The environment is a big issue in society today, so there’s never been a more important time to make a change. Bridgestone’s ‘Make Cars Green Campaign’ helps reduce the impact of cars on the environment (and save you money) – just follow these practical tips to do your part.

• Don’t warm up your engine before starting off – modern cars don’t need to be warmed up before starting off, except in extremely cold conditions.
• Use air conditioning only when necessary – AC causes your vehicle to consume more fuel so think twice before letting it run continuously. When travelling at slow speeds, it’s more efficient to open the windows.
• Accelerate gently and keep a constant speed – gentle driving uses less fuel. Avoid abrupt, heavy acceleration as this incurs unnecessary wear on your tyres and brakes.
• Use engine braking – using the natural braking power of the engine saves on fuel. Releasing the accelerator when recognising the need to slow down stops the fuel supply leading to a 2% increase in fuel efficiency.
• Don’t idle your engine – whilst the engine is idling the car is still using fuel! Ten minutes of engine idling (in neutral, with AC off) wastes 130cc of fuel.
• Offset your CO2 emissions – CO2 production as a result of transport is often unavoidable, but if you do drive you can still contribute to CO2 reduction by offsetting emissions.