DIY Electric Car is running a great four-part series on environmentally-friendly cars. The first article refutes the entire premise by proclaiming that environmentally-friendly cars are an oxymoron.
We at Carectomy have become fond of the expression that “the greenest car is the one you don’t drive”; Tom Konrad referred to us in his article for AltEnergy Stocks when he stated, “A Carectomy is Better than a Better Car”; Eco-Chick pointed out that the Smartest Car is Still Worse than the Dumbest Bike; and the country of Norway went so far as to proclaim it illegal for car manufacturers to use the words “green,” clean,” or “environmentally friendly” in any car advertisements.
DIY Electric Car asks, and answers, the questions: Are super-efficient or alternative-fuel cars eco-friendly? Can a car be green?
From DIY Electric Car:
The answer is no. The green car is a myth. Cars are inherently harmful to the environment. They need roads to drive on requiring large scale land clearing. They use a large amount of energy to run that generally comes from polluting sources and they use limited resources that have been stripped from deep within the earth…
I hear you saying ‘if all cars aren’t green then aren’t your standards a little high?’ If I said that rude, obnoxious people were friendly just because they didn’t punch me in the face ‘friendly’ would kind of lose its meaning. The same is true of eco-friendliness.
DIY goes on to present a variety of solutions to minimizing the impact of transportation. Alternative fuels, modifying your car and driving habits à la Ecomodder, and carbon offsets make the list. But, not surprisingly, it’s giving up the car altogether that will have the greatest positive impact.
Photo via flickr by alister.
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
if i were to choose between green cars and gas guzzlers, then i’ll surely pick green ones.