Having read your item on Volvo’s cleaner hybrid (The Big Picture, 17 September), it’s great to see that it promises ‘66 per cent fewer carbon dioxide emissions than other hybrids on the market’ and that its ‘operating costs are estimated to be 80 per cent lower than a similar petrol-powered car’.
But certain important questions need to be answered:
- how much carbon dioxide was produced during the sourcing and transport of the raw materials?
- how much was produced during its manufacture?
- and how much was produced when transporting the car to the showroom?
Also, how much of this vehicle is recyclable and how much energy will it take to dispose of it?
The assumption is that when looking to purchase a vehicle which has low carbon dioxide emissions, customers do so not only to reduce their contribution of greenhouse gases but also to be environmentally friendly.
Hence they should also investigate the environmental impact of the vehicle from design, manufacture and disposal, and maybe that will contribute to their decision to purchase.
Car producers seem to push that their cars have low emissions of carbon dioxide — but there’s more to be considered.
M Watson
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