Car companies continue to make the news. A reminder that the most green thing you can do is to extend the life of your present vehicle and not buy a new car.  Even if a new car is a lot more fuel efficient, it takes a great amount of material to produce a new vehicle, not to mention all the carbon emissions involved.

Some tips for extending your car’s lifespan:

• Perform regular Oil Changes
• Check your car’s other fluids regularly
• Check tire inflation pressure and  wear, rotate, replace tires when needed
• Wash and wax your car regularly (Use green Car Products)
• Clean the interior regularly. Get it detailed every year.
• Fix any minor problems early on, before they become serious
• Use original equipment parts, not cheap 3rd party ones
• Follow your car’s maintenance schedule
• Enhance your car with a GPS or MP3 player connection

Carbibles.com has lots of ‘Bibles’ to demystiful the various parts of your car.

Cartalk is legendary for their advice.

photo credit: loop_oh

Car washing used to be a tradition that one did in their driveway.  We have come to realize that traditional car washing is not eco friendly.  All the detergents oil, and chemicals wash down the sewer drain and flow into local water systems, almost always without water treatment.  In my area, it flows into San Francisco Bay.  You wonder why you should not eat fish caught in the San Francisco Bay, and this is San Francisco! Not a 3rd world country. Water use is also costly.

It is more eco friendly to wash your car at a local car wash that uses recycled water and often 50% less of it. They are also required to drain water into sewer systems so it gets treated.

If you have to wash your car at home, wash it on the lawn or dirt so the waste can be absored in the ground.  Use biodegradable soap or green car products for cars, such as Simple Green’s Car Wash or use a waterless car wash product.

A 2010 San Francisco Estuary Institute report found that urban runoff was more toxic than rural. Heavy loads of mercury and PCBs flowed into the Bay from culverts and creeks carrying storm water.