Ever heard that if you want something done, to do it yourself? When it comes to carpooling, I’d agree full on. As much as you wish your employer or city had a carpooling system to take you to work and back and save you some green in the process, it’s probably not going to happen on its own.

Green Living Online editor Shelagh McNally even wrote up a how-to guide for you. So get your fanny moving, start a carpool, and cut your carbon emissions today.

Tonight, my volleyball team will be using 2 cars instead of 6 to get to a game that’s 27 Km from where I live. See how many cars you can get off the road the next time you go somewhere.

Resources

Car Sharing and Carpooling Services in Canada

Trip Driving Cost Calculator - Gives you directions, a map, the fuel cost for your trip, and a cost comparison with other car models.

Pickuppal.com

Not only will a hybrid car save you money on your gas budget, it may also shrink your insurance premium too! TD Meloche Monnex gives hybrid ownership all the more allure with what they call Green Wheel - a 10% discount (5% in Ontario) on insurance premiums on hybrid cars.

Whether you have an existing policy with the company or are considering switching over, your new or existing hybrid qualifies for the rebate. As a current client of this company, I can vouch for it’s quality of service. In a recent claim for a parking lot hit and run (don’t you hate those?!) our deductible was waived, and a rental car provided at no charge. Our premium didn’t change a cent either.

So, if you’ve been sitting on the fence about what car to choose, get a hybrid, and then get a quote from TD Meloche Monnex. And, I know you’re clever enough to compare hybrid fuel efficiency ratings before going ahead. Many cars with hybrid technology offer worse fuel consumption than those without it. For example:

2008 Chevrolet Malibu Hybrid 33 miles per gallon (8.5 Litres/100Km)

2008 Hyundai Accent (Not a Hybrid) 38 miles per gallon (7.4 Litres/100Km)

The insurance rebate is unfortunately unavailable in BC, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba. But, if you live in any of those places, demand that your insurance companies raise the bar!

Of course, if affording a hybrid is still a problem, keep walking, cycling, and taking transit. Plus, good safe fuel efficient cars are still out there. Just keep demanding better and letting manufacturers know that there’s a robust demand for greener cars.

The folks over at Eartheasy have done some great work pulling together not 7, not 12, but 17 tips to help you cut your gas costs by up to 30% with simple driving style changes, maintenance and more.

I’ve been paying attention of late to the fuel economy of my own car with the shady suspicion that it hasn’t been reaching the posted 38 miles per gallon or 7.5 Litres/100 Km. It is hard to tell since I drive less than thrice weekly. In any case, this dandy tip list will help me troubleshoot, and ideally reach or exceed my car’s posted fuel efficiency ratings.

In the meantime, my current approach to saving money on gas also works on melting off that lingering winter muffin top: I bike where I reasonably can bike, blade where there’s a safe strip of pavement, and walk for the love of my dogs and for the scent of June’s lilacs.

Resources

Energy Efficient Driving Tips From Natural Resources Canada

Carpooling may be the one thing many of us guilt-ridden Canuck car owners mean to do, but never get around to. Perhaps it’s because it can be tricky to coordinate. In the States, companies like Zipcar make a lifestyle free of car ownership simple and convenient. With hundreds of cars in their fleets, a quick online or phone reservation, and automated access system, it’s easy to reduce the number of carbon-mobiles on the road.

Yet in Canada, car-sharing coops often have small fleets, inconvenient access, and high fees. Luckily, things are getting better. Check the list below and find an option that works for you. Some require memberships, others offer different plans and rates based on how much you use them. Fleet size ranges from one car to hundreds. Hourly rates can be as low as $2.50 or as high as $7.50 with long-distance trip options and different-sized vehicles - even hybrids!

The bottom line here is to save our climate and atmosphere by removing cars from the road while saving you from pricey car costs. And the catch is, the less a service is flexible for those who need it, the less it will be used. If the option in your city doesn’t suit or doesn’t exist, try Pickuppal.com - a handy option for moving people and packages wherever you are. Or, start something in your area!

Car Sharing Companies and Coops in Canada -Extracted from Carsharing.net listings

Resources

http://www.carsharing.net/where.html - find out about more up and coming car sharing companies and coops in your area

http://www.carpool.ca/ - Find or initiate a car pool in your area

Thanks to A123 Systems and Hymotion, PHEVs or Plug-in Hybrid Electric Vehicle conversion kits are now available at least for the average Mel Gibsons and Tom Hanks’ of the world.

Effectively, the conversion kit adds another 5000 watt-hours to the Prius’ existing battery of 300 watt-hours with very little modification to the car. Put another way, a converted Prius will gain 55-65 bonus battery-powered kilometers.

According to A123 Systems, “converted PHEVs have the potential to reduce oil consumption by as much as 75 percent and CO2 emissions by up to 50 percent over today’s internal combustion engine powered vehicles.” Sounds like a blessing given recent hikes in prices at the pump. But depending on how much you drive and charge, the unit may only recover about half of its initial price tag ($10,000 USD) in gas savings - unless gas prices more than double.

Still, most great techno gadgets enter the market at a high cost, and shouldn’t be discounted solely based on economics. Hymotion’s swanky PHEV calculator estimates not only approximate gas savings, it also spits out your anticipated greenhouse gas savings in the year. If a carbon tax like the one in BC should be implemented across Canada, the numbers may deserve another look.

In the meantime, you can place a $1000 deposit for your unit with Hymotion today. You’ll have to pay $400 to get it installed at an authorized location in L.A., San Fransisco, Boston, Minneapolis, Seattle, and Washington DC. But from that moment on, you can enjoy 100 or more miles per gallon, near fuel independence, and an apparent $0.50 price tag for each 4.5 hour charge! Plus, if you’re a purchaser of green power, your Prius will be virtually emission-free.

Resources

Learn more or even put money down on your L5 today
A Plug-in Conversion for Prius - New York Times April 27, 2008

Believe it or not, you can drastically reduce your carbon emissions

this summer without having to afford a several hundred dollar appliance purchase.

These 8 carbon-cutting actions offer fun and easy choices you can make to fight climate change.

1. Grow something tastier than grass

According to calorie-count.com, one hour of gardening will take care of 280 calories - about one grande Starbucks whole milk latte. Plus, New Brunswick’s Fallsbrook Centre tells us that the average meal travels 2400 Km to reach our plates. That’s roughly the distance between Montreal and Winnipeg - every meal!

Not only does gardening save us fuel and cash while melting off the calories, it’s ridiculously rewarding and a great way to connect with nature - literally. Three nights ago, I proudly made a scrumptious casserole with my own home-grown home-canned tomatoes. It doesn’t get much better than that.

And with all the current hype and hoopla about gardening, resources and supports are easy to come by:
http://www.yougrowgirl.com/
http://www.organicgardeningresources.com/index.html

Got no yard? Container gardening is a great way to bring healthy snacks to your balcony.
No time to garden? Farmers markets are brimming with the next freshest produce you’ll find in town, meaning you’re still saving on transport-related carbon emissions. Read the rest of this entry »

The Falls Brook Centre Food Miles Challenge is examining the environmental costs of getting out food from across the planet and how we can serve up a plate of local foods in style. Climate Change is forcing us all to examine our lifestyle and how it affects the planet. The Food Miles Challenge hopes to make its contribution to reduce emissions and air pollution caused by transportation of food over great distances through the support of farmer’s markets and by helping Carleton County Schools develop a local foods menu for their cafeterias.
The Food Miles Challenge team would like to announce the launch of the online Food Miles Calculator , an innovative tool for calculating the greenhouse gas emissions resulting from the transportation of goods. Enter the weight of your product and the distances travelled by air, boat, rail, and truck to find out how much C02 was emitted as a result of shipping. The tool also gives you your results in equivalent kilometres traveled in the average Canadian car, in case that is a more meaningful way for you to think about greenhouse gas emissions.
The calculator is also available from the food miles webpage which also contains a resource list of local producers and farmers markets, seasonal recipe suggestions, and educational activities to teach students about the food they eat and where it comes from. (Blurb Taken From Activist Agenda Edmonton)