Combine Trips
Lowering your miles traveled by combining trips and staying local is one of the easiest ways to save time, money and emissions. With a little planning you can combine activities like going shopping and to the gym and save!
Energy and water savings
- Save time, money and gas
- Reduce wear and tear on your vehicle by driving less
- Reduce carbon emissions and air pollution
Purchase Air Travel Offsets
We are partnering with Carbon Lighthouse to provide high quality offsets for Air Travel. These offsets remove emissions directly from utilities in the U.S. and support more renewable energy.
For more information, go to Carbon Lighthouse"
Purchase offsets for air miles
Price: $3/1,000 miles
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Overview
Benefits
Save time, money and gas
Reduce wear and tear on your vehicle by driving less
Reduce carbon emissions and air pollution
The Basics
Checklist
Plan Out Your Trips
In the US about 57% of all household vehicle miles traveled in 2009 were social and recreational, shopping, and family/personal errands—i.e. the types of trips that can be more easily combined than commutes, vacations, or other trips. Take a few minutes and think about all the errands you have to do and see if you can combine trips, or combine them with your commute and stop at the shops on your way home. Make a list of the errands you need to run and see if you can combine them into one trip. You can also use a GPS or online map to map out the shortest route between your stops.
Another tip - leave your grocery list by the door to make sure you remember what you need so you can avoid multiple trips. By planning out your errands, you can save yourself time; reduce your fuel and vehicle maintenance costs, all while lowering your carbon emissions. In addition, when your vehicle’s engine is cold it is less efficient and often uses up to twice as much fuel as when it’s warm and running, combining trips reduces the number of cold starts saving you even more on fuel costs!
Check with Friends and Family
Ask your family and friends if they need anything from the store before you start your errands. This act of kindness will be greatly appreciated and will save them a trip, reducing their carbon emissions. Post a list of errands by the door or on the fridge so everyone can add to the list and save time!
Stay Local
Another way to reduce your vehicle miles traveled is to consider staying local. The next time you are thinking of driving over an hour into the city for dinner or a few hours to that new hiking spot you wanted to check out, think about whether there is an interesting destination that is more local. Gas vehicles are generally the single largest impact we have on carbon emissions. Until you are able to switch to green electricity and get that electric car, gas powered miles have a serious impact. Consider making a few of your otherwise longer trips local and check out that new restaurant down the street or take a walk through the neighborhood. Just a few of these local excursions can actually really help ease your impact as we transition to clean renewable energy!
Walk and Enjoy the Fresh Air
Many errands are very close to home or very close to each other. If possible, walk or bike to do your errands or park between two errand stops and walk between them instead of moving your car. This will reduce your fuel costs and give you a chance to enjoy the fresh air.