Although hybrids are a popular green technology, it’s used today not only for Priuses and other smaller cars but in large vehicles getting less than half the miles per gallon (MPG) of those cars. Choosing an eco-friendlier rental car should be based on overall emissions rather than the technology.

For example, Avis and Budget both offer EPA SmartWay^® certified vehicles, meeting rigorous air pollution and greenhouse gas emissions standards. Each vehicle receives an Air Pollution Score and a Greenhouse Gas Score, on a scale of 1-10. A vehicle must receive a 6 or better on both scores, and have a total score of at least 13 for certification.

A full 100 percent of Avis’ economy, compact, intermediate and standard car classes and 85 percent of full-size cars are SmartWay^® certified.  Similarly for Budget, all economy, compact and intermediate and 99 percent of standard and full-size cars are certified. Selecting a SmartWay^® vehicle is easy. When I made a reservation at Budget.com, I was thrilled to see the SmartWay^® certified cars, easily denoted with a leaf icon:

You can also look up vehicle fuel-economy information and SmartWay^® vehicles on EPA’s Green Vehicle Guide, which is updated through model year 2010.

Where available, you can further reduce your emissions by opting for a GPS navigation system in your car to get where you need to faster (and avoid getting lost). Also, you can skip the lines at toll booths by choosing electronic toll collection when renting your vehicle; Avis offers eToll collection services in more cars and more cities than any other car rental company.

Hybrid technology is a wonderful leap for cars and is driving new innovations and products. At the same time, we also need to keep our eyes on the prize of overall carbon reductions and climate protection rather than focusing on specific auto technologies. We feel similarly about not picking winners and losers in the green energy space; we need to focus on zero-emission energy without picking wind over solar, geothermal over biodigesters, and so on.

Remember you can always reduce your trip’s emissions further, making it carbon neutral, by offsetting in support of Carbonfund.org’s third-party validated carbon reduction projects around the world. Visit www.avis.com or www.budget.com to offset your rental vehicle.

Want to learn more? Please check out our Save Energy page for fuel-efficient driving tips.

Thank you Bambeco for including offsetting one’s holiday travel with Carbonfund.org as a holiday green tip. Bambeco is a stylish eco-retailer launched on Earth Day and has quickly developed a fan following. The company’s mission is to offer an appealing, comprehensive selection of green products. Check out their seasonal and holiday home furnishings at www.bambeco.com.

This holiday, and year-round, you can affordably and easily calculate your travel carbon footprint, or choose from preset options based on miles traveled. Whether you’re traveling by car, train, bus or plane, you can calculate and offset your carbon footprint. Also, learn how you can reduce the carbon footprint of your travel with these energy saving tips.

Our new partner, Clean Air Cab, is a carbon neutral taxi company serving the Phoenix metro area.  In addition to purchasing carbon offsets from Carbonfund.org, they go above and beyond and also plant ten trees per month for each cab they have on the road.  For October, Clean Air Cab has planted 260 trees!  They plan to reach 200 cabs in the next 3 years and plant over 23,000 trees.

Rather than your usual Ford Crown Victoria, their entire fleet is made up of Toyota Priuses getting an estimated 50 miles per gallon.  They also prove that going green doesn’t have to be expensive.  They have prices that are cheaper than the top three cab companies in Phoenix.

“We believe that going green isn’t something you do – it is something you are,” said Steve Lopez, Founder of Clean Air Cab.

In addition to taking care of the environment, Clean Air Cab has programs that protect their local community.  Arizona State University students can call Clean Air Cab’s Free Ride Back program to get a cab to take them home if they have been drinking and can’t drive themselves. In the morning, they call back and a cab will pick them up and take them back to their car for free.

People in the Phoenix, AZ metro area can book a Clean Air Cab taxi online at www.CleanAirCab.com or by calling 480-777-9777.

Check out Carbonfund.org’s CarbonFree® logo on the back of each Clean Air Cab!

With Memorial Day weekend and the summer travel season approaching, millions of people are going to find themselves in need of a rental car on their vacations. However, thanks to our CarbonFree® partner Avis Budget Group, you can make your trip a whole lot greener.

When shopping for a rental car, be sure to look into Avis’ ECO-RIDE fleet, featuring the Toyota Prius, Nissan Altima, and Ford Escape hybrid vehicles. All three offerings are EPA certified SmartWay™ vehicles and have proven to be amongst the best environmental performers. Driving on unfamiliar roads is an easy way to get lost and Avis’ where2® GPS Navigation system can help keep you on the right path to ensure you take the most direct and fuel-efficient route possible. Additionally, the Avis eToll system allows you to use automated toll collection lanes, the use of which can help cut tailpipe emissions greatly.

Best of all, Avis Budget Group and Carbonfund.org have partnered to provide you with a way to offset the emissions from your rental car. By clicking here, you can offset your rental for one day, one week, or one month. We know you can’t always avoid driving to get where you need to go this summer, so we hope you’ll join Avis and Carbonfund.org to “Reduce What You Can, Offset What You Can’t” for your travels.

The transportation sector contributes significantly to global warming. Automobile related emissions in the United States are responsible for roughly 25% of our total greenhouse gas emissions, an astonishing figure. You can chalk up our vehicle’s emissions to the fact that American’s love their cars – which we do – but the equally guilty is the fact that we have built a society that is utterly dependent on private vehicles to function.

How would we get groceries without a car? How would the kids get to school? How would you get to work? What about that weekend getaway — impossible without your car.

The good/bad news is that this isn’t your fault. Since the 1950s, America was built with the car in mind and it is realistically impossible to function without an automobile in most places. But this is really not a good thing.

The negative implications of a car-centric society go far beyond the global warming pollution that comes out of all of our tailpipes. Cars in my view are responsible for or contribute to:

• Diminished local air quality, especially in urban settings, that cause respiratory problems and disease
• Traffic accidents and deaths
• The urban heat island effect
• Obesity by facilitating inactivity
• Stress and road rage
• Urban noise pollution
• Money out of your pocket every time you have to fix that alternator or power windows or that O2 censor (what the heck is an O2 censor?!?!)

But what is the answer? How can we fight global warming, improve community health, and greatly increase our quality of life? Proper planning and smart growth.

Smart growth is a development principle that encourages compact development and incorporates public transportation, walkable commercial centers, and bikeable streets.  With smart growth, most things that you need like groceries, restaurants, hammers, and nightlife should be no more than or short walk of transit trip away.

There are successful demonstrations of smart growth cases out there, like Vauban, Germany, where the entire city has been planned to be a ‘car-reduced’ city. In Vauban, over 70 percent of the residents don’t own cars because they don’t need to (and the streets are car-free). This city of 5,500 is living proof that a better way is out there, and that giving up your car(s) doesn’t mean giving up your quality of life.

In order to properly fight global warming the way we need to, the US needs to incorporate smart growth principles in all new developments. This, in my humble opinion, should be done through a variety of carrot and stick measures:

• Federal funding for transportation should be equally balanced between automobile, transit and bikeways/walkways. Currently highways get way more funding than any non-car transportation
• Smart, compact development should be required where practical — like in say urban and suburban areas
• Things that make transportation alternatives easier should be encouraged — like secure, covered bicycle parking and showers at your office, and safe bike lanes on the street
• People should pay the real price of parking that incorporates the cost of maintaining streets, traffic lights, traffic police, etc.

As we wait for our transportation systems to catch up with our 21st century needs, catch a bus or bike when you can. It will help you fight global warming now, feel better, and be part of the solution.

With Earth Day around the corner many of us are thinking about the steps that we can take to live a little lighter on the grid and reduce our carbon footprint. But the real goal of Earth Day is to increase awareness of the impact we have on the Earth. An article that appeared in the Washington Post took the time to highlight a handful of area families that are doing their part to protect the planet 365 days a year- but then classified some of their actions as being quote, ‘extreme.’

Across the Washington region, a few residents have embraced eco-friendly living with a fervor that makes Al Gore look like an oil company lobbyist. They give up everything from furnace heat (too many emissions) to store-bought meat (too much factory farming) to plans for a second child (too much of everything, given the average American’s environmental impact).

But for the people who have to live with these enthusiasts, this much green can sometimes be hard to take.

Most of the actions that people are taking are in response to climate change, the greatest environmental challenge of our generation. Their responses, in my humble opinion are justified and part of the wide range of actions that people should be taking to reduce their carbon footprint. While I may never save water from my showers, as one man mentioned in the article does, I don’t see why conservation efforts like that should be considered extreme.

I find it to be interesting that this article focuses on the few people that may be doing too much, as opposed to many who aren’t doing nearly enough. Just like everything in life, some people are going to be more into a given action than others. For example, some people paint their faces to attend a sporting event, others wear their team’s cap and jersey, others just show up and drink a beer. Are any of those fans extreme? No, but they represent the spectrum of people interested in the team.

Comprehensively fighting global warming will require all kinds of people. People who want to do everything they can, and people who are just now willing to take the first step. Now is not the time to split hairs on what could be deemed practical actions; rather- now is the time to embrace diversity and work on ending global warming together.