Friday, November 16, 2007

Is your new car environment friendly


Let’s say that I just bought a new energy efficient car with low fuel consumption (maybe even hybrid car) and low CO2 emissions. Beside that the producer of the car says it is recyclable up to 75% of total mass or parts in my car. Equipped with all this “environment friendly” information I should be very proud owner of my new car, but should I be really proud on this? Did you know that?


  • According to some studies the investment in new “environment friendly” car with lower emissions will not return (e.g. in sense of CO2) in the whole life cycle of the new car. A production of new car makes so much damage to the environment (CO2, water, waste, natural resources).

  • Did you know that producing car catalyst in the factory can pollute environment so much that it seems better to drive without catalyst for another 5 years.

I think the best way to reduce pollution and to reduce car CO2 emissions is to drive less, to plan our trips, to have as less as possible cars at home (not single car for every family member) and to drive our car as long as possible. If you really must by a new car or second hand car then you should by one less polluting. According to some new studies even cycling or walking is less environment friendly than traveling by car… it sounds strange … but let me investigate this first.