Blue Sky Initiative

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Useful Links U.S. Environmental Protection Agency >> Mississippi Deptartment of Environmental Quality >> Ground Level Ozone Info>> DeSoto County Ozone Forecast>> Area Air Quality Index>> Auto Fuel Economy>> Green Vehicle Guide>> Kids Guide>>		Below you will find useful tips and steps you can take to do your part. Tackle Your Trips: Plan ahead to combine several errands into one trip, or run errands on the way home from work. Run groups of errands in the evening hours, since the impact of emissions is worse during hotter hours. Get Children On Board: Encourage children to ride the school bus, or organize a "school pool"- a carpool with other parents. Share after-school driving and take turns driving children to sports practice, swim lessons, music lessons, etc. Use Technology: Use the phone and the Internet to locate or purchase products and services, instead of driving from store to store. Make a Smart Vehicle Choice: gas mileage and air pollution ratings for new and used cars and trucks. Consider a hybrid for your next purchase. Make Maintenance Top Priority: Keep your engine tuned, tires inflated and replace your air filters regularly. A tune up can increase your gas mileage by an average of 4.1 percent, while a new air filter can improve it by up to 10 percent. Turn It Off: Whenever you are driving, remember to turn off your car instead of idling for long periods. Extended idling causes greater wear and tear on your car, wastes fuel, in addition to adding pollutants to the air. Avoid drive-thru lanes and walk inside instead. Refuel After 6 PM: Fill up your gas tank in the evening rather than the morning. Evaporative emissions from morning gasoline fill-ups contribute to air pollution, particularly during the summertime. Check Your Gas Cap: Leaking gas caps contribute to air pollution and waste fuel due to evaporation. Every leaking gas cap equals approximately 200 pounds of evaporative emissions each year. Up to 30 gallons of gasoline can be released annually – that’s a lot of money wasted. What impact does a single car have on pollution and air quality? The average passenger car emits more than 115 pounds of smog-forming emissions each year. The average light truck or SUV emits almost 164 pounds of smog-forming emissions annually. Reducing the amount of single-occupant vehicle miles driven is one of the single biggest things we can do to significantly impact air pollution and traffic congestion. Why refuel after 6 P.M.? When you fill up, vapors escape into the air, adding VOCs to the ground-level ozone mixture. By waiting until after the heat of the day, you are contributing less to the chemical soup of pollutants to be cooked by the hot summer sun that produces unhealthy concentrations of ozone. Go back to Blue Sky Initiative home page >>