EcoDriving around the World

EcoDriving is the art of using particular driving techniques and also careful maintenance to squeeze every last drop of fuel economy out of your car.

With petrol prices at an all time high of over £5 a gallon in the UK and $4 a gallon in the US more and more people worldwide are looking into it as a way of making their household budget go a bit further.

As well saving money using less fuel means your car also puts out fewer greenhouse gasses and other emissions.

Until recently ecodriving was better known as hypermiling in the USA. However towards the end of August 2008 the Association of Automobile Manufacturers (AAM) launched a major marketing campaign based around a new website at EcoDrivingUSA.com.

At the launch of their new EcoDriving website the AAM had enlisted the support of governors Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Bill Ritter of Colorado, both of whom appeared in promotional videos on the site.

As a Republican politician Arnold Schwarzenegger said some slightly surprising things in his video, such as:

"We hear a lot of ideas from politicians about lowering gas prices and fighting global warming, whether it's biofuels, offshore drilling or nuclear power. None of those will affect gas prices right now. Only you can do that."

The message seems very clear. There is a problem that needs to be solved and politicians, whether Republican or Democrat, cannot solve it. Apparently neither can the Association of Automobile Manufacturers without enlisting the support of politicians, who admit that they can't solve it either.

Who is going to solve the problem then? Here's what Arnie had to say about that:

"If all Americans practiced EcoDriving the reductions in CO₂ emissions would be the equivalent of heating and powering nearly 8 cities the size of Los Angeles. We don't have to wait for the politicians to take action. Each of us has the power to make a difference, right now!"

The apparently sudden realisation amongst politicians and automobile manufacturers in the United States that a problem exists that can only be solved by the combined action of industry, government and citizens of countries around the world did not come as a total surprise to some organizations in Europe that had been promoting the concept of EcoDriving for some time previously.

Since some of these organizations had been using the term EcoDriving on their websites and in their other marketing for years they strongly objected to the use by the AAM of the trademark symbol next to the word EcoDriving on the home page of the EcoDrivingUSA website, particularly since this juxtaposition was presumably designed to protect the commercial interests of the automobile manufacturers and/or their trade association.