Thursday, September 20, 2007

How green are my wheels?

I've just had a press release advising of the launch of WhatGreenCar.com

At first glance this looks a very worthy addition to the the consumer's information grab bag of sites on matters green.

What I do like is the scope - ratings are based on a database of over 16,000 cars, frequency - updated every two weeks, recognition that apples and oranges may make a good fruit salad but a poor car comparison - identifies the Top 10+ green cars in each class and extent - they claim to be the only green car website to give an environmental rating for all new cars based on the life cycle impacts of eight emissions including carbon dioxide, nitrogen oxides and particulates, plus also assessing the emissions associated with a vehicle’s use and manufacture.

Which, I do note is, 'Unlike the government's new ranking system, which only assesses CO2 exhaust (tailpipe) emissions'. Makes you feel great about the guys in charge, eh?

Speaking of which, I have written to them in hope we may find synergies, whilst pointing out areas we get sniffy about here, such as 'electric' getting morphed into 'non-polluting' without qualification.

But they seem like our kinda folk.

ADDENDUM:

Just had a most pleasant and informative chat with the guy behind it all, Dr. Ben. As knowledgeable as he is measured. I had a few misconceptions put right, for sure. Won't stop me cocking an eyebrow at what I get served up from the green auto industry, but I might well feel the need to bolt on a 'check it out here as well' caveat. There's a little knowledge and there's dangerous misdirections. What he and I did agree on is that it IS very complex but, unfortunately, needs to be made very simple for people to grasp the issues enough to respond rationally.

That, is a very difficult line to walk... er... drive.

Brand Republic - Carbon warnings on car ads

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