US car makers launch EcoDriving greenwash

Car drivers in the western USA are being encouraged to take up EcoDriving in a bid to reduce carbon emissions from automobiles.

Arnold Schwarzengger, governor of California, and Bill Ritter, governor of Colorado, are working with the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers to promote EcoDriving.

Ten car manufacturers – BMW, Chrysler, Ford, General Motors, Mazda, Mercedes-Benz, Mitsubishi, Porsche, Toyota, and Volkswagen have all committed to the EcoDriving programme.

The scheme, will which eventually be rolled out across the US, encourages motorists to take simple, practical steps to reduce fuel consumption, saving money and the environment.

An interactive EcoDriving website – ecodrivingusa.com - includes video instructions to help drivers lower their carbon emissions.

Steps include avoiding tailgating, accelerating and breaking properly, driving at optimum speed, inflating tires to maximum pressure, and knowing which type of motor oil to use.

By learning EcoDriving it is estimated that motorists can reduce fuel consumption by 15%.

In California alone, with 32.5 million cars on the road, this 15% reduction would cut back on 23 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions every year.

If half of all drivers in the US practice EcoDriving around 100 million tonnes of carbon emissions would be saved per year, enough to power 8.5 million households.

To help promote the launch of the scheme, car manufacturers involved have declared this September to be a free ‘Green Check-up Month’ across the US.

Environmentalists, however, are sceptical of automakers’ motives for getting involved in the scheme.

Green blogger Ilana DeBare said EcoDriving ‘smacks of greenwashing’ and avoids addressing the bigger issues of America’s overuse of cars and the need for genuinely green vehicles.