Environmental

Ten Green Tips

1. Hang up the hose! The average 10 minutes driveway car wash uses a total of 114 gallons of water and releases harmful chemicals and contaminated runoff into your storm sewers. At Great American Car Wash we use nearly 10 gallons of water per car wash, and we ensure that it is properly treated and disposed of appropriately.
2. Inflation (the good kind). Maintaining proper tire inflation can increase the safety of your vehicle, improve fuel efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Check you owner’s manual or vehicle placecard for recommended tire pressure. While you’re at it, lighten the load in the trunk which will also help inflate those MPGs.
3. Maintain and save. Taking a proactive approach to vehicle maintenance not only saves you money in the long run, it helps control emissions and provides a safe and reliable car to drive.
4. Be green! Adding just a couple of ‘green’ behaviors into your lifestyle will make a big difference. Buying recycled products, using less paper waste and conserving energy are just a few of the steps you can take to protect our environment.
5. Landscape with drought tolerant plants. Save up to 60 gallons per day, by choosing non-thirsty plants to help keep your water bills down, plus they are much easier to maintain. And don’t forget to adjust your sprinklers to ensure you are watering the lawn, not the sidewalk or street. Lastly, watering wisely means watering before sunrise in order to prevent evaporation.
6. Recycle. Our nation uses over 80,000,000,000 aluminum soda cans every year. Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for three hours — or the equivalent of a half a gallon of gasoline. Most of the products we use today are recyclable. Aluminum cans, newspapers, plastic, glass bottles, and yard clippings are just a few of the big ones.
7. Set your thermostat dial and turn up the energy savings. When it’s hot, keep the A/C set at 78°F and during the cold months, set the heater to 68°F. These simple changes will save you up to 20% in heating and cooling costs! And try to use your major appliances wisely and during non-peak energy hours.
8. Be an energy star. If every American home replaced just one light bulb with an ENERGY STAR qualified bulb, we would save enough energy to light more than 3 million homes for a year, more than $600 million in annual energy costs and prevent greenhouse gases equivalent to the emissions of more than 800,000 cars.
9. Decrease your dependency. Tired of rising fuel prices? More and more vehicles produced today utilize hybrid technology to conserve fuel and reduce emissions. Be sure to ask next time you are car shopping. Utilize pubic transportation, carpool and walk whenever possible.
10. Spread the word! Don’t keep it a secret; share these helpful tips.

• Reduce Water Pollution – All of our car wash waste water is disposed of through the sanitary sewer for treatment before being released into the environment. When you wash your car in the street or driveway you can easily pollute fresh water sources because the dirty soapy water and all contaminants such as oil, grease, gasoline, and cleaning chemicals go into the storm water system. Every car owner should be aware that all the rinse water and contaminants that run into the storm drain system end up in rivers and other open water sources.
• Biodegradable Cleaners – All of our cleaning solutions, polishes, and waxes are biodegradable.
• Motor Efficiency – Great American Car Wash primary motors used in the car wash have been tested and run at optimal efficiency levels.
• We are downright stingy with water – Washing cars in your driveway with a water hose running for 10 minutes wastes 140 gallons of water. Great American Car Wash uses about 8 gallons of water  when washing a vehicle.