Here at U.S. Rent A Car we are passionate about the environment. We take our responsibility to educate and guide our customers on how to reduce their carbon footprint and lower their emissions seriously.

The way we drive our vehicles can effect fuel consumption by as much as 45%. By following our simple guidelines you can save yourself some money and help reduce your carbon foot print.

10 ways to reduce your Carbon Footprint

1) Drive smoothly Try to avoid harsh acceleration and braking – pulling away too fast can use up 60% more fuel.
Act on CO2 says - Every time you stop then start again in a traffic queue, the engine uses more fuel and therefore produces more CO2. Keep an eye on the traffic ahead and slow down early by gently lifting your foot off the accelerator while keeping the car in gear.

2) Don’t Rev Avoid revving the engine unnecessarily – this wastes fuel and increases harmful emissions.
Act on CO2 says - Revving does not help to warm up a modern car engine or improve its performance. In fact, over revving simply wastes fuel and increases engine wear. Using your gears wisely by changing up a little earlier can reduce revs, and so reduce fuel usage. If you drive a diesel car, try changing up a gear when the rev counter reaches 2000rpm. For a petrol car, change up at 2500rpm.

3) Concentrate Look ahead and anticipate the road conditions and other people’s actions – this reduces the need for hard braking and acceleration.

4) Avoid short journeys. Short journeys on a cold engine use up to twice as much fuel as a warmed up engine – producing more pollution.

5) Plan your journeys. Plan your journeys to avoid peak periods, road works and getting lost – you will have a more relaxing journey and will waste less fuel.

6) Limit your speed. Optimise your fuel consumption, reduce your emissions and avoid speeding fines by observing the speed limit.
Act on CO2 says - Driving above the speed limit is illegal, but also means you use more fuel, and emit more CO2. Staying within the 70mph speed limit on motorways can bring savings of around 10% for your fuel bill compared to driving at 80mph.

7) Change gear efficiently. Change gear at 1500 to 2500 rpm can save up to 15% on fuel – and reduce emissions by the same amount.

8) Avoid leaving the engine running – leaving an engine running simply wastes petrol and increases your carbon footprint.
Act on CO2 says - If you're likely to be at a standstill for more than three minutes, simply switch off the engine.

9) Leave the Air Con off – using the air con increases fuel consumption, which in turn increases your carbon footprint.
Act on CO2 says - At speeds above 50-60mph it is generally more efficient to keep windows closed, even if this means using the aircon, as open windows will increase drag.

10) Extra Weight - Clear out any excess weight you may be carrying in your boot. Anything that makes the engine work less is bonus.
Act on CO2 says - Remove roof racks and carriers when not in use to reduce the drag factor as this too will mean you burn less fuel and so cut your CO2 emissions.

At Work
At our main offices in Farnborough, Hampshire, we have implemented several changes to help reduce our own Carbon Footprint.

Where possible we have made our procedures paperless, where this is not possible we are only using re-cycled paper.

We are in full negotiations to offer our customers a voucherless system to collect their hire vehicles.

Currently we are in negotiations with all our major car hire suppliers to introduce an Eco friendly range.