GREEN/CARBON FOOTPRINT DEBATE
QUESTION. If cars are taxed in relation to its carbon footprint - what happens to its footprint when you add a caravan?
ANSWER. Tax the antisocial portable dunny loving caravan ownwers.

Tim Staple, Horndean,

How about the Mitsubishi i car ? £35 per year tax & 50+ mpg all the time

Alan Austin-Benbow, Norwich, U.K.

The number one green car for me is the Audi A2 1.2tdi automatic (I own one). It really is a lot better to drive than the prius, plus it's far more economical! The audi engineers really did a mindblowing good job, far before the green debate ever started in politics!

Stefan, Brussels, Belgium

The whole green debate is hoplessly confused so here are a few facts: 1. diesel cars are the big con of motoring motoring: they pollute at least as much as petrol 2. any calculation of efficiency should indeed calculate "cradle to grave" pollution, ie including production costs 3. any large car, and especially 4x4s are obviously far more environmentally damaging (why drive 2.7 tons of Land Rover metal unless you don't care about the environment?) 4. London taxis are the worst polluters 5. hybrids are not the way forward.

Saul, London,

Try a Suzuki Alto. One of the very few cars in the £35 per year car tax bracket, and surprisingly quick on the autobahn. But you'll have to buy secondhand, because Suzuki no longer import them!

Gordon Cardew, Norwich, UK

When calculating 'Greeness' the criteria should be 'conception to scrapping'.
I read a report in a car mag a while ago which published a league table of green cars using this criteria. Interestingly there was not a hybrid in the top 50 and the greenest car in the world came out to be a Jeep Wrangler!
This made me feel great because I just happen to own one and I was starting to feel guilty about the 14mpg it has consistantly returned from new. I can now forgive it for being the poorest quality, most basic, badly put together car I have ever owned.
Having said all that, it's the best fun car I ever had, especially where we live.

PS. Just remember anyway that all this global warming stuff is a load of old cobblers designed to force you to hand over even more of your money to the government.

Ian, Alicante, Spain

As correctly pointed out the Prius is not that green when you consider the manufacture and disposal of the batteries.
the design life is 7 years 15000 pounds and throw it away, My peugot diesel is 15 years old and has done 230000 miles and regularly returns 50 mpg is that green or what ?
As for wind farms they are just a trendy gimmick of no practical use, a lot of the time there is not enough wind.

david james, gosport, uk

Let's talk recycling folks. Recycling is the way forward...agreed? Then the best way of recycling an old car is to keep using it. Of course the car industry will hate you for doing so, that,s why they embrace all this "Green" rubbish so avidly.

John Marsh, Stockport, Cheshire

Look beyond the end of your nose. It's not just the emissions when in use which needs to be considered , it's the cost of making a car, how long it lasts and how costly it is to scrap. The generally longer-lasting 4*4 and many high-quality sports cars are most environmentally friendly because of their longevity.

Incidentally, only a fool boasts of selling their 4*4 and buying, say, a Prius. In one go, they've encouraged the manufacture of another car rather than get maximum use out of their existing car.

JAmes, Ewell, Surrey

As far as readily available personal transport solutions go the modern internal combustion engine is still the most enironmentally friendly way of getting someone from A to B... the AA has recently confirmed this in their latest press release. I hope you're all listening to Cameron Wilson, you might also be interested to find out the we have now almost mined the planet's entire supply of the minerals needed in mobile phone screen manufacture...! Let's stick to what we know and keep making it better.

Angus Powles, London,

mining the components for toyota prius's batteries does more damage to the enviroment than an ordinary car does burning petrol.

Cameron Wilson , st albans,

You made no mention of the "Minicat" which has been under development by a French company for 14 years and runs on... wait for it....fresh air !
That`s right, it runs on compressed air and will be officially unveiled in London this September.
Incidentally, the exhaust fumes are fresh air, at minus 15 deg C, which is used for the car`s air-conditioning system.
see the website at : www.theaircar.com

Kash Patel, Leicester, UK

I got 59 point something mpg this morning on my 18-mile commute, in a 4-year old VW Passat TDI.

Rob, Bucks, UK

re: the Prius' green credentials -- Bravo!

Here in California, the hybrid vehicle driver is entitled to use of High Occupancy Vehicle lanes, even though freeway speeds are their least economical state. The Prius should be stuck in bumper-to-bumper, stop & go traffic where it is most economical and thus doing its best to save the environment.

Let the diesels run in the HOV lane, especially those running on biofuels or veggie oil. They'll be at their most economical, and thus doing the most to save our world.

The HOV priviledge is political pandering to green-wannabe Hollywood stars who think they are smarter than "ordinary" citizens and ought to tell us so, repeatedly!

Too bad logic rarely prevails.

Paul, Los Angeles, US of A

This is why hybrids bug me, especially the Prius
My ford fiesta zetec S 1.6 TDCi is actually cheaper to run and has much better green credentials than the Prius. It only produces 116g/km CO2, does an easy 50mpg at motorway cruis and will still do 40+ around town, similar passanger and luggage room, its much lighter, cheaper and easier to produce and costs nearly 1/2 the RRP! Its alos a lot better looking, handles better, and is better equiped standard!

why would i want a prius, when a small sport diesel does the job better, and is greener?

eddy hyde, bromsgrove, UK

Everyone should check out Tesla Motors' website to see a really cool electric car. They are a California based car manufacturer and they're using British Lotus for their car designs. They also have answers to many of the questions on this blog.

Dave, Chicago, USA

In addition to the questionable environmental merits of electric cars and plug-in hybrids, the prospect of their widespread use (at least for the US) worries me because of their impact on the existing electrical grid. The infrastructure for delivering energy has not expanded fast enough to keep up with demand, so we are a bit overextended already. If we had a significant number of people using electric cars with the current infrastructure, all it would take to jeopardize the grid completely would be a mild heat wave. A strong one in Los Angeles last August made a transformer under the Promenade in Santa Monica explode, shutting off electricity over a widespread area and causing property damage to the immediate area, without any of the enormous demand that would accompany electric cars.

Trevor, Fresno, California

The thing that a lot of folks that refuse to want to believe about EVs (or hybrids) is that you have to start somewhere. I'd rather deal with the charging of more and more electric cars plugged into your 110 or 220 volt connections, despite the CO2 production... to get the industry rolling. Once we're in massive production, the costs WILL go down, and the sources for electricity will be much more plentiful.

Who's to say that solar is going to remain at it's high costs? Right now with the Thin-Film cells, they're becoming more and more affordable. There are cells that are made to be put into place like shingles on rooftops... the average person can help reduce the demands for electricity with as little as a few such shingles... it's time to start thinking outside the box and time to get off this poisonous fossil fuel burning!

There are other options, such as Hydrogenerators, more and more wind farms, even hydrogen produced from kelp-farms, which is fantastic for the environment!

Matt, Kansas City, Missouri

I believe that many people buy these hybrid / electric cars to appear environmentally trendy and alleviate an otherwise guilty conscience. Whilst, no or reduced emissions at the point of use is no bad thing, I do not believe that people truly consider the life cycle impact of such vehicles. The batteries on many of these cars will not last long, no doubt resulting in a stock pile of harmful batteries in a few years’ time. The source of their electricity may be dirty coal or oil fired. The reality is that unless you have replaced every bulb with an energy efficient one, have fully insulated your house, turned-off all appliances on stand-by, minimised your air travel etc. etc, then these cars are just for show and you’d be doing far more for the environment by getting on your bike or a bus.

Nick, London,

What about the damage caused to the environment by obtaining the cadmium for the batteries

Mark, Taunton,

I've driven the G-Wizz and reckon that it is an adequate city car with a surprising amount of room for two large adults given its overall size. Batteries are the limitation and G-Wizz probably makes the best of it. A gas powered heater/screen demister should be an option.

On pollution firstly it doesnt pollute the city, secondly it's designed to use an minimal amount of energy, thirdly even that part of energy produced by burning fossil fuels can be produced more efficiently with less pollution at power stations compared to under a bonnet

Bob T, London, UK

Hannah, firstly there is no way to know where the electricity is coming from. A tiny amount is wind power, the rest is just as polluting as any other energy source, one way or another. It's only the bills that are 'green', there is no direct cable from a green user to a wind generator. Second, conventional generation is extremely inefficient and there are additional big losses in the charging and discharging of batteries (feel the heat). CO2 and other pollutants are emitted in huge quantities by power stations, nuclear excepted. The reasons why electric cars are cheap are technical and political. The batteries are currently pretty hopeless, hence the very low car weight. A decision has been made that they will bear no fuel tax, the vast bulk of UK prices. This is OK while there are only a few but clearly not a viable option if electric cars become popular. It will be interesting to see how GB taxes electricity for transport, given its interchangeability with other uses taxed at 5%.

colin, Shrewsbury, UK

Great picture!
I'll take the one on the left......
What is that horrible ugly thing on the right though?
:)

hjk, London,

There is another electric powered car, the norwegian produced TH!NK (yes, they spell it that way..). This car manufacurer was for a while owned by Ford, which dropped the company in favour of their own (american) concept. TH!NK is made for a northern european climate, and should do well in Britain. See for youselves: http://en.think.no/

Geir , Arguineguin, Spain

Sorry, but couldn't they at least have tried to make the G-Wiz look even 10% cool? Electric cars won't be cool for a long time, but if someone could produce something that looks modern, radical and different, I might be tempted. But to drive around in something with less style than a supermarket trolley? It just isn't going to happen....

Al Stevens, Haverhill, Suffolk, UK

Maurice - yes the electricity for electric cars does indeed have to be generated somewhere but I would estimate that the majority of electric car drivers also purchase 'green' electricity which is generated from renewable sources such as wind power thus making the car non-polluting.

Hannah, Lincolnshire,

Where did the idea come from that electric cars don't pollute?
The electricity was generated somewhere.

Maurice Stack, South Fremantle, Western Australia

I've been running a LHD Smart for five years - absolutely brilliant. It does 55 mph and I have just clocked 100,000 miles.

I've been from Berkshire to Lancashire and back in a day and been able to talk and walk at the end of the day!

Every home should have one....

The other day I followed a Hummer for a few miles - I was on my own and so was the Hummer driver. I reckon I had free motoring as the Smart probably ran on the fumes coming out of the back end of the monster in front of me.

Mike , Newbury,