Garmin ecoRoute Leads to More Fuel-Efficient Driving | Gimundo

New GPS Device Helps You Drive Greener

You might think that fuel-efficiency all depends on the type of car that you drive, but in fact, your fuel emissions depend more on what sort of road warrior you are.

By Kathryn Hawkins. Posted on January 21 2010

Image: iStockphoto

True, biking and walking are far more eco-friendly than driving in your car. But if you need to go more than a few miles, or the conditions outside are less-than-stellar, sometimes it just makes a lot more sense to get behind the wheel—but that doesn’t mean that you need to forget about your carbon footprint.

You might think that fuel-efficiency all depends on the type of car that you drive, but in fact, your fuel emissions depend more on what sort of road warrior you are.

A new gadget from Garmin, known as the ecoRoute hd, promises to help you think greener when you’re in your car by analyzing your speed, acceleration, and a host of other factors to work out how efficient you are when behind the wheel. The device plugs into your OBDII diagnostic port and syncs with a Garmin nuvi GPS to calculate your eco-data. The ecoRoute hd is likely to cost in the ballpark of $150, and should be available in March.

If the eco-gadget sounds like a cool addition to your car, but is just a bit rich for your blood, there are plenty of ways to focus on driving greener without paying a cent for the privilege: check out these great fuel-efficient driving tips from eartheasy.com, and, if you’ve got a Garmin nuvi GPS, you can download a free “ecoRoute” add-on that calculates the most fuel-efficent route for you.

So even if you can’t afford to buy that Prius today, don’t lose hope: there are plenty of ways to be green behind the wheel.

Filed under: Business, Green,

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