(Green Coloring Optional)

No, this isn’t some sort of play off St. Patrick’s Day or the punch line to some Red Neck joke. I’m talking about environmentally friendly automotive products. In this case the environment that we’re talking about being friendlier to is the local landfill (city dump).

Unfortunately we live in a disposable society. Use it once, throw it away, and it magically disappears never to be seen again (except for the Red Necks, I’ve heard they use them for Frisbees, but we won’t get into that). The problem with this is they really don’t “go away”, someone just digs a hole puts them (and a bunch of other stuff with them) in the hole and covers it with dirt to be worried about by the next generation.

It’s interesting that for as long as I’ve been working on my own equipment, lawn mowers and other small engines use a reusable air filter. Kind of a pain, but you clean the filter out with a little gas, pour some oil in the filter and squeeze out the excess and reinstall. Kind of a ritual you do every time you use your mower if you’re mowing a dusty area. However with cars the manufacturer seems to stick with the paper filters that need to be thrown away when dirty. A bit of a waste.

But sticking to the subjects us Motor heads are usually more interested in, getting the most out of our buck and will my car run better? The answer to both is Yes!

I won’t get into the details of these two aspects because Matt has covered the topic more eloquently than I can in his blog post on Green Air Filters, which I recommend you check out. Suffice it to say though; this is well within the realm of the Do-it-yourselfer mechanic, and is probably something that all of us should consider.

On kind of a side note. While replacing your normal round (or square) filter does improve performance both in fuel economy and in power due to the less restrictive nature of the filter, upgrading to one of the “cool air” intakes is even a step better. You can get kits that move the filter intake away from on top of the engine so that it takes in cooler, denser air. Then of course you will want to install one of the reusable filters to complete the modification.

Lower cost in the long run, better performance, and you get to pat yourself on the back for being an overall good (and green) guy. What more could you ask for?