environmentweb guide to green driving
Pretty much everyone accepts these days that the carbon emissions from cars are a major contributor to climate change, and generally a bad thing. But we also know that cars are a necessity of modern life, something we can't do without. So what can we do to make driving greener? The answer is a whole range of things, and our guide to green driving is here to help you decide which are nest for you. So if you wouldn't know a hybrid drive from a hydrogen fuel cell, or bio-diesel from four star unleaded, then read on...
Contents
We'll start at the beginning and look at some of the options available if you're buying a new car. If that's not on the cards for you at the moment feel free to skip down a bit and find out some of the things you can do to make driving your existing car greener.
Buying a new car
So, you're thinking of buying a new car and you're considering looking in to the greener option. It makes sense - with fuel prices steadily creeping up every liter saved is money in the bank. But what's the best choice for you? Well, the first thing to consider is what sort of car do you really need? Obviously a compact isn't going to meet everyone's needs, but at the same time do you really need a huge SUV or 4x4? Although there may be exceptions smaller cars will generally be more efficient. It makes sense really, as they've got less weight to pull around. So that's the first decision made, now to get a bit more specific.
You may well have seen and heard adverts and news articles about green technologies for cars, in particular hybrid drives and bio-fuels, but they're not always well explained. This next section will explain briefly what they are and what the advantages (and possible disadvantages) are.
Hybrid drives
Hybrid drives, as the name implies, are a fusion of two technologies. They combine traditional petrol or diesel engines with electric motors in order to help improve fuel efficiency and so reduce carbon emissions. The theory behind it is simple. Traditional petrol engines provide a lot of power, but aren't particularly efficient at lower speeds. Electric motors are much more efficient, but lack the oomph of a petrol motor and also the storage capacity for long distance driving. The solution - combine the two and get the best of both worlds.
The precise workings of the hybrid engine vary from model to model, and many of the newer models contain features to make them even more effective and efficient. These include using the energy from breaking, or riving downhill, to recharge the electric motor. They can also detect when the car is going uphill and use the electric motor to provide an extra kick, meaning that smaller engines can seem more powerful.
The main disadvantage to hybrid cars is the cost. Currently they are priced higher than their conventional equivalents, although hopefully as the technology becomes more widespread this will start to change. The high voltage batteries can also be an added risk in accidents, although obviously all the cars have to comply to all the usual safety standards to be allowed on the road.
Bio-fuel
There are also a growing number of new cars available that are designed to run on bio-fuel. Bio-fuels are those made from plant oils, such as rapeseed, sunflower or soybean oils, rather than fossil fuels. The obvious question is, how does it help the environment when I'm still burning fuel? The answer is that, unlike with fossil fuels, the carbon in bio-fuels has only recently been removed from the atmosphere, and will be taken out again when the next crop of fuel plants is grown. This results in a continuous cycle that helps to maintain the levels of carbon in the atmosphere. Fossil fuels on the other hand have been buried for millions of years, and result in an overall increase in the levels of carbon in the atmosphere.
While it is possible to run existing diesel cars on bio-diesel there are concerns that it may cause engine damage in the long term unless it's mixed with conventional diesel at a ration of about 5% bio-diesel and 95% conventional diesel. Newer cars however are being designed to run entirely on bio-fuels.
The main controversy over bio-fuels is actually unrelated to the cars, but instead where to grow the crops to make the fuels. Particularly in South America many farmers are being encouraged to begin growing fuel crops rather than food crops due to the growing demand for bio-fuels. There are concerns however that this could result in too little food being grown and potentially lead to hunger problems in the countries involved.
LPG Autogas & Compressed Natural Gas
LPG Autogas and compressed natural gas (CNG) are both still fossil fuels, however burning them creates much lower emissions than burning petrol or diesel. It is also currently much cheaper than either petrol or diesel. One of the advantages of LPG is that conventional cars can be converted to run on it fairly cheaply - but more on that below.
Conclusions
So, now you've got an idea what the options are it's really up to you to decide what sounds best to you. There are also a number of other websites that can help you to do this, a good one being yourgreencar.com. It's easy to use and will allow you to select a body type and CO2 band and show you your options. You can also choose a specific make, model and fuel type and see the CO2 emissions along with a quote for that car.
Greening your current car
If a new car isn't on the cards for you at the moment there are still several things you can do to help cut your emissions. The simplest of these are the ones we're taught about when we learn to drive, then forget about as soon as we pass. namely, avoid sharp braking and rapid acceleration and stick to 70 on the motorway - it's not just safer but more efficient too. But if you want to take a few more steps in the right direction then converting your car to a lower emission fuel might be for you.
Converting to LPG
LPG Autogas, as mentioned above, is still a fossil fuel but with lower emissions than either petrol or diesel. It's also much cheaper at the pumps as well. This means that although it costs between £1500-£2000 to get your car or van converted if you drive an average of 15000 miles a year the conversion should pay for itself in around two years. You can also get your car set up to run on both LPG and petrol, meaning you can go further and don't have to worry about not finding a petrol station that sells LPG if you start to get low. Although with a growing number of LPG refueling stations around you probably don't need to worry. As an added incentive to convert the lower emissions should mean your car tax will go down, and if you commute to London the cleanest conversions can also make you eligible to receive 100% discount on London congestion charges, potentially saving up to £1600 a year if you enter the city most days!
Converting to Vegetable Oil
Another option, if you own a diesel, is to convert your car to run on bio-diesel or straight vegetable oil (SVO). It is actually possible to carry out this conversion yourself using conversion kits, but if you're not feeling confident you can get a mechanic to do it for you. Courses are also often available from local colleges if you want to learn how to do it yourself. The cost of conversion is slightly cheaper than for LPG, probably just over £1000 inc VAT. The reason running vegetable oil can save you so much money however is that from 2007 it was made tax free to run a car on vegetable oil, so long as you don't use over 2500 liters a year. This can work out as high as 27000 miles a year if you get 50 miles per gallon. If you get friendly with your local pub or restaurant you may also find they'll be more than happy to give you their used vegetable oil for free, making the potential savings huge. When it comes to selling your car the conversion is also easily reversible, and can then be re-attached to a new car so you can carry on cruising.
Conclusions
So if you want to make your car a bit greener there are definitely options available, and most of them will save you money as well!
Other green driving options
If the options above all sound a bit daunting, there are still ways you can help the environment without getting mechanical. There are a number of green insurance companies about who offer to offset your emissions with some of the money from your insurance premium. Alternatively you could do it yourself with one of the many carbon offsetting schemes available.
Another eco-unfriendly chore that we often forget about is washing the car. As well as the soaps we use to clean it the grease and oil that comes off while we wash the car is also bad for the environment. You can help to improve this by using biodegradable car shampoo or waterless products to try and reduce the quantity of chemicals that run off in to the drains.
So, while getting rid of the car completely isn't something any of use are likely to be able to do, at least there are things we can be doing to help ease our consciences, and help the environment a little as well.
Future Technologies
While the technologies mentioned above offer greener alternatives to conventional fuels, the future for alternative fuels looks greener still. One major contender for the green fuel throne is the hydrogen fuel cell.
The hydrogen fuel cell, as the name suggests, utilises hydrogen to generate energy. Rather than simply burning hydrogen to power the engine, fuel cells react hydrogen with oxygen to produce water and electricity. This is then use to power an electric motor that drives the car. The idea of using hydrogen as a fuel is that, in the long term, it will form a renewable resource that can be continuously recycled: hydrogen is extracted from water through electrolysis, it is then used in a hydrogen fuel cell to create electricity and water and the water can then be used to extract more hydrogen and the cycle begins again. Potentially, if renewable energy sources such as solar and wind power could be used to extract the hydrogen then there would be zero emissions as a result.
But, as with any new technology, there are still barriers that need to be overcome. These mostly involve developing an infrastructure to generate hydrogen that uses renewable energy. If fossil fuels are burnt to create the hydrogen it will result in higher emissions than using a conventional car running on petrol. There are also methods of extracting hydrogen from fossil fuels rather than water, which similarly undermines the effort to reduce reliance on these resources. Still, the future looks bright for hydrogen power. Most of the major car manufacturers have prototype hydrogen vehicles in development, so with any luck it will only be a matter of time before it becomes a viable, and greener, alternative to petrol.
There are also efforts to make use of renewable sources by using solar panels to power some functions. A notable initiative comes from Toyota, who have announced that their new Prius, a well known model of hybrid car, will have solar powered air-conditioning. While there are still doubts as to how viable this will be, there's no doubt that it's another step in the right direction.
