Today companies and businesses are trying to do good the the environment, reduce their carbon footprint, and create a better eco-friendly image in general. One of the biggest companies here in the United States that creates a large carbon footprint is the vehicle industry. As it is stated in ‘Carbon Dioxide Emissions’ by the Environmental Protection Agency, the main human activity that emits CO2 is the combustion of fossil fuels (coal, natural gas, and oil) for energy and transportation.

The EPA said it expects fuel economy to continue to improve under the Obama administration’s National Clean Car Program standards. In addition to dramatically increasing fuel economy standards by 2025, the program will cut vehicle greenhouse gas emissions by half, agency officials said this week. Expectations are that the standards are to save a vehicle owner an average of $8,000 by 2025. EPA officials also expect to reduce oil consumption by more than 2 million barrels a day by 2025.

I would like to think and it has been said that every automaker is doing whatever it can to make those vehicles more fuel efficient. Some ways the automobile industry has improved their miles per gallon, allowing the vehicle owner to save money, is by creating engines that stop running while a vehicle is at a standstill, aerodynamic elements, vehicle weight, and hybrid cars. One car for example is the 2015 Ford F-140, which is 700 pounds lighter than the previous version due to its aluminum body.

There are several benefits of turning off or simply having an engine that stops running while the vehicle is at a standstill. Environmentally, switching off your engine at a standstill uses less fuel, cost you less in gas, and above all, the car automatically becomes zero-emissions. Hybrids are the most gasoline efficient of all cars, 48 to 60 mpg. Much of the fuel efficiency with the hybrids comes from improvements in aero dynamics, weight reduction and, the biggest change: a smaller, less powerful gas engine. It is said that any car will get substantially better mileage just by reducing the engine size.

Some say hydrogen or methane fuel cell powered cars are probably the cars of the future. What is really the future and better for the environment is using more public (improved) transportation, car pooling, riding a bike or even walking.