance food has a huge transportation carbon footprint.  One article I’ve read estimates that one third of trucks on the road today are carrying food.  The average item on a typical dinner plate has traveled more than most people travel on vacation!

So, if you’re getting tired of the limited array of local veggies available, take heart: local produce is on the horizon, and it’s a good choice all around!

In the news:

Environment Canada has announced that Canada’s warmest winter on record was followed by Canada’s warmest spring on record.

Check out this interactive Climate Change Calendar showing by when during 2010 the average Canadian citizen will have produced as much greenhouse gas as a citizen from another country will produce during the whole year.  As of today, June 30^th, our per capita carbon footprint so far this year equals that of a typical Singaporean for the entire year.  (We passed Burundi January 5.)

2010 is the UN's International Year of Biodiversity. Mufasa (from the movie "The Lion King") has some good counsel to share.

Without investing a penny, most drivers can save 15% on their fuel bill – equivalent to almost two months of free driving a year.

It’s all in how you drive, and here are the two critical habits for savings:

1. accelerate gently – resist that urge to ‘tramp on it’, because that’s when your engine slurps HUGE amounts of fuel.  Then coast as much as possible, and brake gently.

2. limit your speed to 100 KMH or less.  Generally, the slower you go, the more you save.

Here’s proof these two practices work: my Toyota Echo gave me 60 miles per gallon (21 KM/litre) last week, well above the car’s official rating.  

For more great fuel-saving tips, visit http://www.ecodriver.org/pages/Fuel-EfficientDriving.php.  And take a 2-minute ride (via YouTube) with the ‘king of hypermiling’: he gets twice his vehicle’s rated fuel mileage!!

In the news:

Arg – the Harper government has (quietly) released a report showing that its programs to reduce greenhouse gas emissions will produce just 10% of the results forecast a mere 12 months ago.  Six Nobel laureates and a former PM join the chorus of voices urging that climate change be on the agenda of the G8 / G20 meetings.

Turn your old phone into new trees at http://plantmyphone.com/.  (Help expand the network: become a partner!)

The world is full of ‘disposable’ stuff, but is that really such a good idea??

Many appliances in our homes and workplaces use electricity even when they are turned off.  Incredibly, they were designed that way - usually for convenience.  It’s called ‘phantom power’, and dozens of items in a typical home use power 24/365.  The phantom power used in Canada is more than enough to power every home in New Brunswick.

What to do?  Here are three suggestions:

1.  Learn to recognize things that use phantom power: anything with a clock, a remote control, a charger, one of those blocky-looking plugs, or a quick-on feature (IE most televisions).

2. Get into the habit of unplugging items when they are not in use, or use a power bar: when clicked off, it eliminates phantom power.

3.  When buying, choose appliances that use little or no phantom power; look for the ENERGY STAR logo, indicating best-of-class performance.

For more info, check out this great overview of phantom power from the Office of Energy Efficiency.

In the News:

A victory for trees, the lungs of the planet: working closely with environmental groups, Canada’s major pulp and paper companies have agreed to restrict logging in an area twice the size of Germany.

It’s almost impossible not to be moved by these 39 striking images from the devastating Gulf of Mexico spill – a direct consequence of our addiction to oil.

Congratulations to the Mic Mac Mall in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia: the first idle-free mall in Canada.

Summertime is the ideal time to rediscover that beautiful carbon-free form of transportation hiding in the back of your garage.

Here's a challenge for you: skip a shower sometime this week.

When I issue that dare to audiences, I often hear a snicker and a murmur that sounds a lot like, “uh-uh”.  Yet if truth be told, most of us shower every morning not because we’re dirty; we shower because it feels good.  It’s our wake-up therapy.

But our daily shower habit is one of the reasons we North Americans use more water per person than anyone on the planet.  And – even worse – much of that water is hot water, heated by fossil fuel-fired electricity.  Our morning feel-good isn’t very good for the planet.

So here's the challenge again: skip a shower this week, and every week.  You can make a big difference for the planet.

In the news:

As the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico continues to gush, an article in the Economist muses about the true cost of the disaster and political implications from a pragmatic business perspective.

Prime Minister Harper says such a disaster would never happen here, but David Suzuki thinks otherwise.

Locally, NS Premier Darrel Dexter has picked some low fruit from the tree of planet-preserving actions: his government will stop buying bottled water for government departments, asking them to rely instead on the clean, clear stuff that comes from the tap.

Ever wonder if some of those eco-friendly claims on products these days are too good to be true?  You’re right to wonder.

What’s good for the environment can be great for your wallet, and a clothesline is a perfect example.

Clothes dryers are among the biggest power hogs in your home, consuming about 4500 watts of power – equal to six microwave ovens or 350 compact fluorescent light bulbs.    If your power rate is 10 cents/KWH, a big load in the dryer adds 45 cents to your power bill.  One such load a day uses about $150 worth of power annually.

Then there are emissions.  If your power comes from coal or oil (as most of North America’s does), one big load in the dryer equals 4 kilograms of emissions.  One such load a day for a year adds over a tonne of greenhouse gases to the atmosphere.

Clotheslines make environmental and economic sense.  Springtime is a great time to get reacquainted with yours, or to install one if you don’t have one.  Here’s a great seven minute video that explains everything about planning and installing your clothesline (except they use a rope where most clotheslines are plastic coated wire). 

In the News:

Nova Scotia has launched a bold plan to produce 40% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2020 – just a decade from now!!  Strategies include net metering and a community-based feed in tariff.

A change in thinking?  A new poll suggests 72% of Canadians would pay extra for an Earth-friendly house or condo if they could lower energy bills, reap health benefits or reduce their environmental impact.  And a new report suggests Canadian CEOs are more keen on going green than their foreign counterparts.

What’s thinner than our atmosphere but just as critical for life?

If you’re ready to look beyond light bulbs and recycling, here is the one best thing you can do to help the planet: change the way you get to work tomorrow.

Transportation accounts for 200 million tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions annually in Canada and 1.8 billion tonnes annually in the US.  Much of that is produced by cars and light trucks.  Commuting to work is probably the single biggest environmental offence each of us commits: frustrated and tooting while idling and polluting.

Here are the most eco-friendly ways to get to work, in order:

1. Walking, biking or telecommuting (working from home);

2. Any form of public transit – take the paper or your laptop, and enjoy being chauffeured; and

3. Carpooling, a great money-saving option for people living beyond the reach of public transit.

For the health of our planet (and therefore us), perhaps the whole notion of commuting solo by car needs to be reconsidered.

If you are ready to make a big commitment to a better planet, change the way you go to work tomorrow.  Call a friend, take the bus or hop on a bike.  The timing couldn’t be better: it’s Earth Day.

In the News:

With the loss of two more glaciers, Glacier National Park is now down to 25.  It probably shouldn’t surprise us but last month was the warmest March on record globally.

Postscript to the previous Green Ideas: more people choose stairs over the escalator when it’s fun, as this fun 2-minute video shows!

For Earth Day, here’s a lesson from a favourite children’s fable.