ThreeSheds Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 I often think that once my RRC is on the road it will be one of the greenest vehicles around because - in spite of it having a worn-out 3.9 V8 - it will be mainly made from recycled metal and anyway it should by all rights, have gone to the scrap-yard years ago. It's got to be greener running a car like this than buying a new one every three years? Continuing my green-theme, when walking the dog around the edge of the local playing fields twice a day, I will often come back with handfuls of sport-aid plastic bottles an the like. (OT rant - can't these people take their rubbish back to the bins at the sports centre? I once heard a 'rugby-mum' complaining about rubbish on the pitch - where does she think it comes from? It's from the last mum who stood there and for the next game it will be her rubbish that's blowing around! - rant over) Today however I scored a major success - I found two pieces of steel 5ft x 8" x 2mm (note the eclectic use of units there ) which (although a little thick) will nicely fill most of the remaining holes in my Solihull Sieve :lol: It doesn't take much to make me happy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steven Hart Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Sounds very Green, Restoring old vehicles is the most green car you buy at the moment, Cars like Toyota Pruis may seem green until you add the carbon footprint of the manufacturing process. When you take into account manufacturing process in carbon foot print the best you can buy from a green point of view is a Defender (I do work for Land-Rover but that is figures produced by an independent company) bought new and run till it is no long cost effective to repair. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anderzander Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 That's one to try and explain to the 4x4 haters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
disco_al Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 Old cars are self recycling anyway - bits rust away and fall off, then return to their natural mineral state, we weld new pieces in to keep them going longer, cheaper and greener than any new vehicle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landmannnn Posted December 5, 2008 Share Posted December 5, 2008 I often think that once my RRC is on the road it will be one of the greenest vehicles around because - in spite of it having a worn-out 3.9 V8 - it will be mainly made from recycled metal and anyway it should by all rights, have gone to the scrap-yard years ago. It's got to be greener running a car like this than buying a new one every three years? The calculation should be simple. If you travel 10k miles per year in your RR with about 300g/mile of co2 that is about 3 tonnes per year of co2. A reasonably fuel efficient car is about 150g/mile so you would emit 1.5 tonnes per year. So you save about 1.5 tonnes per year if you have an environmentally friendly car. The big question is how many tonnes of co2 is used in manufacturing a car? The uk smmt says 800kg per car! Toyota say 2.5 tonnes for the Prius. Top end estimates are 15 tonnes. Depending which you believe, a new car is greener than yours after 9 months, 2 years or 10 years! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reggie Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Stick it on LPG & it becomes even greener. Got mine on LPG, you can't get any greener than my car as its actually green in colour too Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeSheds Posted December 6, 2008 Author Share Posted December 6, 2008 The calculation should be simple.If you travel 10k miles per year in your RR with about 300g/mile of co2 that is about 3 tonnes per year of co2. A reasonably fuel efficient car is about 150g/mile so you would emit 1.5 tonnes per year. So you save about 1.5 tonnes per year if you have an environmentally friendly car. The big question is how many tonnes of co2 is used in manufacturing a car? The uk smmt says 800kg per car! Toyota say 2.5 tonnes for the Prius. Top end estimates are 15 tonnes. Depending which you believe, a new car is greener than yours after 9 months, 2 years or 10 years! Mine's on LPG which helps, but I take your point... On the other hand though, I also read somewhere that many car manufacturers only count the CO2 that they actually produce and not that produced by their component suppliers. How much of most modern cars is made in China and what emissions are produced there I wonder? 800kg doesn't sound a lot to produce a car with... The American "Dust To Dust" report also make interesting reading, showing a Jeep to be a far greener proposition than a Prius! On the whole though, I do not really believe that I am being as green as I can be in terms of vehicles - it was just a bit of fun. I am sure that I am, however, a lot more green than many, even with my (t)rusty old RRC... Roger Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
landmannnn Posted December 6, 2008 Share Posted December 6, 2008 Mine's on LPG which helps, but I take your point... On the other hand though, I also read somewhere that many car manufacturers only count the CO2 that they actually produce and not that produced by their component suppliers. How much of most modern cars is made in China and what emissions are produced there I wonder? 800kg doesn't sound a lot to produce a car with... Correct, for carbon footprint most manufactures say 10% for manufacture, 85% for lifetime fuel and 5% for end of life disposal. That is about the 2.5 tonnes that Toyota quote. The 15 tonne figure would include raw materials and is more realistic. Yes, you car is greener than a new Prius. Incidentally lpg is 20% better. Of course a second hand Fiesta is greener, but not as green as a bicycle! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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