|
The Revolution
This is a revolution. If you want to shut an airport then stop flying.
Want an end to factory farming? Grow your own. An end to pollution?
Change to renewables. An end to war & poverty? Microgenerate. Life
for your childen? Stop needing oil. YOU have THIS Power. You do not
need Government. Seize the initiative. Bring democracy to your
community. Be an example to your children. Take responsibility.
Change for good today. |
Top Ten Cars
|
 |
|
Cars? There is no
such thing as an environmentally friendly car. Most of us should
travel by foot, train or bus. We probably all will have to one
day. This section is less about singing the praises of the
automobile and more about spreading good information out there
to those people who really HAVE to have a car. For those of us
who travel on Business, the country vet, the farmer, the
midwife, salesmen and the like. What are their options in the
short term? There is no point sitting at home and waiting for
society to slowly come round to the Carbon Cutter's way of
thinking...
Instead we must
continue to offer leadership in our necessary personal
transportation. Plus there is so much that can be done. Read
on..... |
|
Low Carbon Carriages
|
|
The information
we print here is freely available on the web at
www.vcacarfueldata.org.uk. You can download a
spreadsheet (included
here)
for free. We have sorted our spreadsheet by lowest CO2
emissions first. However you can also get other statistics
from the spreadsheet such as the Fuel Efficiency and Noise
figures for your make and model of vehicle.
Don't worry if
you don't have the right software for the spreadsheet. We
have summarised the top eleven cars (yes we cheated - for a
reason) below for you. For comparison consider the g/km of
CO2 PER PASSENGER (!) for the following:
|
Lowest CO2 Emissions nos 11 thru 6
|
|
 Number 11: Smart ForFour LPG.
Figures from
www.goingreen.co.uk indicate that this LPG conversion
yields a CO2 g/km of just 110. Used cars are available from
£10,795 GBP. The conversion for your existing car costs
£1,999GBP (plus VAT). This makes it an expensive way of
saving CO2 but remember this is not Diesel! Being LPG means
the soot emissions are 90% lower. It costs just £30GBP/year
for UK Road Tax. LPG, of course, by Calorific value (ie, its
energy content) is approximately half the Price of Petrol.
These cars pay for themselves. However, these figures are
from the Company selling the LPG Conversions so are NOT
independent. Hence proceed with caution. To be fair, their
numbers are perfectly reasonable. We include this car in
this ranking by way of comparison with all the other cars
shown here. VCA Car Fuel Data do not measure LPG Cars in
their numbers unless they are supplied directly from the
Manufacturer. The ForFour is a small four seat car that can
reach 103mph at 60mpg combined cycle.
|
|
 Number 10 & 9: Peugeot's
"107" 1.0 (65 bhp). This petrol powered vehicle appears
twice but this only reflects the fact that the Manual and
Automatic gear boxes are measured separately. The results
are the same but we recommend the Manual because Manuals are
always, at least, 5% more efficient than the Auto
equivalent. This tiny car yields 109 g/km of CO2. This
figure of '109' is shared by EIGHT Cars out of the top
eleven. Hence the ranking of "10" or "9" here is
meaningless. They could equally be ranked "2" and "3"! The
Peugeot gives you 61.3mpg combined. |
|
 Number 8 & 7: Toyota's "Aygo"
1.0 VVT-i 3 & 5 door. Again, the difference is the
gearbox. Please choose the manual! These are petrol engine
vehicles, albeit, small ones. MPG Combined is 61.4. CO2
emissions are, of course, just 109g/km. |
|
 Number 6: Honda's Civic Hybrid
104 IMA ES. This is a "petrol electric". We are all
familiar with the Prius, well, this is Honda's equivalent.
Unlike the cars mentioned above, with their diminutive 1
litre engines, this beast has a 1339 cc engine but gives
61.4 mpg. CO2 is 109 g/km. |
Links
|
|
|
I'm not taking it any more!
|
|
Post-Carbon Man is on the warpath again.
You'll find him everywhere. Don't get him started on
urban four-by-fours! He has had enough and he isn't taking it any
more.
Learn what he has to
say by clicking right
here Make sure you have
enabled popups! |
|
|
Lowest CO2 Emissions nos 5 thru 1
|
|
 Number 5 & 3: Citroen's "C1" 1.0i &
HDi. The first is petrol whilst the second is Diesel.
However both yield the 109 g/km figure. The Diesel has the
better MPG figure of 68.9 versus 61.4 for the petrol. So take
your choice. The fuel cost of the diesel is 7% lower than the
petrol. Engine Capacity is 1398 cc. |
|
 Number 4: Toyota's "Aygo" 1.4D-4D 3
& door Diesel. The Aygo again but this time the Diesel
Version. This appears to be the same diesel unit as used on the
Citroen C1 mentioned above. Hence the figures are identical in all
respects. All yield the 109 g/km figure. The Diesel has the
better MPG figure of 68.9 versus 61.4 for the petrol. So take
your choice. The fuel cost of the diesel is 7% lower than the
petrol. From this you can draw your own conclusion. Toyota's
Aygo and Citroen's C1 appear to be the same vehicle. So you are
buying a badge and rather cosmetic features... Rather limits the
choice doesn't it? |
|
 Number 2: Toyota's Prius 1.5 VVT-i Petrol Hybrid.
What to say about the famous Toyota Prius? Like the Energy
Saving Light bulb it has been held up as an icon of what is
possible. From your 1.5l petrol engine you get 65.7 mpg through
the benefits of recycling energy normally lost in braking.
However both the C1 and Aygo diesels give higher mpg and lower
running costs. The Prius comes in with just 104g/km CO2 but note
that it is not number one. It is good but it is just pipped at
the post. Probably because it is too big. Regenerative braking
equipment is big and heavy. |
|
 Number 1: Smart ForTwo Coupé LPG.
Surprising isn't it? Whilst the Prius remains a green Icon it
yields higher Carbon output than a humble LPG Smart Car. Why
don't we hear more about this? Because many deep green
environmentalists don't like LPG. This Smart pushes out just
93g/km CO2! The LPG tank is installed underneath the car. You
get 84mph and 60mpg combined cycle. Prices used start at £7,999
GBP. Expensive but the running costs are extremely low as
explained earlier. Our only caveat is that these figure are from
Going Green who install the LPG systems. As we mentioned before,
they are believable figures from our research. Hence the LPG
Smart is our recommendation. The Independent Newspaper agrees.
Go to our LPG section here to read
more. |
'08 Stop Press 1 - Smart Diesel
|
|
Well, if you thought
93g/km was a good number read this: Smart have finally decided
to release right-hand-drive Diesel Versions of the Smart ForTwo
in Britain. Before these were only available as imports in
left-hand-drive. CO2 emissions are promised to be only 88g/km.
The RHD versions start being manufactured in February 2009. Fuel
consumption is 85.6mpg with a range on a full tank of 670 miles.
And for those of you concerned with Smart Car safety a
remarkable advert was shown on UK screens during May 2008. It
featured a ForTwo being smashed by a wrecking ball at 25mph. A
stuntman sat in the car without harness or helmet. After the
smash both doors could be opened and the Smart was driven away.
Remarkable. |
'08 Stop Press 2 - LPG for the Top 10
|
|
LPG conversions are
now available for the Petrol engined Toyota Aygo, Citroen C1 and
Peugeot 107. To give you an idea as to how good this is then
think: £14 GBP will fill the tank and get you 255 miles. UK Road
Tax will be just £15. If we guess at an average 16% saving in
CO2 emissions over the Petrol equivalents then 109gm/km - 16% =
92gm/km. Rather than competing for the positions in the top ten
they will all be number one. |
Conclusion
|
|
What to say? Prius
good but Smart LPG or Diesel better? Yes, maybe. However, our figures on
the LPG Smart came from the Goingreen web site in 2007 although
that page has now gone. They can't be relied upon like the VCA
data however the numbers look reasonable. Think about it.
Between LPG & Diesel you now have a choice of vehicles here that
can get you into the sub-100 g/km zone. That is where you need
to be. We can
only recommend a Prius if you do short town journeys with lots
of starts and stops. For long motorway journeys a small petrol
(converted to LPG) or diesel (listed here) will be good.
Remember, if you take one passenger then your CO2
g/km per passenger will be around 50. That is as good as Rail or
Bus. So think small & add passengers. Then you'll be able to
look all those bus passengers in the eye. Even so, one source
quotes long distance Coach Travel as costing us only 20 g/km....
If only a Coach would take me door to door...... |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
