What about turning your car off while you’re waiting for the train to pass?

I had the opportunity to live in Switzerland for a summer and I was always amazed at how environmentally conscious the Swiss were. Get to a red light, turn your car off. Get to a rail crossing, turn your car off. No matter what the idling circumstance they always turned their car off. How come Canadian’s can’t adopt the same habits?

Congestion costs Toronto $2.2 BILLION per year

Congestion in Toronto is almost unbearable at times. It is not only the highways that are congested it is the city streets. And much of that congestion leads to idling – where you sit in your car and go no where. Unfortunately it is somewhat unreasonable to turn your car off on the highway, wait ten minutes and then drive again. The idling I’m referring to is when you’re waiting for a friend, picking something up, dropping something off, etc … or waiting for a train!

In Toronto there is a by-law that prohibits idling. If your car is sitting still for more than 3 minutes out of every 60 minutes than you could be charged with idling.

Of course there are those people that believe that idling is necessary. There are individuals who believe that you need to warm your car up for at least 10 minutes on a cold day. Modern technology and modern cars actually only need 30 seconds to warm up. Or the individuals that believe that is uses more gas when you stop and start the car. The reality is that you use more gas when you idle for more than 10 seconds. More on these myths can be found here.

In the end the message really is to turn your car off whenever you can. Perhaps in the future Toronto will have a fourth colour to the traffic lights, so we can turn our vehicles off and turn them back on when it is our time to drive again.

GM – Forward Thinking? Future of Car Makers For North America? I just saw the new GM commercial last night that essentially apologizes to the Canadian citizens and asks for forgiveness; the new campaign is appropriately called ‘Re:Inventing GM.’ GM wants to be looked at as the future of ‘green’ cars and a North American leading auto producer. But is that really possible?

GM is trying to appeal to all the audiences – their world-wide interweb site boasts Flikr, Facebook and Twitter. They have a video on the Chevrolet volt, they have a letter to ‘all Canadians,’ directors statements and news on their restructuring plan. In their commercial they declare that they are getting rid of the unsuccessful brands (does this finally mean the end of the commercial Hummer?)

If fair is fair – are the governments going to bail out other companies that promise to restructure in an effort to be profitable, when in reality profitability is a lofty goal?

In the end I have much more respect for Ford. Ford has not applied for bankruptcy protection and is looking to become the leader in sustainable, environmentally friendly cars.

Is there enough room for GM, Chrysler and Ford?

The next few months will be interesting. With both GM and Chrysler receiving huge bailout packages, both the Canadian and US Governments are hoping to have a thriving auto industry again. The difference between now and the ‘old glory days,’ the world has caught up. Kia, Toyota, Hyundai, Honda, Audi, Volkswagen, Volvo, etc … all of these companies also offer affordable, environmentally friends .. and watch out Frank Stronach with Magna/Opel should make a push to lead the sustainable car market here. In the end I don’t think it is feasible to sustain all of these North American brands, meaning the US and Canadian citizens have possibly just sunk their money in two un-saveable companies!

What do they do?

Remember the ecoAuto program? I wrote about it back in September. It was a program developed by the Federal Government to influence more people to purchase more fuel efficient cars. Pollution Probe had a hand in that and continues to advocate it; although the program has ended now with no new program in sight.

Policy Direction

Bob Oliver, the Executive Director of Pollution Probe came into my policy class yesterday to give a presentation. His presentation focused on automobiles and fuel efficiency.

Did you know we are still operating on the same fuel efficiency standards today that were implemented in the 1970′s?

That doesn’t mean that the innovation has stopped. Instead we know have cars that have the same fuel efficiency of the 70s that are more powerful, faster and larger; there weren’t too many SUV’s on the road back then. Now that society has become accustomed to this more powerful, faster, bigger car we have to work with consumer demands and develop technology that can make these cars more fuel efficient. According to Oliver the technology is in place it is just a matter of implementing it.

Size vs Fuel Efficiency

There are two schools of thought for comparing the fuel efficiency of vehicles, either by weight or by size. Either way you tend to see the following trend, as size or weight increase there is a decrease in the fuel efficiency.
Oliver said he liked the size comparison better. Instead of penalizing or rewarding heavier or light cars this looked the wheel base. Size is a measurement of the area of the wheel base; from centreline to centreline longitudinally and horizontally. The problem with weight he said is that that big and small cars get grouped into the same buckets. Since the line on the graph is the trend, a lighter SUV could be shifted towards the smaller, fuel efficient cars. Because it is the outlier, one light SUV compared to many small, ‘normal’ weight cars the SUV weight is virtually excluded; it is the outlier. Instead with size the fuel inefficiency of size is recognized.

Improving Fuel Efficiency

Oliver said we need new standards for fuel efficiency. That doesn’t mean that all the cars, light trucks, SUVs, etc should have to achieve the same standard. Instead go back to the graph, make the overall trend for all cars to be more fuel efficient. Oliver stated again that there was a grocery list of technology that could be used on modern cars that could make them more fuel efficient.

It looks like Pollution Probe can help lead the way in the climate war. Together with other NGO’s and government agencies we can help to preserve our environment for future generations.

Want to save money on your next vehicle purchase?

Not only are there incentives from the car companies but now there are incentives from the Canadian Government.

You can save up to $2000 on your next new vehicle purchase.

Introduced in 2006 the ecoAuto program is an incentive to get Canadian’s to drive more fuel-efficient cars. Not surprisingly the biggest rebates are on the hybrid models, small and more efficient vehicles following in behind.

But the ecoAuto progam is old news. I thought I would mention it because Chrysler USA just released its new incentive program, Let’s Refuel America! 

Limiting leasing packages on their vehicles, Chrysler had to find new ways to incent individuals to purchase their cars and trucks. With the prospect of gas rising to $10 per gallon what better way then through a gas incentive program. With the purchase of a new vehicle one can lock in on $2.99 per gallon gas for the next three years and save up to $4500 on your next vehicle purchase.

Sure that all sounds great, cheaper gas and save money on the purchase of a new vehicle. The reason I bring it up, it is the opposite to the ecoAuto program,

The more gas your car guzzles the better off you do in the Chrysler Program.

Thanks to the EconomicAdvisor who read the fine print and reported that the bigger SUV’s and trucks received the $4500 savings. These larger cars were also entitled to more litres of gas at $2.99. Chrysler put a limit on the number of gallons one can purchase per year at $2.99, ranging from 1500 gallons per year for the smaller, fuel efficient cars to 2400 gallons per year for the bigger, gas guzzlers.

But why provide the incentives on the bigger gas guzzlers?

‘Shooting the breeze’ with my boyfriend last night I brought up what I had read on the Chrysler program. Thinking ‘linearly’ I was asking him why the car manufacturers would have these rebates when we are all trying to promote a ‘greener’ planet?

Having worked with many of the big car manufacturers over the years in the marketing sphere he quickly reminded me that Chrysler makes more profit on the SUV’s and trucks than on small, fuel-efficient cars. And the profit differences are astronomical, a fuel-efficient car has small profits, sometimes not even $200 per car, while and a truck can profit as much as $10000 per vehicle.

It’s no wonder the car manufacturers are still trying to sell us their big cars; it’s where all the profits are.

Until we can find ways to make the fuel efficient cars more profitable for the manufacturers, the incentive from the manufactures will be greater than the government allowing the SUV and truck market to continue.

With the rising cost of fuel we will no doubt will we have to change our consumption patterns. But it is not easy to change something that has become such a habit for us, plus it is a lot of fun to push the envelope and see how fast you can accelerate on the on-ramp to the expressway.

In an effort to help us curb our fuel consumption patterns WiseBread, a community of bloggers that offer tips on how to live large on a small budget, published 108 Tips To Raise Fuel Economy. Some of them are practical, other a little less practical. Here is my summary of the ones we can implement in our lives to stretch the time between fill-ups.

Don’t Drive Aggressively

Did you know that you decrease your fuel efficiency by 33% when you floor the gas and slam on the brakes?

Plan your stops ahead of time

Not your pit stops, like grocery store, fitness club, etc, but plan in terms of stop lights and stop signs. Rather than holding the gas until you need to break, coast to a stop.

Accelerate Slowly

It’s tempting to race the guy in the Corvette beside you just to prove that your little, fuel efficient Honda, Toyota, Mini … (insert your car here) is faster, but it’s really fuel inefficient. Once you go passed a quarter of the way down while accelerating the gas gets pumped into the engine as opposed to the fuel line

Don’t Idle

If you are idling for more than 30sec you will actually save more gas by turning your car off and restarting it. If you drive a hybrid you don’t have to worry about this, they automatically turn the engine off when idling. In Switzerland, and maybe the rest of Europe, drivers turn their engines off at a red light. The amber then flashes, indicating drivers to turn their engines on, just before the light changes to green, further reducing idling time.

Use Momentum to Travel Uphill

It is more efficient to build speed on a flat, even more efficient on the down-slope, and use that momentum to carry you uphill.

Use A/C Sparingly

Using your A/C can reduce your fuel efficiency by 25%. Instead trying rolling down the windows when you’re under 80km/h (above 80km/h it is more efficient to use the A/C, open windows have a great affect on the drag of the car, decreasing fuel efficiency).

Optimize Tire Pressure

Lower pressure tires mean increased friction leading to poor fuel efficiency.

Tune Up

Keep up with regular maintenance, inefficiencies can result from a poorly maintained car.

Cluster your Errands

Run all your errands at once and get the most out of your travels

Avoid Peak Traffic Times

If possible adjust your travel schedule to avoid the congestion. Find a gym close to work. Go in early so you can leave early.

These are just some of the creative ideas that WiseBread came up with. For all 108 Fuel Economy tips visit WiseBread’s website and subscribe to either email or RSS.

Why Drive?
Here’s a perfect example. A friend of mine needs to be downtown on a Sunday morning. Her destination is right at a subway stop but she actually cannot take the train. With needing to be somewhere prior to the subway opening it is completely inefficient for her to take transit so she has opted for her car (a small, fuel efficient Toyota Yaris). And I’m sure her story is one of only many.

The Sales Trend
Despite rising fuel prices this summer there was still at 10.2% increase in auto sales in Canada, as reported by 680 News. It also noted that light truck sales were down 1.4%. CTV also reported that small, fuel efficient cars now represent about 50% of the Canadian market up from 40-45% a year ago. Overall the trend shows that Canadians are being more fuel efficient

Future Cars
Electric. Hydrogen Fuel Cell. Water. Already there are hybrids but hopefully in the future there will be others. There are several avenues that producers are pursuing, with many of them committing to a carbon reduction by 2015.