Honda Civic Natural Gas
By many accounts, the Honda Civic Natural gas is actually the cleanest car on the market when it comes to total emissions. The Honda Civic Natural Gas also offers customers a chance to fill up from home, right from the grid, like an EV, but with a quick fill-up like a gas-powered car. But Honda has been facing criticism over the “new” Civic, and these concerns could sink this compeitor’s chances.
Verdict: Best Idea, Worst Package
So who will win? I don’t know, and neither do you, but for my money I am going to go with the Civic Natural Gas. It is the stand-out to me, the one vehicle and company to go out on a limb and truly try to offer something different, rather than taking the road more traveled ala hybrids, diesels, and electric vehicles. For my money, I’d go with the Civic.
But what about you? Who would you vote for were you on the judging panel?
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About Christopher DeMorro
I think the winner is the absent one, that is… the Volt. Innovative concept and, despite it’s hefty price which should come down, the only real “bridge” product on our way to a truly zero emission. This is a vehicle that people could actually buy and use as their only vehicle and not a fancy golf cart to show off to your Sierra Club member friends, but leave in the driveway on weekdays as you use your other… real car.
Trying to pick the “green car of the year” is a bit like trying to pick the most valuable child. It very much depends upon who you ask, under what circumstances, and under what considerations. If I am a social planner I would be thinking about manufacturing processes. If I am operating in a mine I might only be interested in exhaust and emissions without any other considerations. Am I going to look at manufacturing costs and materials? In this case any used or remanufactured vehicle is going to be better than any vehicle made from new materials. Are we going to examine future considerations or just what we see? I would want to know how natural gas or hydrogen or any other fuel is produced. Will I look at entire life cycles so that any car that is made from plant matter is better than any vehicle made from material that requires a manfactured basis for more rapid recycling. Can a vehicle be more “green” if the required infrastructure is not?
Like trying to pick the most valuable child we can easily have favorites that may more closely fit our perceived needs than our actual ones. The pursuit of the “greenest car” can be a thought provoking exercise or an attempt to avoid true consideration. It is really up to us.