MPCA Home > Publications > Minnesota Environment Magazine > Summer 2006 > A “right” of passage—learning to drive green

A “right” of passage—learning to drive green

In a country where kids get driver’s licenses at age 16 or 17, it’s easy to confuse a “rite of passage” with a “right of passage.” Driving a car is so intertwined in our lives that it seems that once we can drive, we begin to feel we must drive.

As individuals, our largest and most widespread environment assault on Planet Earth comes from the vehicles we drive. While car and truck emissions improved during the last 30 years, they still are one of the biggest contributors to both general air pollution and global warming.

Financial costs

Unbelievably, the average fuel economy of 2005 vehicles was slightly less than it was in 1988, around 21 miles per gallon! Can you think of any other modern product that has gotten less efficient during the last 20 years? Driving cars and trucks with fuel efficiency no better than that of 1988 leads to tough financial burdens. The average 1988 car was driven 10,200 miles per year, with gasoline around a dollar a gallon. Do the math and you find that the 1988 driver spent less than $500 on gasoline per year. The average car in 2005 was driven 15,000 miles per year; gasoline averaged around three dollars a gallon. The 2005 driver spent more than $2,100 a year on gasoline.

The fuel equation is simple. The more fuel your vehicle burns, the more money you spend and the more polluting emissions you cause.

Environmental costs

Our habits also affect growing vehicle emissions and costs. Although cars are generally cleaner now than 30 years ago, the average vehicle today is bigger and heavier (think of SUVs and minivans). Those heavy vehicles not only need more gas to go the same distance as a smaller car, but we use them to drive more miles, since we now live farther away from work and school. Minnesotans drove 56.4 billion miles in 2004 — double the amount we drove twenty years earlier. That’s like driving to the sun and half-way back again, every day.

The average vehicle driving 15,000 miles creates more than seven tons of the global warming gas carbon dioxide each year. In Minnesota, 46 percent of smog-forming air pollution is caused by cars, trucks, planes, trains, construction equipment and garden equipment. By comparison, only 31 percent comes from large stationary sources such as power plants.

Other costs add up

Operating a vehicle is not the whole story. The energy needed to manufacture the vehicle is noteworthy. Three thousand pounds (think Ford Taurus or Toyota Camry) of steel, plastic and rubber takes energy to create, and pollution is emitted in the process. Of course, the larger the vehicle, the more energy needed: the Chevrolet Tahoe for example, weighs in at around 5,000 pounds.

Heather L. Maclean and Lester B. Lave of Carnegie Mellon University published a lifecycle impact inventory of a 1990 Ford Taurus (3,100 pounds) with a fuel efficiency of 21.8 mpg and a 14-year lifespan. Their study showed that manufacturing accounts for about 10 percent of the energy consumed over a vehicle’s lifetime. However, the manufacturing process created 59 percent of the vehicle’s lifetime toxic emissions. So even if you drive relatively few miles in a large vehicle, your environmental impact is significant.

What’s the solution?

You don’t have to quit driving. If you need a car, buy the most fuel-efficient vehicle that meets most of your needs. You might end up having to rent a truck a couple times a year for those big hauling jobs, but at least you won’t be stuck driving a high-polluting gas-hog the other 363 days of the year.

The EPA’s Web site can help you select a cleaner, greener vehicle. Fuel-efficient gasoline-electric hybrids are the hot new thing, but there are plenty of regular cars that get much better mileage than average. Two new efficient and low-budget vehicles are the Toyota Yaris (34-40 mpg) and the Honda Fit (31-38 mpg). Toyota also plans a hybrid Camry for 2007.

Another idea is to share a car. Sound crazy? Several cities across the country operate successful car-sharing programs for urbanites who don’t need a car every day. In the Twin Cities, a non-profit organization called “Hourcar” keeps cars available to members at 12 hub locations in Minneapolis and St. Paul, with more locations planned. For either a flat monthly rate or pay-as-you-go, you’ve got a car available when you need it and don’t have to bother with garage parking, insurance and maintenance.

A national car-sharing business called Zipcar also offers cars at three locations on the University of Minnesota Twin Citie’s campuses.

Fuel quality up, emissions down

Striking improvements have been made to fuels in recent years. New laws require all gasoline producers to reduce gasoline sulfur content from 300 to 30 parts per million (ppm) by the end of 2006. By January 2007, sulfur in diesel fuel must be 15 ppm, down from 300 ppm.

Reducing the amount of sulfur in fuel cuts harmful emissions of microscopic (fine) particles. Fine particles are so small that, when inhaled, they can travel through the lungs and into the bloodstream, where they can trigger heart and cardiovascular problems. This dramatic reduction of sulfur, combined with new catalytic converters required beginning with ‘07 models, is the biggest pollution-reducing change in motor fuels since harmful lead additives began to be phased out of gasoline in 1973.

Home-grown veggie fuels

Minnesota is a leader in biofuels, or fuels made of plant matter. Two veggie motor fuels are produced in Minnesota: ethanol and biodiesel.

More than 550 million gallons of ethanol per year is produced at Minnesota’s 16 plants, primarily from corn, and nearly a dozen new plants have been proposed. Since 1997, all gasoline sold in Minnesota must contain at least 10-percent ethanol, which serves as an oxygenate to help the fuel burn cleaner. Besides the 10-percent blend, Minnesota also produces E85, a blend of 85 percent ethanol and 15 percent gasoline. Vehicles that are labeled “flex-fuel” can make use of this high-ethanol blend. Most are Ford, Chrysler or GM products. More information about flex-fuel vehicles is available on the Clean Air Choice Web site.

E85 reduces emissions of nitrogen oxides and volatile organic compounds by about 15 percent over gasoline, which means that using ethanol leads to cleaner air.

No other state can match Minnesota’s production or consumption of ethanol. Nationwide, there are about 650 stations that provide E85, 200 of them in Minnesota. Only Brazil sells more ethanol, which it makes from sugar cane. Long supported by government to wean Brazil away from expensive oil, Brazilians consume five billion gallons of ethanol per year. Pure ethanol sells for about a dollar per gallon less than gasoline, which in Brazil contains 22 percent ethanol.

In the midwest, biodiesel is most frequently made from soybeans. Minnesota has three biodiesel production facilities and was the first state in the nation to pass a law (in 2005) requiring a statewide two percent biodiesel blend. According to the National Biodiesel Board, most biodiesel blends can be used in any diesel engine without modifications.

Drive green, drive thrifty

Filling your tank and tires, how long you idle, how fast you accelerate, planning trips and keeping your car’s engine in tune — these all have an effect on your fuel mileage and therefore, the environment.

• Cut the number of miles you drive by combining errands. A second benefit of linking one errand after another is that the engine remains warm and thus operates more fuel-efficiently than it does with cold starts.
• If you carpool or telecommute one day a week, you’ll cut your weekly commute by 20 percent. Just think of cutting your gas bill — and emissions — by one-fifth!
• Observe the speed limit. Gas mileage normally decreases rapidly above 60 mph; as a rule, each 5 mph over 60 adds 20 cents per gallon to your gas costs.
• In the summer, fill your gas tank in the morning or evening, when it’s cooler. This reduces the amount of harmful vapors and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) released into the air. VOCs contribute to ground-level ozone or smog.
• Idling your vehicle gives you zero miles per gallon. There is no reason to idle a 1994 or newer gasoline or diesel-powered vehicle for more than a minute, even in a Minnesota winter. Idling increases engine wear, wastes fuel, and emits more pollution.
• Accelerate gradually. Jackrabbit starts use 50 percent more gasoline than smooth gradual starts.
• Keep your tires at the correct pressure. Underinflated tires can reduce your gas mileage by three percent (wasting about 9 cents per gallon).
• Keep your car in tune. An out-of-tune engine can waste around 12 cents per gallon of gas, much more if you drive with a major maintenance problem.

When teens learn to drive, make sure they know that green driving habits will save them money as well as keep the air cleaner. And green driving, like safe driving, is a habit they can keep their entire lives.

- Mark Sulzbach

(Contact the author at 651-296-7768, or by email at mark.sulzbach@pca.state.mn.us)