HSE

Whats the best way to make my SUV protect environment?

My fiance says It has 8 cylinders and its American made . Would a Toyota help support the environment ? We don't have any children but I like the exdra space for my tenis racket and for going to Walmart.

Public Comments

1. Park it and take the bus. Seriously, you don't need an SUV for a tennis racket or for groceries. Even a hybrid SUV uses up more gas than it ought to--the only way to protect the environment is to start taking mass transportation as much as possible and only driving when really necessary.
2. Crush it And stop going to walmart willya
3. Somehow I'm dubious that you need an SUV to carry a tennis racket. I can fit 2 bicycles inside my Prius with the back seats down. Getting a Prius would be the best way to make your car protect the environment. If you really need an SUV, the one with the highest Green rating from Yahoo is the Ford Escape hybrid. Second is the Mercury Mariner hybrid.
4. Buy a Honda Fit and fold down the rear seats. Clever engineering allows it to fit at least as much as your SUV, and with a small engine it'll get gas mileage in the high 30s, plus it has all the modern safety features.
5. It sounds like this is not a car that you need for your day-to-day life. There are dozens of more environmentally-friendly and fuel efficient vehicles than the one you already own, but not all of them are Toyotas. An important thing to remember is that untold thousands of gallons of petroleum go into making a new vehicle, so the most environmentally-friendly choice is to buy a used vehicle. Do the homework on what you Need-with-a-capital-N - this may include a two-seater. Just think very critically about your needs and that future generations should have the same opportunities that you have.
6. Sell it. Get a hybrid or a smaller more gas efficient car. Why would you need an SUV anyways, come on tennis rackets and groceries? I can fit those into my small compact car and I have a kid. It can only benefit you by saving you money on gas, and doing your part to save the environment. If you decide to keep the SUV, drive it less often. Carpool to work, ride your bike to places close by or take the bus.
7. Sell your SUV; it won't protect the environment no matter how hard you try. Use that money to buy a Toyota Prius or other HEV, since that's the best we've got right now. Your other options are to write your automaker and urge them to build more fuel-efficient SUVs or help look into hydrogen fuel cell technology. Some automakers are working on making HEV SUVs, so you can ask them about that. You could always write your Senator and Representative supporting legislation to mandate fuel efficiency increases as well.
8. ride a bike
9. I recently traded in my Blazer for a Toyota Prius. And my family was extremely impressed with the amount of room that my Prius has. My father actually has a much easier time getting in an out of the Prius than he did with my Blazer, which shocked me because the Prius is lower to the ground. I hate to tell you to trade in your SUV because that is a pretty big decision, but if you want to become environmentally friendly, sooner or later you are either going to have to trade it in or make rather big and costly changes to it in order to convert it, if that option is available. I'd suggest if you were willing to look for a new vehicle, go to the different dealerships and test drive them, have a good thorough look at them and then maybe seek it out for purchase. If more of us drove alternative vehicles, the demand of the gas supply would go down, possibly lowering the prices at the pump. Not to mention, the hybrid vehicles put out less toxic emissions, which would help in the beginning stages of reversing the damages that have been made our environment.
10. If you sell your SUV it will still pollute the environment. Only someone else will be driving it. The best thing you could do would be to have the internal combustion engine retrofitted to run on hydrogen. There is a comapny in Los Angeles that will do that for you. The next best alternative would be to convert it to run on natural gas. Even though it will still emit carbon dioxide on natural gas, the engine runs much more efficiently on natural gas and will emit significantly less CO2 oer mile traveled. Not only that but natural gas is much cheaper to buy than gasoline for the same energy equivalency. Also, if you are in California the State will issue stickers that you can put on your car similar to what they had been doing with hybrids that allow you to use the carpool lane even though you are the only occupant in the vehicle.
11. ( www.first-molicule.com ) Alternative Fuel company then you don't have to worry about it
12. If you park an SUV with an ecological message at the very front of a big appliance store telling people to read the EnergyGuide labels such that just a person each day gets a better appliance you could easily save 36500 dollars worth of electrical energy each year with your commentary SUV people with SUVs that live or work near big appliance stores might try this
13. Driving an SUV is fine. It does have environmentally adverse effects though. I reccomend just offsetting its emissions on legitimate non profit websites like CO2Debt.com Watch out for those pesky for profit websites trying to make a buck off the entire thing.
14. If you really need a Slow Ugly Vehicle see http://www.phoenixmotorcars.com, or http://www.toyota.com/html/shop/vehicles/ravev/rav4ev_0_home/index.html Shopping at Walmart probably damages the environment more than your personal transport; shopping locally from local suppliers is more enjoyable, fresher, healthier and often cheaper too. How big is your tennis racket, or is it about impressing the guys at the tennis club, in which case http://www.teslamotors.com
15. Instead of an SUV, consider getting the smallest car you can get with a towing package, and buy a trailer for hauling big stuff every few months. Don't like the trailer? The Honda Fit is a good one because it's a hatchback (bigger trunk).