Denver is Driving Change. The city introduced a $400,000 program (funded by EnCana Oil & Gas) to track and educate the environmental impact of citizen driving habits.

 

According to the program, rapid acceleration and hard braking lowers gas mileage by up to 20 percent. Idling can consume up to one cup of fuel every five minutes. The program tracks idling and rapid acceleration through a device mounted on car windshields. The data is communicated wirelessly to a central database for measurement. At the same time, drivers keep fuel logs to track fuel efficiency and personal driving habits.

 

Driving Change expects to install equipment in 400 public and private vehicles throughout Denver. This includes Mayor Hickenlooper’s car, as well as Jeff Wojahn’s car (president of EnCana Oil & Gas).

 

True to our goal of living greener lifestyles, my wife signed up. The device is now affixed to the windshield of our Subaru Imprezza. We haven’t received any reports or measurement yet, but expect updates as the program continues.