Green Living Tips and Ideas » gas

Overweight and overfueled – fat America uses more gas

admin — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 14:01:56 +0000

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recently released a new report on obesity in the U.S. According to the study, the U.S. witnessed a 1.1 percent increase in the number of self-reported people with obesity between 2007 and 2009.

The increase amounts to 2.4 million additional Americans reporting that they have joined the category of obese individuals. In addition, the number of states reporting that at least 30 percent of its population fit into the obese category has tripled to include nine states. Rising obesity rates have led to increased medical costs and other public issues, but the automotive industry has felt the added weight as well…

Read the original news at autoblog

GM to Use Less Potent Greenhouse Gas to Keep Cars Cool

admin — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 04:41:59 +0000

WARREN, MI — General Motors plans to use a new air conditioning refrigerant for its 2013 models that is a less potent greenhouse gas than the current common refrigerant.

The primary vehicle refrigerant in use is HFC-134a, which is some 1,400 times more potent than carbon dioxide (CO2) when it comes to global warming and is being banned by the European Union.

While HFC-134a stays in the atmosphere for more than 13 years, the new refrigerant, HFO-1234yf, has an 11-day atmospheric life and a global warming potential (GWP) of 4. The baseline for GWP is CO2, which has a GWP of 1.

Read the original news at greenbiz

Don’t Idle Away Your Car’s Gas

admin — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:44:42 +0000

Every moment you spend idling your car’s engine means time spent needlessly wasting gas, as well as rougher wear on your vehicle. So give it a rest, and avoid idling through your days.

One of the ways the much-praised Toyota Prius is able to achieve such impressive fuel economy is by having a computer cut out idling automatically: when you aren’t making headway, the gas engine shuts off. For regular cars, it doesn’t make sense to shut off the engine at every stop sign. (Even though Environmental Defense found that idling for more than 10 seconds wastes more gas than is required for startup.) But, you should certainly kill it when you are waiting for your date to finish getting ready. Or when your honey has to run into the bank to cash a check…

Read the original article at thedailygreen