Grabeach wrote:There are probably bigger decisions for the environmentally minded car buyer than whether a car has stop/start technology or not. Years ago I read article on the positive and negative affects on the environment of buying a new car. From memory there were two conclusions reached:-
1. It is environmentally sound to replace an unaerodynamic, leaded fuel, carburettored gas guzzler with a new vehicle.
2. It is NOT environmentally sound to replace later (eg. now 10 years old) unleaded, computerised fuel injected vehicles, because the environmental cost of producing the new vehicle outweigh the operating savings. This of course was not great news for the vehicle manufacturing industry!
Thanks Grabeach. That's sort of the big picture I was looking at, even if I got a bit fixated on the stop/go thing.
There was also a study many years ago which suggested that in the big eco picture the most environmentally friendly vehicle was a bare bones, current manufacture Jeep. The details were hazy and presumably this would have been the two wheel drive version used by USPS, and with modern engine management systems. Things like lack of plastics, simplicity of manufacture and ease of recycling were touted as major contributions to the eco friendliness. Toxic by products and energy consumption in this manufacturing process were said to be lower. The fuel consumption was acknowledged and taken into account. Doubt if the vehicle described would have had a 5 star safety rating
Not sure about the source, and it may have been industry based. Regardless, I thought it was thought provoking.
