Your Questions About Green Living

The Expert answers:

USA hardly even has any eco friendly cars yet! Those hybrids are a joke, they get less mpg every year

The Expert answers:

It is not eco friendly to buy new items even if the claim is that the product is green, it is actually greener not to buy anything. Eco friendly is not really eco friendly it is less unfriendly than conventional products. Green products are greenER than conventional products not really GREEN. The bes thing to do is keep using what you have until it falls to pieces, then if you can don’t replace it, or look to rent if it is one off use or buy second hand if you use it regularly.

Not having a car at all is much more environmentally friendly than any CLAIMED eco friendly car.

The issue is this, there are environmental costs in sourcing the materials, production of the equipment to manufacture the materials and buildings etc to manufacture them in, the manufacture of the product itself, transportation, use and disposal of the product and its wastes etc This is known as embodied energy (the cost of to the environment of everything that actually went into making that item).

So keep using what you have but try to use it less. Walk or cycle more and use public transport instead of your car, then you will be genuinely more eco friendly. Just because people want to sell you an eco friendly product does not mean it is really friendly to the environment, nor does it mean you should buy it.

The Expert answers:

Prius

The Expert answers:

Eco friendly cars are ones which minimize their damage to the environment. While hybrids immediately come to mind, there are other cars which are eco-friendly too. Small cars with smaller engines use less fuel to drive. Some good choices for small cars are honda civics, toyota corolla or if you like hatchbacks honda fit. Hybrids can be very fuel efficient (like the toyota prius) but they also make larger hybrid cars and suv’s which are no more efficient than small cars. You must also take into account the impact of the batteries which are used in hybrids. They use rare materials on earth for their batteries which is what makes them expensive. It has been argued that the toyota prius’ complex production process does more environmental harm than the car saves in fuel in its lifetime. If you are in the market for a new car, i would simply look for the one with the highest fuel economy rating that suits your DAILY needs. If you mostly just drive to work every day and or get groceries, but once a year need to move a piece of furniture it doesnt mean you need a truck. A small car will do 99.9 % of the time and save you money.

The Expert answers:

Zap Smartcar