2014年8月25日星期一

Green Technology

Green Technology

Green Technology


If you?re contemplating buying a new car and you?re considering buying something more environmentally friendly, how do you know what?s the right car for you? There?s more to going green than buying an electric car and if you mostly eat up the miles on the motorway, a diesel car would probably be more the car for you than anything electric.

The term? green car? encompasses a huge range of vehicles that deliver improved fuel efficiency and lower emissions in a number of different ways. The default car for most families used to be a petrol car and these days a green petrol car would have lightweight design, stop-start technology, and brake energy regeneration. Buying a petrol car tend to be cheaper than buying other types of cars so for many families it?s the affordable option. But a petrol car will usually be less fuel efficient than an equivalent diesel car and as such the total CO2 emissions will be higher. One example of an economical and eco-friendly small petrol car is the new Fiat 500 TwinAir.

Buying a diesel car as opposed to a petrol car usually means low running costs and more muscular performance. Both fuel consumption and CO2 emissions tend to be low and diesel cars are popular choices amongst high mileage drivers. But the cars are usually heavier and they also tend to be more expensive to buy. Diesel cars also produce higher levels of other exhaust gases and soot than a petrol engine. A possible choice for a diesel car would be Volkswagen Polo 1.2 TDI BlueMotion.

A third option would be a biofuel car where the fuel is derived from plant matter. Biofuel tend to be cheaper than petrol and diesel and the net output of CO2 is low. But most cars need to be modified to run on biofuel and these modifications can be expensive.

In addition to this there are the more traditional hybrid cars and electric cars and the new technology of fuel cell cars. The only by-product of the latter would be water and there would be no need to recharge a fuel cell car as the power is generated onboard. But there will be a need for a hydrogen refuelling network so we?re a way off yet before this technology becomes mainstream.

So if you?re looking to go green but want to stick with more conventional technology, there are both petrol and diesel options available.



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