You will find a lot of Eco-conscious people driving older vehicles. Not because they cannot afford to purchase a new one, but because they have a dedication to the cause. After all, they assume the longer you keep your vehicle from heading to the landfill, the better for the environment. While this may be true for a lot of things, a vehicle isn’t one of them.
The Effect Of Both Used and New Cars On The Planet
It’s not wise to think about your car the same as you would another material object. With smaller things like a skateboard, pretty much all of the environmental impacts can be attributed to the allotted raw materials and the energy used throughout the manufacturing and shipping process. Because of this, for these things, you will want to try to keep them till the wheels fall off. Even being able to extend the life of your cabinets or something else can end up easing the strain placed on the environment.
However, with vehicles, it’s different. While the manufacturing process is certainly a consideration, there are other factors in play. Your vehicle directly consumes a lot of energy. In fact, 75% of your vehicle’s lifetime emissions do not come directly from the manufacturing process at all. Instead, it comes from its direct operation. Meaning, the fuel that it consumes and burns along with all of the energy needed to both produce and transport the fuel.
Thus, as a vehicle ages, it becomes increasingly important to look at its fuel efficiency. After all, the majority of its consumption is tied up in its day to day fuel efficiency. Because of this, at some point during the course of your vehicle ownership, it would be much better for the environment to simply trade it in for a much newer and more fuel-efficient option rather than continue to drive such an inefficient vehicle.
When you get to that point, keeping your older vehicle may be doing more harm than good. After all, older vehicles that were produced a long time ago were built without the much more strict fuel emissions standards that exist nowadays and they tend to burn fuel much less efficiently, as well. Likewise, as a vehicle ages, it is going to do things that can further damage the environment like developing fluid leaks and leaking other damaging chemicals.
Why Car Donations Can Be The Eco-Friendly Choice
Even if you have an otherwise Eco-friendly vehicle like a hybrid, you will reach a point in time where your vehicle is simply not as efficient as it once was. There will likely be a time when your vehicle’s maintenance will exceed the cost of purchasing a new or used vehicle.
At this point, the proceeds you get from selling are likely not going to be much. To add to this, you would donate your old vehicle or simply be passing one inefficient to another owner who likely won’t care about its damaging effects on the environment anyways.
Lastly, if you aren’t using an older vehicle, it’s not sitting there without causing harm itself. While the vehicle itself isn’t burning fuel or generating emissions, it can release dangerous and harmful chemicals into the earth’s soil. Likewise, it is likely an eyesore for your home and damaging to its curb appeal. What better way to get rid of your vehicle than donating it to charity?
