Theme for September - Do you really need to travel?

This month's theme is about road travel again.

We've already looked at ways to drive more efficiently. I've been keeping a log of how much fuel we put in the car and how many miles we do on a spread sheet and it's showing our average fuel consumption to be 42 mpg. We have an onboard caluclator thing, but I've been keeping a record of how much diesel we put in and how many miles we get from it - I'm not sure which is the most accurate.

For September, we're encouraged to consider our road transport both in terms of

• Personal travel
• The things we buy

22% of the UK's carbon emissions come from road transport so looking at these two ideas can help cut the country's overall emissions.

Now I have to confess that we do 'pop out' more than we should. We changed our car to a more fuel efficient one, but didn't change our habits much; in fact I think we saw it as a green light (boom boom) to be a little more careless with car use.

I talked to DH about this the other day and so far I've managed to walk to the shops once, instead of getting the car out. I have other issues that prevent me walking as much as I might, but I can build on taking one trip a month to the local shop or Post Office.

We combine errands wherever we can, but our downfall is the occasional takeaway, DVD rental or beer - those are the three things we get the car out for, but forward planning and more self discipline could stop all of that.

We do however, 'shop local' in the grand scheme of things. I'm amazed how many of my friends travel to Gloucester to shop when we have so many great places in a more immediate area. We have a butcher and library 3 miles away and a co-op and Lidls about 6 miles away. Our farm shop is about 5 miles away and we have an orchard 2 miles down the road. We're very lucky and supporting the orchard and farm shop also means we reduce our food miles because it's grown on site.

In addition we grow some of our own food - this year it was tomatoes, courgettes, beans, sweetcorn, potatoes, beetroot, salad leaves, kale, cucumber, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, pumpkins and we grow our own herbs.

I am vegetarian and eat a lot of rice and lentils - flown in from India and turkey no doubt. I think it's easier for a meat eater to eat locally; we can buy organic meat which is reared a few miles away and get local eggs and cheese (neither of which I eat).

I've been thinking about going back to supermarket delivery - that is a greener way to shop because a full supermarket truck keeps about 20 cars off the road. The thing is we're not very good at organising and shopping for an entire week.

This is all sounding like excuses, but I just know my limitations!

I travel into Gloucester once a month for a healing treatment, and we end up with a long list of things to do while we are there, like catching up with my friend who lives over there and going to shops to get things we cannot buy locally. I also pick up a suma order from Gloucester, and try and combine it all on the same day.

I think we do pretty well, but there is always room for improvement. We do all our leisure activities locally; most of it involves walking outside the back door into the fields. And this term, we've cut our daughter's clubs and activities from one every day to three per week so that will help reduce our car use. There is also talk of a local brownies group which means she can leave the one we drive to and join one within walking distance.

I haven't been taking readings for long enough to see our yearly mileage, but it looks like it's between 500 and 800 miles per month or 6000 - 9600 per year. I'm sure that is below 'average'.

Theme for August - Eco driving

I tend to find ''eco driving' a bit of a conflict of terms, but in this instance it means getting more miles to the gallon and thus reducing your carbon footprint.

We traded our thirsty 4x4 for an MPV this year. The 4x4 gave us 23 mpg. Our people carrier gives us around 55mpg; so we've already made a massive difference to our fuel consumption.

Tips for eco driving include:

Before you drive

• De-clutter your boot and remove the roof rack if you don’t need it
• Plan your trip: try and combine several short trips into one longer one
• Time your trip: avoid peak times if you can and check local radio for delays
• If you’re going somewhere unfamiliar plan the route to avoid detours
• Arrange to share the journey if possible – more “people miles” per gallon

How to drive smarter:

• Drive off from cold, just don’t rev the engine
• Change up the gears early - between 2,000 and 2,500 rpm
• Drive in the highest gear possible without labouring the engine
• Keep your distance from the car in front and look as far ahead as possible to avoid unnecessary braking
• Step off the accelerator as early as possible (but remain in gear) when slowing down or driving downhill
• Avoid excessive speed: at 70 mph a car uses approximately 10% more fuel than at 50 mph
• Park so you can drive straight off again

Lucie, the lady running Carbon Watchers, reckons her fuel consumption has changed from 45 - 48 mpg since using these tips.

It is reckoned that smarter driving or eco-driving could save you up to £220 and half a tonne of carbon per year.

There are a couple more tips that I am aware of; getting regular services on the car and checking the tyre pressure is correct.

I've now signed up for the Energy Saving Trust MPG calculator; so I'll be interested to hear what that comes up with.
We only have one car and there are always the three of us in it, we combine errands, plus we only do around 6000 miles per year. So there is probably little else we can do to change our figure on this month's challenge.

May - Reduce carbon emissions by car sharing

Goodness, I'm late! It's nearly the end of the month already, so it's time to report on May's focus for Carbon Watchers.

This month it was entitled "Don't drive one in five" with the reminder that if everyone found another way to travel to work or school just one day a week, there would be 20% less traffic on the roads.

Makes perfect sense to me.

Unfortunately, there was little I could do for this challenge.

First, we don't do a school or work run. When we did a school run, it was impossible to get anyone to car share with us and it was very frustrating. Four families from our village drove to a school in the next village - we all HAD to drive, it was a main road and notorious for speeding lorries. All the parents wanted to take their own kids to school every day. Sometimes we would even be on the road in a convoy and it used to infuriate me!

Second, we try and give our neighbours a lift if we are going anywhere. We have a family across the road without a car and with lots of children, so we help out if we can. Our neighbour on the other side is an elderly lady who never learned to drive, so we take her to the shops too, if she wants us to.

Third, I am unable to use public transport, use a bike or walk far because I have anxiety attacks. Basically, having my car provides a 'quick getaway' if I feel threatened.

I have to accept that this is the way things are for us right now.

However, our yearly mileage is below average. We do between 6 and 7,000 miles per year. I think the average is 12,000.

I would like to walk or cycle more and it's something I'm building up to, but it's very difficult right now. So we do what we can - only go out when necessary, combine errands, take our neighbours with us, and have traded our thirsty 4x4 for a car which gives us between 45 and 60 miles to the gallon.

There are various car share schemes which links drivers and passengers to share regular or occasional journey. These are great for those who can take advantage of them and ideal in an office situation where everyone starts and ends their day at the same time.

In Gloucestershire, we have Car Share Gloucestershire Across the UK there are various schemes, such as Car Share , National car share and Lift Share.