With petrol prices escalating to record levels across the UK, there’s little to celebrate for motorists already reeling from increased mortgage costs and higher energy bills on the back of the credit crunch.

According to an AA fuel price report, the £5/gallon mark is not far away. Compared to a month ago, a litre of petrol costs 1.3 pence more at 108.06 pence per litre and diesel has risen 3.16 pence to 117.41 pence per litre. This is leading UK motorists to pay approximately £10.2million extra on fuel each day.

So what can you do to cut your costs? Here are some quick tips:

• Drive slowly – This doesn’t mean crawling along at 10mph, but the difference between travelling at 70mph and 80mph is huge – sometimes as much as 5mpg.

• Avoid short journeys – The fewer miles you travel, the less fuel you use.

• Share a car – If you have a friend or work colleague who you can share a car with you can slash your petrol costs in half, as well as reducing your other motoring bills.

• Cruise control – Utilise it at 70mph on motorways so you never use more fuel than you have to.

• Close windows – Reducing the drag will make your car more aerodynamic and reduce fuel consumption.

• Use higher gears – Move into higher gears as soon as possible and you could improve economy by 20 per cent.

• Drive smoothly – Anticipate the lights and avoid starting and stopping continuously.

• Turn off air conditioning – Air conditioning is generally unnecessary in this country and can eat around five per cent of your fuel.

• Check tyre pressures – Being 2psi under-inflated can increase consumption by one per cent.

For more ideas read how to reduce your environmental impact.

According to sources within Vauxhall the new Insignia will have a low CO2 Ecoflex version to do battle with the Mondeo Econetic and the Bluemotion VW Passat.
The Vectra replacement goes on sale in November. But according to Vauxhall sources the news is that the new model will have its eco-friendly model available from launch.
The first Ecoflex car has just been already been launched in the guise of the Corsa, it produces 119g/km. Vauxhall is gearing up to rival VW’s ultra-popular Bluemotion line-up.
The Corsa Ecoflex is powered by a 75PS version of Vauxhall’s 1.3-litre diesel while the VW Polo Bluemotion is a 1.4-litre TDi and produces 99g/km. According to official figures the VW Polo Bluemotion WILL DO 74.3mpg on the combined cycle.
The green Vauxhall Insignia Ecoflex is rumoured to be powered by a 1.8-litre petrol engine and should emit around 139g/km while we’ll have to wait until the British Motorshow for full details.
Simon McBride

Land Rover runs a programme which aims to offset the CO2 emissions of their high-emitting vehicles. One such programme is being run in Uganda at the moment and TheGreenCarWebsite.co.uk took a deeper look into it to see if it is indeed a credible effort to counter their cars’ CO2 emissions of merely a publicity stunt.

The forests of Uganda are disappearing at an alarming rate, the main cause being the populations’ need for charcoal to cook with. Land Rover is helping to provide the Ugandans with more efficient stoves that will not fully stop, but certainly decrease deforestation.

Land Rover, supported by the Ugandan Stove Manufacturers Ltd, has launched a community project in Kampala which has lead to the development of a stove that burns wood as opposed to charcoal. It retains its heat for longer is will use less fuel (wood). The cost of the stove is £3 and Land Rover has offered interest free loans to families who would benefit. The expected saving of £22 a year on charcoal will hopefully also lead to financial benefits.

The hopes are that the rate deforestation caused by the need for charcoal will decrease as the wood-burning stoves take over. The project has already been a success, selling 200 stoves per day since 2005 and this has lead to the reduction of 8,732 tonnes of emissions.

This is undoubtedly a scheme that is helping both the Ugandans and the planet but it does seem to raise the question – Are we forcing other countries do change their way of life just so that we can carry on driving high-polluting vehicles?

In Land Rover’s defence, the development of the 120g/km LR-X does show that their commitment to greener motoring does seem serious.

 It’s no longer a case of which is the fastest, which is the safest or which is the easiest on the eye, now car manufacturers have a new focus – producing the greenest car around.

Escalating energy costs and concerns about global warming have left designers focusing firmly on getting the best fuel economy from their latest concepts. Here is a glimpse into the green car future, with a rundown of some of the freshest designs:

• Jeep Renegade – With the looks of a lunar golf cart, this two-passenger concept boasts equivalent petrol fuel economy of 110mpg.
• Dodge ZEO – A four-passenger, all-electric, 2+2 sport wagon with the ability to travel from 0-60 in under six seconds.
• Land Rover LRX 4×4 – A 2.0 turbo-diesel hybrid that can run on bio-diesel. Land Rover claims that it could lower emissions and reduce fuel consumption by as much as 30 per cent compared with similar 4×4s.
• Mazda Furai – Despite its 450hp engine, this concept uses ethanol and ethanol gas-blends.

• Mazda Taiki – The first petroleum rotary engine developed to use direct-fuel injection. With boosted thermal efficiency this is set to be a fuel miser.

• Toyota A-bat – A four-passenger pick-up with hybrid synergy drive. It utilises the same drive-train made popular by the Toyota Prius.

• BMW X6 – According to BMW, the fuel consumption and emission ratings of the X6 will be 20 per cent lower than comparable cars.

• Saturn Flexstreme – An electric motor is utilised with a lithium-ion battery to produce up to 34 miles of all-electric range.

• Mitsubishi RA – A low emissions diesel with an aluminium space frame and exterior panels made of lightweight plastic resin to reduce weight.

• Chrysler ecoVoyager – An electric motor with the ability to jump from 0-60 in less than eight seconds.

Check back at thegreencarwebsite.co.uk for the latest green cars news.

The future is bright, the future is green for Kia! The Korean maker has been presented with two international certificates, which recognise the advanced environmental design and manufacturing processes behind the Kia cee’d.
Globally recognized, German-based, TÜV presented Kia with a DFE (Design for Environment) and a LCA (Life Cycle Assessment) environment certificate at a special ceremony in Seoul, Korea. This was after rigorous inspection of the company’s design operations and the manufacturing facility at Zilina in Slovakia.  The Kia cee’d, designed for and made in Europe, is the first Korean car to receive such recognition.
Mr Hyoung-Keun Lee, Senior Executive Vice President and COO, International Business Division of Kia Motors Corporation, enthused; ‘The awarding of two international environment certificates for the Kia cee’d and its excellent 5-Star rating in EuroNCAP crash testing are first-time achievements for a Korean automotive company of which we can all be proud. Our Zilina facility was environmentally certified in 2007 and later this year we will start manufacturing cee’d vehicles with fuel-stretching and CO2 reducing technologies from our experimental eco_cee’d line-up, further underlining Kia’s strong and continuing drive to minimize its impact on the environment,’ concluded Mr Lee.
Simon McBride

Jatropha, the wild African perennial is being hailed as a possible solution to the biofuel headache. Its small seeds are dried and crushed to harvest their oil as a biofuel and can be used in almost any diesel engine without the need for modifications. But is it really the wonder plant it is promoted to be?

To acknowledge its virtues, we must admit certain advantages it has over traditional biofuel crops such as palm oil and rapeseed. To begin with it is extremely hardy, it can grow virtually anywhere. As such it does not compete with food crops because does not need to be grown on traditional fertile farmland or displace food crops.  It grows in the most arid of conditions and can yield seeds for up to fifty years. It requires little to no irrigation. It is also inedible, as such using it as biofuel is not depriving vulnerable communities of a valuable food source. The plant is also said to actually improve the quality of the soil it grows in and requires little fertiliser. Like all biofuels, whilst growing, it absorbs CO2 meaning CO2 neutrality when burnt as a fuel.

However it is still a relatively wild plant, its productivity is low and difficult to stabilise. Yields vary widely from year to year.  One hectare of the oilseed plant would produce a mere two tonne of oil. Not to mention it is highly toxic and requires careful handling by farmers. Ingesting just three seeds from small fruit is enough to kill, sap from its bark stains skin and can irritate for days. As the seeds are crushed to harvest oil they release toxic vapour. Crops ripen at different times making harvesting labour intensive and slow. Farming the plant could be dangerous and unpleasant.

There is greenhouse gas emissions such as NOx and other particulates to consider too. Encouraging reliance on biofuels as an alternative to fossil fuels has long been a concern for environmental groups. Growing biofuel crops such as Jatropha would serve the interest of wealthier nations and not necessarily help poorer countries. The buying power of western countries could still theoretically lead to the displacement of food crops.

Greenpeace scientist, Paul Johnston echoed this unease;

“Sustainability of our energy production is the most important thing and we must not get side-tracked by short term or false solutions. Ultimately we need to reduce our energy consumption and face up to the fact that transport industry needs to meet the challenge of climate change.”

Despite concerns, claims are that Jatropha biofuel could be in UK diesel by next year.

www.greenpeace.org.uk

Faye Sunderland

Mark Norman, operational manager at Cap Black Book is an expert within the used car market. Cap Black Book provides comprehensive used car valuation data for the majority of cars in the market. Norman has warned car dealers that they must focus on environmentally-friendly models if they are to avoid a surplus of stock.

“It is therefore important to begin routinely including tax bands in the trade valuation process today to become fully prepared for new market conditions for older cars next year”

The manufacturers that could benefit from the used car market focusing on green models would be Toyota, Kia and Honda; all brand names that are now synonymous with the term green motoring.

 One of the most popular motor vehicles in the UK is to launch its greenest model yet at the Co-Operative Insurance Sexy Green Car Show.

The Ford Focus ECOnetic is the most eco-friendly version of the popular family car to date, with a 1.6litre diesel engine, fuel economy at 66mpg and low CO2 emissions of just 115g/km. Even more encouragingly the environmental impact of the car’s production has also been reduced, as its engine was built at the wind-powered Dagenham Diesel Centre.

The production of the Focus ECOnetic represents a massive stride forward for the manufacturer. The CO2 emission levels of the Focus have fallen by 13 per cent since its launch in 1998.

Its introduction also reflects the importance of consumer demand. Ford representatives claim that sales of their models with emissions below 120g/km have leapt by 33 per cent in the past year, perhaps partly due to the Transport of London’s decision to waive congestion charges for vehicles emitting less than 120g/km.

There is also the added bonus of being exempt from road tax – within two years all cars producing less than 130g/km of CO2 will be free from vehicle excise duty.

The Co-Operative Insurance Sexy Green Car Show will also play host to the most exciting new green cars on the market from manufacturers including Citroen, Fiat, Honda, Peugeot, Saab and Volkswagen.

The event runs from May 23-31 at the Eden Project.

Volkswagen has successfully completed the development of the Jetta BlueTDI, which will debut in North America this summer.
The car, was unveiled by the German maker at, the 2008 International Vienna Motor Symposium.
The engine has been developed for the North American market
The common rail engine is based on the high-tech TDI, which was first introduced in Europe in 2007 with the Tiguan. This engine already satisfies the Euro-5 standard that comes into effect in autumn 2009.
The Jetta BlueTDI will debut as one of the cleanest and most economic cars of its class in the world.
Dr. Ing. Jens Hadler, Director of Volkswagen Powertrain Development said: “High fuel prices and a dramatic change in environmental consciousness means that diesel is becoming more and more attractive for American drivers every day. I think this motor will help the diesel get its big break in America because it consumes so little and yet can go such long distances on a single fill-up. And in a country as big as the United States, this is a priceless advantage. On the highway, for example, this engine can reach up to 60 miles per gallon. This is an improvement of 12 percent over its predecessor, which had a lower capacity and higher emissions.”
Simon McBride

 According to Government regulations all petrol and diesel sold on British forecourts must now contain at least 2.5 per cent biofuel. In the eyes of those in power, this flagship policy will make our vehicles greener. However, is that really the case?

A group of campaigners protested across the country last week on the back of growing evidence that the push for biofuels is causing a food crisis in developing countries, and that the absence of any strict standards means rainforests and wildlife-rich savannahs are being destroyed in order to grow plants that will be used as fuel.

The Renewable Transport Fuel Obligation (RTFO) has come in for criticism from the RSPB, the conservation body, which has branded its introduction as ‘over-hasty’.  

“The volume of biofuel that can be genuinely described as sustainable is at present very small indeed and is nowhere near enough to warrant the 2.5 per cent obligation,” commented Graham Wynne, chief executive of the RSPB.

Environmentalists believe that the carbon dioxide savings are far outweighed by the lost rainforest, the use of fertilisers, and the fuel used in conversion and transportation.

However, the Government has hit back by insisting that the RTFO puts the UK at the forefront of efforts to make the industry sustainable. It also insists that suppliers provide reports on where the green petrol and diesel comes from, along with the potential carbon savings.

In all, the Department of Transport estimates that 2.5million tonnes of carbon dioxide will be saved by 2010. Campaigners meanwhile are calling for a legally binding target that biofuels must save at least 60 per cent more carbon than they produce.

Regular motorists will notice no difference at the pumps as the biofuels, sourced from rapeseed, soya beans and palm oil, will be mixed in with regular fossil fuels.

Links: Petrol and diesel must contain 2.5 per cent biofuels