3 Tips to Make Your Road Trip More Eco-Friendly

One of the great things you can do in life is to take a road trip. I mean, think about it for a second. You’ll get to see parts of the world you’d otherwise never see if you travelled by plane somewhere, you’re on the ground and you’re experiencing everything as it is, there and then as you drive past it. There’s no aerial views, there’s no crying baby noises in the background, just you, your friends/family/partner, and the world as it was meant to be seen, from the ground.

Travel is something that has grown and grown in popularity in the last few years with more and more people from all around the globe going travelling in one form or another. It’s estimated that 1.2 billion people worldwide travelled in 2015 and if even 10% of those people which is 120 million people, made a conscious effort to be more environmentally friendly, global warming would undoubtedly see the benefits.

Here we have 3 great tips for you if you’re planning a road trip to make it as eco-friendly as possible so that you can travel with peace of mind knowing that you’re doing your bit and if you’re travelling from the UK, or within the UK, you’re not playing as big a contributing part to global warming, which apparently the UK is the largest contributor to in the world based on a per capita calculation.

The Car – Pre-Trip Checks

This is a fairly obvious one to consider before you hit the road but many people neglect this and assume that their car is fuel efficient and provided they’ve no lights on the dashboard, they won’t think there’s any issues. Well, you don’t have a light telling you to change your air filter but it’s something to consider checking before you set off on your journey as a dirty air filter can reduce your car’s fuel efficiency by 20%.

Something else to consider if your car tyres. Generally, people look at their tyres, see they aren’t flat and that’ll do them for peace of mind. Well, if your car tyres aren’t inflated properly, it can have a detrimental effect on your miles per gallon which won’t help your wallet very much when you’re having to fill up more often. If you’re unsure about how to check your tyre pressure and making sure that they’re correctly inflated, here’s a handy tyre pressure guide.

Your Load – Watch What You Pack

This is something that you may not consider having an effect on the performance of your car but, actually it does. Ensuring that you pack as lightly as possible for your trip will go a long way to bettering the performance of your car. If you add an extra 20 to 30 pounds of luggage in your vehicle, it will make you much less fuel efficient and if you have a roof rack box on your car, it can reduce your fuel efficiency by up to 25% and will also have an effect on your miles per gallon performance as they interfere with the aerodynamics of your car.

Your Route – Plan Ahead

If you can, try to avoid the urge to just go out and hit the road without a plan in place. If you plot and plan your route ahead of schedule and before you leave, you will be able to find the quickest and best route to your destination in order to save fuel. Not only will this improve your carbon footprint, it’ll likely also go some way to saving your stress levels.

If you’re fortunate enough to have a modern car, the chances are it will have some form of cruise control built in. If that’s the case, utilise it. If you use cruise control as often as possible, it’ll maintain your car’s speed during your time on the motorway, highway or wherever it is that you may be travelling to. This means that it will use the petrol more efficiently and it’ll take a bit of stress off you too which is always a win, win.

Hopefully, you found these tips useful and helpful and they go some way toward helping you make better, more environmentally friendly choices prior to, during and after your road trip.

Leave a Comment