A few ways to green your driving

**Keep your car tuned up.
www.KBB.com recommends:
Reduce your air conditioning use,
Change your air filter at scheduled intervals
Check your tire pressure regularly
Keep fuel injectors clean


**Don’t warm up your car in winter (from www.about.com). Your car is perfectly capable of driving off without warming up (unless perhaps it’s an older model or has been out in sub-zero temps overnight). Use your eco-friendly scraper and some good old-fashioned elbow grease to clear the frost off your windows rather than the defrost button.

**Slow down. You’ll get better gas mileage. Because wind resistance builds up so much with higher speeds, every mile per hour you drive over 55 decreases your fuel economy by 2% (from www.about.com).Combine errands into one trip.

**Remember the old yellow pages ad, “let your fingers do the walking”? Get on the horn and make sure a store has your item before making the drive.

**Don’t leave your car idling. Use less fuel and help clean the air. According to the Hinkle Foundation (thehcf.org) each day Americans waste almost 4 million gallons of gasoline by voluntarily idling their cars.

**Map your route so you minimize left turns. This can reduce the amount of time idling while waiting for oncoming traffic. I heard UPS is doing this. Clever.

**Buy a carbon offset. There are several services to help you calculate your car's emissions and offset them. www.NativeEnergy.com, www.carbonfund.org, www.terrapass.com are a few.

**Carpool if you can. Ask a coworker, a neighbor, your sister, your cousin...

**Whenever possible walk, take the bus, ride your bike, scooter, rollerblades, etc.