What is EcoDriving?

Simple Solutions to Increase Mileage and Reduce Your Fuel Cost

Faced with high fuel prices and concerns about the environment, we could all use a few simple ways to save money at the gas pump and reduce our carbon footprint. EcoDriving is a way for drivers to learn how small changes in their driving habits can add up to big savings at the pump and big reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

EcoDriving provides easy tips for getting the most mileage out of your vehicle. No matter what you drive, by following a set of subtle and easy-to-use best practices for driving and vehicle maintenance, a typical EcoDriver can improve mileage by about 15 percent. EcoDriving is as simple as making small changes to your driving habits and adjusting your vehicle maintenance techniques.

Sample EcoDriving practices include:

* Not tailgating, knowing the proper way to accelerate and brake, using synchronized traffic lights to a driver's advantage, driving at the optimum highway speed, understanding when to use air conditioning and much more.

Sample maintenance practices include:

* Knowing which motor oil to use, understanding the importance of proper tire pressure and what affects tire pressure, understanding aerodynamics and much more.

When applied across the nation's entire vehicle fleet, the program's benefits are potentially huge:

* If just half of all drivers nationwide practiced moderate levels of EcoDriving, annual CO2 emissions could be reduced by about 100 million tons, or the equivalent of heating and powering 8.5 million households.

* If all Americans practiced EcoDriving, it would be equal to 450 billion miles traveled on our roadways without generating any CO2 emissions. That's 1,500 CO2-free miles for every man, woman, and child in the United States each year.

The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, representing 10 top automakers, has launched this consumer awareness campaign centered on an interactive website, www.EcoDrivingUSA.com, to help drivers learn practical tips to improving their mileage and reducing their carbon footprint. The site includes a video guide to EcoDriving, an "EcoCalculator" to determine benefits for individuals or states, a Virtual Road Test and a variety of educational tools.

To join the EcoDriving movement, just call Rebecca Schneider, at 313-596-0460 or email rschneider@detroitchamber.com. To learn more visit www.EcoDrivingusa.com.