Many people who want to adopt a green lifestyle consider ditching their car altogether.  But that’s not always a practical option – especially if you live out of town and have a family.  Public transport isn’t as good as it should be, and can be quite expensive if you have children to pay for as well. If you can, you should do your bit for the environment by avoiding doing really short trips in your car, but if you’re not willing to drop your car completely, there is another option.

The alternative is to choose an eco-friendly vehicle – if you’ve decided to keep driving a car. But as well as being good for the environment, how do we know if the eco cars are good for our health?

The short answer is we don’t at the moment.  What we do know though, or can find out easily, is how low the carbon dioxide emissions are on a car.  This is because it’s now obligatory for car dealers to show this information when you go to look at cars in a showroom.

This makes it far easier for you to find a new motor which is as green as you want it to be, so you won’t need to compromise on that aspect when you’re choosing a new car.

For example, you can quickly find out that hybrids like the Toyota Prius Mark II 1.5 VVT-i Hybrid E-CVT has CO2 emissions of 104g/km and the Honda Insight 1.3 IMA ES ES-T EX has CO2 emissions of 105g/km.

However it’s a bit harder to find out details on other emissions. The Prius produces a quarter less NOx and particulate emissions than a conventional car of the same size during its lifetime, which is great, but that kind of information is harder to come by.

While CO2 emissions are important for the environment, NOx and particulate emissions can be damaging to our health.  They have been linked to the rise of respiratory diseases and problems like asthma in inner cities.

So, when looking at your future car’s green credentials, it’s also important to dig around and ask questions to find out just how good for your own health your will be.  The information is out there and if you want to make sure you’re being as eco friendly as possible, you’ll be able to hunt it down with a bit of extra effort.

Related articles

• What is a Green Car? (gogogreencars.com)
• Ways to Make the Car you Drive more Green (gogogreencars.com)