Photo: Guido

There are plenty of new eco cars on the market that help drivers to be more environmentally friendly; however their purchase prices can be prohibitively expensive, and many people with children can’t afford the latest hybrid or electric vehicle. Electric vehicles can also be less than practical for family life – as you still have to allow time for the motor’s battery to recharge once you’ve reached the end of the vehicle’s range limit. This is something that improves with every new EV that is launched, as the charge times are getting shorter and pretty much every government is setting up better charging point infrastructure in order to encourage greater uptake of EVs.

However, for most families the most practical vehicle by far is still the trusty estate car. Granted, it might not be the sexiest car on the road, but when you’ve got three kids or more and a boot load of stuff, then what you need is something that offers comfort and space for all the people and things in the vehicle.

And the new estate cars on the road are now offering better mileage too. As with all new cars, the fuel efficiency keeps improving, so estate cars needn’t be more expensive to run than hatchbacks.

For example, the Skoda Superb Estate 1.6 TDI CR S GreenLine II can achieve 64 miles per gallon and has carbon dioxide emissions of just 114g/km, and with a starting price around £18,600 new, it’s one of the cheapest estate cars on the road. Similarly, the Volvo V70 DRIVe ES Start Stop has the potential to get 62mpg and emits 119g/km of CO2. Volvo always used to lead for cargo capacity, but the V70 is not actually as roomy inside as the Skoda.

Volvo has also got a plug-in hybrid V70 on the way, which the company claims will achieve 148mpg and have an incredibly low emissions figure of 50g/km of CO2. However, the price is set around £40,000, so in order to be good to the planet you’ll need to have plenty of spare cash available.

Photo: honda.com

The 2012 model is the fifth generation of the Honda Civic Natural Gas. Currently, it’s the only production natural gas car manufactured in the United States.

The Honda Civic Natural Gas uses a clean fuel as its power source, which is domestically sourced. Natural gas costs drivers 30 to 50 per cent less than petrol.

The car has an average fuel efficiency of 38 miles per gallon. This can be increased by using the ECON button. It has a range of 240 miles on a full tank, which is almost three times the range of an average all-electric car. Prices for the Civic Natural Gas start at around US $26,000.

Filling the tank takes around five minutes at a fuel station that has natural gas. Alternatively the car can be filled more slowly at home in the garage, if the owner has a wall-mounted refuelling kit from BRC Fuel Maker.

http://automobiles.honda.com/images/2012/civic-natural-gas/exterior-gallery/gal_lg17.jpg" rel="nofollow" width="447" height="278" target="_blank" alt="Honda Civic Natural Gas" />
Photo: honda.com

Although natural gas still produces greenhouse gases in its combustion, it is more environmentally friendly than petrol or diesel. In case of a spill, it is safer, as it is lighter than air and disperses quickly. Natural gas can be blended with biogas or on its own.

Competitors for the prize of 2012 Green Car of the Year were the Mitsubishi I, Toyota Prius V, Volkswagen Passat TDI and the Ford Focus Electric. The Honda Civic Natural Gas was chosen as the winner by a jury of six automotive and environmental experts, as well as editors from Green Car Journal.

Honda has been at the forefront of developing fuel efficient cars since the late 1990s, when it launched its first hybrid car – the Honda Insight. Since then it has produced a number of hybrid production models in various generations – currently there is the Honda Jazz (also known as the Fit), the Civic Hybrid, the Insight, and the CR-Z. The company recently unveiled a supercharged hybrid concept car – the CR-Z Mugen.

When it comes to motoring, though, you may have to invest a little more up front. That’s because the types of eco cars UK motorists are most interested in today tend to be new – as technology is improving almost by the day – and they tend to be a little more expensive than their petrol or diesel counterparts anyway.

But fear not. Although low emission cars are, admittedly, a little more costly to start with, you will save on running costs. It almost goes without saying that the mpg figures are, on the whole, far superior. But then there are the tax costs as well, which are lower. Also, the second-hand re-sale value of eco-friendly cars looks likely to hold up better in the future, particularly for cars which are well looked after.

Green drivers by their very nature, tend also be the type of people who aren’t interested in the boy-racer side of the driving experience, so the cars will tend to be looked after better, almost by definition!

It’s still better to choose alternative transport sources if you can – and cheaper. So wherever you can do so, consider walking, cycling or using public transport (particularly trains) and encourage the children to do the same; explaining why. But if you really need a vehicle for those long family journeys, then the eco-friendly vehicles should play catch-up on cost with conventionally-fuelled cars given time.

Yet, it need not be that complicated. In fact, it can be very easy to start using alternative fuel.

At some point you’re going to need to buy a new car, even if it’s second-hand. Cars have an average life span of 13 years and many people change their car more often than that. So when that day comes, have a look at models that already use alternative fuels.
Any diesel engine can use biodiesel. There are many new car offers on at the moment, so if you’re buying new, you could pick a diesel engine and drive it with biodiesel.
Flex-fuel vehicles can run on E85 – a mix of ethanol and petrol. They’ve been around since 1998, so there are plenty of second-hand models available.

Natural gas and propane can be used to heat your home, cook your food and fuel your car. You can buy new cars with engines designed for natural gas, or you can get a conversion kit to use on your existing car.

Hybrids have become one of the most popular choices for people who want to drive a car that produces fewer emissions and still offers great fuel economy. Hybrid technology puts an electric motor alongside the internal combustion engine, and the electric motor assists the engine through acceleration to save engine strain (and the burning of more fuel).

So, there you have it, plenty of easy ways to start driving greener and none of them too complex!

Photo: recompose

Stop-start technology allows for the engine to switch off automatically during a period of idling – for example at traffic lights or in a traffic jam. The engine cuts out when the vehicle is stationary, and then switches on automatically when the driver releases the brake pedal. The restart is almost imperceptible to the driver and passengers.

Hybrids come with stop-start technology as standard, but conventional cars can also have the same technology. Those that do are sometimes called microhybrids, and the technology can improve their fuel economy by 10%. The restart on a standard petrol engine is slightly more noticeable, but it’s still very subtle.

While it has been relatively cheap for manufacturers to incorporate stop-start technology in new cars in comparison with the cost of dual-propulsion hybrids, it hasn’t been straightforward. The biggest challenge has been in putting the technology into standard cars with small 12-volt batteries because when the engine is turned off, there is a big drain on the batteries to maintain systems like air-conditioning during an idling period.

The stop-start system can also be used on 4×4 cars – Toyota and Volkswagen and Landrover all have 4×4 models with the technology. Of course, the two major benefits of stop-start system is the improved fuel economy and the reduction in carbon dioxide emissions. So, even if you’re not quite ready to buy a hybrid, making sure your car has stop-start technology is one way of making a positive choice for the environment.

Well first, we need to decide whether we’re talking metaphorically or in reality; green in colour, or “green” in environmentally-friendly terms, in other words.

But apparently, they both boil down to the same thing!

Let me explain; psychologists tell us that the colour of car we choose, given a free choice, says a lot about who we are. So for example, those people who choose a silver car – which is by far the most common choice with a remarkable one in three of us going for silver – apparently desire wealth. Or, more accurately, people choosing silver desire to be perceived as having wealth and prestige – even though they may not be consciously aware of it.

Anyway, a green car choice is exactly that, apparently – a “green” car choice!

Those of us who opt for green cars also have strong environmental conscience; we care about the planet, its inhabitants and our fellow man. So all those 1960s sports car drivers with their British Racing Green MGs were caring, sharing types it would seem!

Apparently, green car pickers are also conscientious drivers who like to smooth over tense situations.

So for the best of both worlds, why not go for low emission cars – which also happen to be green in colour?

Then you’re definitely onto a winner and everyone will think you’re a new age, environmentally friendly type – if you are or not!

Better yet, make the vehicle a hybrid car, which is a bright pea green colour. Then there’s no mistaking what you’re all about. Happy green, “green” motoring!

Photo: Honda News

A hybrid needs recharging at night
Not true. A hybrid is a cross between an electric car and one with an internal combustion engine. It runs on a dual power source, with an engine and an electric motor. Hybrids don’t need to be plugged in to the mains to charge, although that said, some hybrids can be plugged in to boost their batteries. However, all models can recharge independently through a process called regenerative braking, where some of the energy that would normally be lost through braking and coasting is stored for later use in the electric battery.

Hybrids are difficult to drive
Only 49% of those surveyed by Honda knew what a hybrid was. However, many of those people assumed that you have to learn a new driving technique to drive a hybrid. This is totally untrue – you just drive in the same way as you drive a ‘normal’ car.

The quicker you travel, the cleaner your engine
This myth has probably got its basis from the fact that cars are recognised to be at their most polluting when they have just been started. And it’s true that as you gain speed the carbon dioxide emissions gradually reduce, until you reach an optimum driving speed of around 55mph. However, once a car goes any faster than this, the engine has to work harder and starts to produce higher CO2 emissions again.

Photo: Revolve Eco-Rally

The report, entitled: “Opportunities for System and Semiconductor Manufacturers in Hybrid and Battery Electric Vehicles” produced by Wellingborough-based IMS Research, an independent provider of market research to the global electronics industry, reckons that 16% of all vehicles manufactured worldwide by the year 2021 will be electric cars – including hybrid cars, plug-in hybrid vehicles, and battery electric or fuel cell vehicles.

Of course this is educated guesswork, but it makes for very interesting reading. For investors, the feed-in technologies may mean there are manifold opportunities for smaller companies to gain a foot-hold.

A great deal will depend on the price of oil. But despite recent relatively small pull-back the oil price continues to rise inexorably fuelled in particular by burgeoning demand from China, India and other growth economies.

This, in turn, has caused consumers all over the world to seek out cars which are far more economical to run than most of the models currently available.

Photo: jokke75

Hybrid cars, in particular, are increasingly becoming the choice of “best family car” for families seeking improved fuel economy whilst simultaneously looking to make greener life choices.

The hybrids combine fuel economy with practicality due to the lack of a need to be re-charged and sales are on the increase whilst purely electric car manufacturers struggle.

A lot will also depend on public policy around the world. Pick up any newspaper at the moment and you’ll read about governments around the world having to drastically cut spending in order to balance the books.

And when the financial purse strings really get tightened, then public spending on environmental subsidies may fall victim in the short term. But over the longer term, government policy around the world is certainly on the side of all things carbon-reducing.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) tells us that ethanol could comprise up to 10 percent of the world’s usable gasoline by 2025, and up to 30 percent by 2050. Today, the percentage figure is two percent. However, we have a long way to go to refine and make economic and practical these biofuels that we are researching. A study by Oregon State University proves this. We have yet to develop biofuels that are as energy efficient as gasoline made from petroleum. Energy efficiency is the measure of how much usable energy for our needed purposes is derived from a certain amount of input energy. Nothing that mankind has ever used has derived more energy from output than from what the needed input was. What has always been important is the conversion—the end-product energy is what is useful for our needs, while the input energy is just the effort it takes to produce the end-product.

The OSU study found corn-derived ethanol to be only 20% energy efficient (gasoline made from petroleum is 75% energy efficient). Biodiesel fuel was recorded at 69% energy efficiency. However, the study did turn up one positive: cellulose-derived ethanol was charted at 85% efficiency, which is even higher than that of the fantastically efficient nuclear energy. Recently, oil futures have been down on the New York Stock Exchange, as analysts from several different countries are predicting a surge in biofuel availability which would offset the value of oil, dropping crude oil prices on the international market to $40 per barrel or thereabouts.

The Chicago Stock Exchange has a grain futures market which is starting to “steal” investment activity away from the oil futures in NY, as investors are definitely expecting better profitability to start coming from biofuels. Indeed, it is predicted by a consensus of analysts that biofuels shall be supplying seven percent of the entire world’s transportation fuels by the year 2030. One certain energy markets analyst has said, growth in demand for diesel and gasoline may slow down dramatically, if the government subsidizes firms distributing biofuels and further pushes to promote the use of eco-friendly fuel.

There are several nations which are seriously involved in the development of biofuels. There is Brazil, which happens to be the world’s biggest producer of ethanols derived from sugars. It produces approximately three and a half billion gallons of ethanol per year. The United States, while being the world’s greatest oil-guzzler, is already the second largest producer of biofuels behind Brazil.