“Sara! Want new SmartCar? Txt yes or no quick!”

Such a text message from your mother might be odd in some families, but not in mine (Mom sells cars faster than bootleg Louis Vuittons and also wields a mean text thumb). I didn’t hesitate. “Yes! Pics!”

I didn’t need a test drive. I’d been tooling around in an old, albeit fun, Jeep for several years. Well, fun when I lived in Pacific Palisades, California and a big day was driving to the beach four blocks away. My first winter in San Francisco …

Tags: BRABUS , car , Destination Smart , efficiency , fuel , green , Mercedes , mpg , Passion , review , Smart , SmartCar , Smartfortwo

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Are fuel costs stressing you out? Can’t spring for a new fuel-sipping ride? When you seek to improve the fuel-efficiency of a vehicle, the journey must start inside your own head. When you learn to control emotions on the road, you reduce the impulse to stomp on the pedals. Eliminate those aggressive tendencies and you’ll experience a significant improvement in your vehicle’s mile per gallon (MPG) average.

Of course, while that mantra might sound swell and dandy, does it really work when you’re stuck in traffic twice a …

Tags: car , driving , fuel efficiency , gas mileage , how to , howto , tips

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Meet Colin Coon. He’s an ordinary high school senior with a not so ordinary senior project. Having spent the last year converting a 1980 Mercedes station wagon to run on vegetable oil, he has just taken off on a six week cross-country road trip. His goal – to make people more aware of alternative energy sources.

Now, not all high schools would be open to a student’s “˜senior project’ involving a road trip of 8500 miles in a car that’s running on vegetable oil. But then, New Gate School …

Tags: alternative , biofuel , car , Colin Coon , New Gate School , transportation

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I’m one of those people who quickly tidy up my car before handing it over at the car wash, disposing of the banana peels jammed into paper cups and cookie crumbs taking up residence in the carpet and upholstery. Such treasures are routinely left behind by my daughters who view my Volvo as their waste can on wheels.

It occurred to me this morning that I should create a car compost system with a portable bin to chase those necessary after-school car treats.  Instead of grinding the granola bar remains into my wagon’s cup holders, certain passengers could simply …

Tags: auto , car , cleaning , compost , transportation

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You all deserve a night on the town – your favorite restaurant, your favorite wine, your best friends. Alas. It’s time for one of you to take the short straw – the one soberly marked “designated driver”.

Or, you can hire a limo – and you don’t have to sabotage your eco principles to do it! The green chauffeur industry is on a…roll. (Oh dear, that’s two.)

For example, if you’re in the San Francisco area, you could contact Bauer’s Worldwide Intelligent Transportation. Over 85% of their miles are eco-friendly (they use sustainable fuel sources …

Tags: car , city , green , luxury , transportation

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Just before you go off and enjoy your hard-earned weekend, we’d like to tell you about these…Lifehacker is keen for us to save a little money by powering down our computers  – and they recommend using Edison (free, 45mb) or Local Cooling (free, 4mb) to do it.As Greenthinkers reports, the internet show EPIC FU is going plastic free for a week. (They should check out Envirowoman’s blog. She did it …

Tags: artisan , bamboo , beauty , blog , car , craft , design , designer , electronics , environment , fashion , gadgets , green , guide , home , innovation , lifestyle , material , natural , recycled , technology , web , wellness , women

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Sorry to burst your bubble, but not even eco-bloggers are eco-perfect. Case in point: the last time I moved I had to deal with a few cans of leftover house paint. It wasn’t worth taking with me so I left those cans in the shed for the next resident to deal with. Not the greatest karma, but at least I didn’t throw the paint in the trash.
Here’s the good neighbor way to deal with household hazardous waste like leftover paint, cleaning products and used motor oil.1. Paint
With paint, you …

Tags: car , cleaning , environment , guide , reuse , treatment , wellness

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Now that my city, San Francisco, has been given one of the highest walkability rates in the nation – surpassing NY and Boston – I am thrilled to know that the rise in fuel costs and deepening energy crisis has spurred more people onto the streets into walking or riding to their destinations. That’s healthy, in more ways than one.
Personally, I thrive on interaction with people. Seeing people regularly on the street fosters community and Americans need that more than ever in a time when our culture suffers from the …

Tags: car , city , Community , design , environment , family , fitness , garden , green , home , lifestyle , local , safety , sustainable , transportation

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Stuck with an impossible-to-sell SUV? Getting killed at the pump? Here’s how to green that machine.

There’s a whole lot of information online about which hybrid is the best. But there’s not a lot of help for the one in eight Americans who have purchased an SUV and may be stuck with it. What’s needed is a practical guide for the rest of us. And by us, I really mean us – I own an SUV myself. (Shhh!)

Yes, trading in the SUV for that eco-friendly hybrid would be great. But many of us …

Tags: car , environment , guide , lifestyle , tip

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