Businesses should embrace economic arguments for going green

Even if some drivers do not accept environmental arguments for reducing the impact of their vehicles then they should embrace the hard economic arguments, according to the AA President addressing the Fleet News Green Summit today.

Edmund King, AA President will tell the conference that the arguments for greater fuel efficiency in car fleets are more pertinent due to the global economic situation and the increasing cost of fuel. King will point to a number of areas where savings can be made.

Using good satellite navigation can reduce the distance driven by 16pc, driving time by 18pc and fuel consumption by 15pc, by taking more direct routes and preventing drivers getting lost.
If the system uses live traffic information to avoid congestion, this saves a further 14pc of driving time on congested roads. These benefits from more efficient vehicle use are cumulative. With fleet management, navigation and traffic information working hand-in-hand, there is the potential to reduce overall fuel consumption by 28pc and reduce driving time by 32pc. These benefits help costs and the environment.

Other things that help greener motoring include: driver training, gear shift indicators, tyre pressure monitoring systems, procurement, employee incentives, travel plans and green labelling of new and used cars. King will also point to an AA/Populus panel survey of 18,500 drivers to indicate that individual drivers as well as businesses care about these issues.