ENVIRONMENTAL ALTERNATIVES

Doing your bit for the environment means riding around in a tiny city car powered by a sewing machine engine right? Wrong. Andy Enright applies some lateral thinking to environmental driving.

According to Oregon-based CNW Marketing Research, the world's greenest car is a Jeep Wrangler. Not a Toyota Prius or a Smart Fortwo but a hulking great Jeep. How does that logic work?

Study their workings and you have to say they have a point. Their research covered a 'dust to dust' lifetime cost and encompassed not just fuel consumption and CO2 figures but also the energy used in design and production in both car assembly and by suppliers of parts. The energy used in transporting the cars to dealers and in maintenance, servicing, scrapping and recycling was also taken into account. Hybrid cars did poorly in this regard because of the energy used in their manufacture and the replacement and disposal costs of high-energy items like batteries and electric motors. At the end of the number crunching, the simple, honest and eminently recyclable Wrangler won.

Still, you don't need to look like GI Joe to salve your green conscience. Customers of all new Land Rover vehicles sold in the UK pay to offset the CO2 emissions produced by their vehicle, calculated on the certified CO2 emissions level for each Land Rover model up to 45,000 miles, typically three years use. The cost is from £85 to £165 depending on model. The ultimate goal is CO2 neutrality with investments being made in renewable energy projects such as wind and solar, technology change an...