Feature Story

Are you on a Car-Lite Diet? Have fun, be creative and trim the miles you drive alone. Half of our air pollution comes from vehicle pollution. You can change that. Learn how from "green" road warriors at carlitediet.com.

Fleet operations

• Keep fleet vehicles tuned up, regularly check and correct tire pressure.
• Pressure test fuel caps to ensure seal.
• Avoid overfilling or "topping off" gas tanks on fleet vehicles.
• Avoid engine idling when making deliveries or customer rounds.
• Turn off delivery vehicles during loading, unloading and while in lines.
• Refuel fleet vehicles after 6 p.m.
• Reschedule discretionary activities on Clean Air Action Days, such as equipment/vehicle degreasing.

Building maintenance/Custodial operations

• Encourage use of low VOC paints, stains and custodial care products.
• Control emissions by tightly sealing all solvents, properly disposing rags with solvent waste and using substitutes for solvents where possible.
• On Clean Air Action Days, reschedule discretionary maintenance, such as painting, varnishing, and stripping.

Grounds maintenance

• Reduce or eliminate the use of gas-powered yard equipment (including blowers, trimmers, weeders), which have high emissions.
• On Clean Air Action Days, reschedule landscape operations that utilize gas-powered mowers and equipment; parking lot/driveway paving or painting lane stripes, and building and grounds painting, varnishing or stripping.

Customer awareness

• Promote your summer pollution reduction strategies through staff newsletters, web pages, email and bulletin boards.
• Underscore your commitment to ozone reduction through a memo or letter from your owner, president or CEO.
• Share information on Clean Air Action Days announcements.

Employers

• Reduce travel: promote on-site lunches, telecommuting, compressed work schedules and teleconferencing.
• Offer employee incentives that promote biking to work, carpooling and transit use.
• Encourage and educate employees to maintain their cars and reduce vehicle travel by combining errands and to walk, bike, carpool or take the bus to work.
• On Clean Air Action Days, postpone discretionary auto trips.

Employees

• Consider a compressed workweek. If you worked four 10-hour days you would eliminate one round trip and you may travel when traffic is less congested.
• Hold meetings by telephone or videoconference as much as possible, especially on Clean Air Action Days.
• Turn off your computer, office machines and lights at night to save energy. Conserving energy reduces air pollution caused in energy production.
• Bring your lunch to work. Save gas and avoid being on the road by packing yourself a bag lunch. If you buy your lunch, walk to the restaurant, it's good for you and the environment.