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Industry supports EcoDriving to improve efficiency

 
2 289 views Aug 18, 2008
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Industry supports EcoDriving to improve efficiency

Industry supports EcoDriving to improve efficiency

Finding inexpensive ways to reduce fuel use is a burgeoning business, and U.S. carmakers have joined forces to promote a program that aims to re-train the way drivers approach their cars.

By focusing on maintenance and driving style, the EcoDriving website, launched by the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers an the Environmental Defense Fund, promises to reduce fuel use by up to 15%.

This is not the first time the industry has gotten together to encourage smarter driving and better vehicle maintenance, however. Back in May a wesite called Drive Smarter Challenge launched as part of an initiative by the Wal-Mart foundation and the Alliance to Save Energy along with Ford, GM, Chrysler, Toyota and six other manufacturers.

A very similar push was made in the EU in January, with results in that application claiming an improvement in efficiency of up to 25%.

The basic theme behind all of these movements involve keeping tire pressures at recommended levels to ensure lower rolling resistance than under-inflated tires, using delicate application of the throttle, and minimizing excess braking. According to the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, if half of the drivers in the U.S. adopted the techniques, CO2 emissions could be cut by up to 100 million tons each year. That's enough power to keep 8.5 million houses running for a year.



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Comments (2)

  1. By HECTOR Posted: 8/18/2008 5:46pm PDT

    As a matter of principle I am opposed to being eco-friendly in any way. I don't go out of my way to deface the environment but call it a knee jerk reaction on my part to all the idiocy and lies built around the myth of global warming.

    So I'll not be one of those clicking on that link. On the other hand I'm sure that many owners of SUV behemoths will. Not that they give a damn about the environment either (or they wouldn't be driving an Escalade to begin with) but because of the high gas prices.

    PS - Hear me now, understand me later. As soon as we're passed this spike in oil and gas prices people will abandon the little compact cars that are so much in demand now and go back to driving 8mpg monster utes.
     
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  2. By chris Posted: 8/18/2008 6:17pm PDT

    hector, i'm sure there were nay sayers just like you in the 70's when they didnt have a "global warming" epidemic in the culture.. gas prices dropped... but the cars still remained efficient. and if everyone thinks gas is and/or was expensive.. if you count inflation, it was just barely more expensive than it was in the 70's during the oil crisis.

    everyone has their opinion about global warming.. personally i think that theres a bit of truth to it all but theres a crap load of lies and dramatism that has been used to scare the living daylights out of everyone too dense to have gave a damn in the first place. In the end it's going to be the economy that sets the standard. I suspect we're going to get a lot more turbocharging and other technology pushed into drivetrain development particularly over the next 5 years.. just like we got in the 70's when you went from 430 cu in V8's down to more sensible 300 cu in V8s with fuel injection systems not far behind.
     
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