If you’re like most people, you probably don’t think much about the air conditioning unit in your car. After all, it’s just a necessary evil to keep us cool on hot days. But if you’re like some unlucky drivers out there, your AC unit may be using a harmful gas called R134a. R134a is a gas that’s been used in air conditioning units for over 30 years. It’s a chlorofluorocarbon (CFC) and it’s been linked to global warming and ozone depletion. In fact, the United States Environmental Protection Agency has classified R134a as a hazardous air pollutant. So what can you do if your car uses R134a? The best option is to replace the AC unit with an environmentally friendly model. However, if that’s not an option or you just don’t want to deal with the hassle of replacing the AC unit, there are other ways to reduce the amount of R134a in your car. Here are four tips:

  1. Keep your windows closed when driving in hot weather: This one may seem obvious, but keeping windows closed will help reduce the amount of air conditioning needed in your car. The hotter outside temperatures will cause your AC unit to work harder and use more R134a.
  2. Use fans instead of AC when possible: Fans can be used both indoors and outdoors during hot weather conditions. If you’re using an electric fan, make sure to unplug it when you’re done using it so that it doesn’t waste energy cooling down the room or house unnecessarily. And if you have a traditional fan that uses electricity, make sure to plug it into an outlet rather than using batteries so that you’re not contributing to climate change by using fossil fuels unnecessarily.
  3. Park away from buildings: Cars tend to produce more heat than people do and this heat can be radiated outward from the car into surrounding areas. Park as far away ..