Find a Carpool Buddy!

Seriously, carpooling is one of the easiest ways to save money and reduce air pollution from car exhaust. I carpool with friend(s) to school every day. Once you get a schedule set, it's really quite easy and becomes routine. The difficult part is actually finding someone who lives near you, travels where you are going, and has the same schedule. Well, some websites are here to help!

This website, eRideShare.com, claims to be the "top" site of its kind in the world. It has worldwide coverage and a large user base. So if you don't live in the U.S., maybe this should be the link you check out.

Carpool Connect seems a very simple. All you do is enter in your address and destination. The site brings up a list of people that have descriptions matching some of the keywords of your search. It's not the most effective - I typed in Richmond to DC and got someone pretty close (Richmond to Arlington) but they were last updated two years ago. Well, its pretty simple, so there's no harm in giving it a try.

Carpool World has a large database with over 70,000 registered trips.

RideSearch is another similar website that also has a gas calculator to see how much you save.

Of course, always take precautions when contacting someone over the internet. Check up on the person, arrange a meeting beforehand with a third party, let someone know where you are going and when you will be there, etc. Better safe than sorry.

And another advantage? You can take those special carpool only lanes on highways and avoid some traffic! This image is from Commuter Connections. So, have any of you ever tried carpooling?

Turn your motor off

Everyone knows what it's like to wait by the curb for a friend... oh, just a few minutes right? There's no need to turn off my engine. What about leaving the car in front of the store to grab a gallon of milk? Stuck in a mile-long traffic jam?

There are many times when we leave our cars idling. This practice damages the environment, our vehicles, and our wallets. According to the Consumer Energy Center, every time we idle for two minutes, we use the amount of gas it takes to go one mile. With gas prices so high and the average person idling for 5 to 10 minutes a day, we could be using a gallon of gas a week- to go nowhere!

What's more, idling can cause fuel residues to build up and damage the engine components of your car.

According to the EPA, idling releases more than 6 grams of nitrous oxides and carbon dioxide per minute. If you think about the amount of time individual drivers idle per day, multiply that throughout their lifetime, and multiply that figure by the number of drivers in the world, you will realize that there is a staggering amount of air pollution that could easily be reduced.

Next time you're waiting in a car, just take less than 5 seconds to turn off your engine. Your car, your bank account, and the air quality will thank you.

The above image is from Carbon Offset Solutions.