You can’t blame people in Ireland for using their cars to get from A to B. A high percentage of the population live in rural areas and the public transport system especially in the countryside is less than desirable. I’ve had to spend a night in a ferry port on one occasion.
You’d think if a ferry was timetabled to dock there would be a bus provided to take the passengers to the nearest town, especially if the town was over 20 km away! Luckily it was in the summer.

It may be a while before the public transport system improves and electric cars become the norm. So, another way to help the environment is to drive economically. As well as helping you save money by reducing fuel consumption, you are driving more ecologically by lowering the amount of pollution created and lessening the strain on non-renewable energy. Economical driving is ecological driving.

Here are some tips to help you with your green driving.

What to do:

·        Do drive in the correct gear. If the engine sounds like it’s struggling you’re probably in the wrong gear.

·        Do be mindful. Plan your journey, learn the road layout including junctions and red lights, be extra aware of other traffic and know when to accelerate and slow down to avoid breaking or accelerating harshly.

·        Do aim to improve your miles per gallon. Some cars have a digital miles per gallon counter, which can be very handy as it alerts you to how economically/ecologically you are driving.

·        Do try and have your car serviced at least once a year to keep it in good working order. As a poor condition can effect efficiency and therefore ecological impact.

What not to do:

·        Don’t carry excess weight.

·        Don’t carry a roof-rack if you aren’t using it as it causes drag.

·        Don’t use the air conditioning unless it is absolutely necessary. It’s not usually very warm in Ireland and windows can often be just as effective.  

Common misconceptions…………

·        Don’t free-wheel. It’s dangerous and it doesn’t actually help reduce fuel consumption in modern cars which have electronic fuel injection.

·        Don’t run the car on empty. I’ve heard some people only fill up with small amounts of fuel as they’ve been told the weight of the fuel create excess weight. However, not filling the tank can cause the tank to go rusty. This can ruin the engine and could result in far more ecological damage.