Regular car maintenance such as oil changes, tune ups, air filter maintenance, and proper tire inflation can save you 23 gallons of gasoline per year! The easiest one you can do at home is make sure that your tires are filled up to the maximum PSI that your particular tire allows.

How can you find out that information?

Simply look at the sidewall of the tire for the letters “PSI”. Prior to those letters there will be a number or a range of numbers. That number of the top of the range is where you want to be in order to get maximum gas mileage.

10% underinflation = 5% mileage loss
20% underinflation = 15% mileage loss

Your ride might be a little bit more bumpy, but think of the gas you will save! Not to mention the clean air benefits everyone will get to experience!

Click here to read more about this topic!

This morning I came across a World Health Organization (WHO) report that listed the nations with the cleanest air. Atop of this list is the great nation of Estonia. Never a big geography buff, I asked my buddy Eric (a geography major) where this country was. He told me it was somewhere in Europe. Here’s the exact location if you are interested: The good ‘ol US of A comes in at number 9, which isn’t too bad, but we can definitely do better. C’mon America, I know we are a competitive nation! You aren’t going to let puny little Estonia beat you in air quality are you?!?

Click here to read a news article from the Vancouver Sun about the WHO report.

The American Transportation Research Institute (ATRI) has recently released data on congested roadways that are significant to freight. What does that mean? It means they compiled a list of the top 250 places that are congested with truck traffic! Number one on that list is where I-290 intersects 90/94 in Chicago. If you’ve ever driven that segment of highway during rush hour  you know how bad it can get.

This year they expanded the list to the top 250 locations, rather than the conventional 100 they usually do. This year Peoria makes the list at number 204: IL-74 at I-474 in between East Peoria and Morton. I wonder if that interchange could ever see the type of congestion that we see up in Chicago? Probably not, but it will become increasingly important that we look at other ways to ship freight (barge and rail are the primary alternatives) in order to curb congestion and help our air quality.

To view the full report from ATRI click here. 

I knew vehicle emissions makes my blood pressure go up but I never thought it was this bad! A BBC News article today summarizes a British Medical Journal article that states that exposure to car fumes raise the risk of heart attack for a six hour window.

The article also goes as far to state, “Repeated exposure is still bad for health, they say, substantially shortening life expectancy, and so the advice to people remains the same – avoid as far as is possible.”

This is just another incentive to ride a clean emissions CityLink bus or ride your bike!

Click here to read the BBC News article!

If you live in the Peoria region I am sure you have heard about the museum/Caterpillar visitors center that has been going up on the riverfront over the past year or so. It’s really starting to take shape! I’m really excited to be able to take friends and family there when they visit Peoria – I really do think it will be an asset to the community.

The only thing I am disappointed in is the amount of heavy machinery being used to “build the block.” I mean, I understand it makes the job easier to use a giant tractor instead of a shovel, but come on! Just think of how much cleaner the air would be if none of that equipment was being used!

I went over there with a few shovels from Home Depot and the construction workers just laughed at me. I think one even whistled at me.

Oh well. Can’t win ‘em all. Maybe I can convince the City of Peoria to build that new hotel without any large equipment.

Yesterday, I wanted to visit Running Central’s new location in Peoria Heights. As I may not have mentioned before, I live in my parents’ backyard in Peoria. The energy costs of my tent are next to none, apart from the small hot plate I use to cook my organic oatmeal-tofu omelets (don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it). Anyways, I’m getting off the subject. While explaining to my neighbor that my crawling through an open window to turn off his kitchen light was NOT home invasion, I missed the bus!

Instead of borrowing my Dad’s car, I decided my best option was to zip-line over to the Heights. I connected one end of my line to my folks’ chimney, then biked over to Running Central and attached the other end to the façade of the building before biking back to make my approach.

With all the on-road bike lanes and trails in the city, I got there and back in no time, and got some exercise along the way!

When the fire department finally got me down, it dawned on me that my bike had gotten me to Running Central quicker than my zip-line idea got me rescued by the PFD. You’d think I’d have noticed that and just gone into the store. Oh well, I sometimes overlook things like that when I have an idea. The moral of the story is that biking is an excellent way to get around for errands, recreation, and even work. A bit of knowledge for you:

Despite there being (on average) on adult bike in every household in the US, only 7% of
adults ride their bike outside in a given week.

Why is this number so low?! Riding a bike (as opposed to driving) has no environmental impact and is a great way to get exercise! Do you plan on taking anything large or heavy with you on your trip? If not, then why waste the space (and gas)? Hop on your bike, and make the environment (and perhaps your body) better! My question for you is:

When was the last time you rode your bike (either for fun or to go somewhere)? Has your
ten-speed just been sitting in the garage, collecting dust?

**All facts are from the Federal Highway Commission

Well, tonight I’m taking my girlfriend (Sky Blue) up to Tanner’s Orchard to pick some apples, sip some apple cider, and maybe munch on a donut or two. It will be great with the perfect fall weather we are having!

The problem is that the orchard is outside of the area that CityLink services. I asked Sky if we could walk there but she nixed that idea really quick. I checked out Google Maps and I found that if we rode our bikes there we can take the Rock Island Trail! Check it out here:

Rock Island Trail Route to Tanner’s Orchard

It’s a little bit of a longer ride (about 30 miles each way) than we usually do, but it is definitely do-able if you are a seasoned biker. We decided to compromise and drive half way and bike the rest. Not only will we keep our air clean, but we will get some exercise too!

I’m really pumped to go to the Illini game this Saturday! I get to tailgate with all of my old college buddies and have a real good time. It sure has been great starting the season with five home games, but all of my friends have been complaining about the cost of gas for all of these trips. So, what do you think I did? I told ‘em to start carpooling! I’ll start off by picking up my buddy Nick, the biggest Illini fan I know (he takes an Illini lunchbox to work every day.) Then I’ll head over to Tremont and pick up Eric – he’s kind of a glass half empty kind of guy, but this season he’s on the Illini bandwagon!

Just think if every single Illini fan (close to 60,000 of them) carpooled to Memorial Stadium instead of driving single occupancy vehicles! With four people fitting comfortably in a standard sedan, that would be 15,000 cars on the road – way less than 60,000! If everyone carpooled we would emit 4,455,000 LESS pounds of CO2 than if everyone drove by themselves!

Now that’s something to cheer about! Oskee-wow-wow!!!

** CO2 information from: The Sightline Institute

Did you know that automobile travel accounts for 25% of US air pollution?

SERIOUSLY! One-quarter of all the smog in our air is from cars! Looking at the tailpipe of a sedan next to the smokestack of a dirty factory seems like no comparison, but every ride adds up. Between my Segway, bike, bus pass, and my own two feet, I like to think I’m not responsible for much of that 25%. But how do you think your travel habits stack up? If you want to make your trips easier on the air, one thing you can do is. . .

Carpool! Carpooling one day a week saves the average commuter 1,200 miles per year! Not only does that mean huge savings on gas, but also fewer pollutants in the air. Don’t know anyone to carpool with? Do what I do: hitchhike! Or, you can go to http://www.ciCarpool.com. You can put in where you live, where you’re going, when you have to be there and back, and the kind of people you want to ride with (smokers or nonsmokers, fellow women, etc.). You can carpool once a week, or every day you work. It’s a great new service for the Tri-County area that’s Hunter Green approved! I like to get people thinking, so I’ll leave you with this question:

What’s your favorite park or green space near where you live? Would it be the same with polluted, smoggy air?

**All facts are from the Federal Highway Commission unless otherwise noted.

An Economical CityLink Bus

Woohoo! We had a press conference at the offices of the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission today. We had some great speakers including a local allergist! We also got to tour a new CityLink bus that actually produces emissions that are CLEANER than the air it takes in. How cool is that?!?

You can read about the buses in this Journal Star article.