by Tao Oliveto, Carrboro, NC

We all want to do our part to help the planet and some things are SO easy. Like using less water, switching to CFLs, moving the thermostat a few degrees, bringing your own reusable bag or mug and, of course, buying less stuff.

Here’s another no-brainer - what is the number one easy thing to do to decrease your fuel use on the road? Fill your tires with nitrogen! (Ok, so going veggie-diesel or electric or actually driving less will save more, but I’m talking REALLY easy with this one. Nitrogen has been used for years in airplane and semi-trucks tires (race cars, too, but their fuel use is such eco-blasphemy that I can’t even go there) .

Nitrogen is super natural - in fact, it makes up about 78% of the earth’s atmosphere. The idea is that the molecules are larger, making it harder to escape from tires, allowing them to maintain pressure up to 3 times longer. You’ll pay between 2 - 10$ per tire, a cost easily recouped through decreased fuel dollars and less tire wear. I filled my Prius tires one month ago and I’ve already seen the increase in mileage - up an average of 3 mpg! Don’t worry about refills on the road, you can top off your tires with compressed air when necessary.

While many auto dealerships have jumped right on board, keep in mind that some tire manufacturers and retailers (hello, Goodyear!) will downplay the benefits of nitrogen since it will mean less tire sales, so don’t fall for it. Happily, my local service station and tire retailer, Chapel Hill Tire Car Care, readily suggested the switch to nitrogen at my last oil change. For more information on dealers and their opinions about nitrogen, read this on TampaBay.com.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that America loses 2 million gallons of fuel EVERY DAY to under-inflated tires. Who knew?! Well, now you do, so get thee to your local car care center - Godspeed! If you can’t find it there - first, encourage them to catch the nitrogen wave - then, check in with some of the biggies in your area.

Tags: culture, travel

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 3rd, 2007 at 5:50 pm and is filed under Green Misc.. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.