Smog - Control Harmful Emissions

If you drive

Motor vehicles are the single most important contributor to smog formation, accounting for emissions of both hydrocarbons and nitrogen oxides. You can help prevent smog by using your car as little and as efficiently as possible. We offer some suggestions for reducing gas consumption here:

• Think about you drive. Can you walk, bike, or take mass transit to get where you want to go? Can you combine many short tips into a single, longer one? Can you carpool?
• Have the car tuned every 5,000 to 10,000 miles, and make sure its antismog equipment is functioning properly. If you have a newer car, it probably has a catalytic converter, a cylinder full of metal-coated ceramic pellets through which exhaust gas from the engine is funneled. Its function is to remove hydrocarbons and, to a lesser extent, nitrogen oxides from the exhaust.
• Make sure your tires are properly inflated. Underinflated tires increases resistance and thus waste gas.
• Don't let the car idle unnecessarily when you're starting up, waiting at a train crossing, or talking to a friend.
• Try to maintain a steady speed on the highway, preferably 55 miles per hour. You will use considerably less gas than at higher speeds.
• Try using methanol, ethanol, or gasohol in your car, especially if you live in a region that has smog. They produce cleaner exhaust gases than does gasoline.
• If you have an old car that uses leaded gas, you are spewing hugs amounts of nitrogen oxides into the atmosphere. Ask your service station mechanic whether the car can run on unleaded gas.
• Many state now require that gas pumps be fitted with vapor-recovery nozzles. They make a tight seal with the car's filling pipe and ensure that fuel vapors are returned to the underground tanks at the gas station. Don't pull back the rubber seal.
• Don't "top off" the gas tank. Stop when the nozzle clicks off. Topping off not only forces gas fumes into the atmosphere, it's also likely to result in spilling some gas. The fumes and spilled gas help create smog.

Other things to do

We asked that you think twice before driving anywhere. Also think twice before using any of the following, because all of them emit chemicals that combine to form smog:

• A gas-powered lawn mower.
• An oil-based paint; use latex instead. Oil-based paints contain solvents that evaporate as the paint dries, in the air, they react with other gases and sunlight to form ozone,
• Lighter fluid to start your barbecue grill
• Any aerosol spray, whether it's hairspray, deodorant, or an oven cleaner