Drive releases its “Green Motoring Guide”

Fairfax media’s automotive section, Drive, has released an online once-off publication called the Green Motoring Guide, available as a free download. As you might expect, it’s largely drawing from previously published articles (this is made particularly clear where editing has made some parts nonsensical) and won’t give much new information to anyone who is a regular to this site or has simply done some of their own research, but it’s a concise and reasonably accurate introductory guide to the green automotive options available today (and a short discussion on future options). The guide focuses mostly on getting the most out of your existing vehicle and what to look for in a new “greener” car, from the size to the fuel source.

Overall, it is probably worth a read if you want a brief guide to immediately available options for reducing your fuel consumption and emissions, but do your own research and be aware that all journalism, especially when it comes to forecasting technological trends, has an inherent bias (even us, but we admit it - we’re biased towards clean fuels). There’s more to the alternative fuels story than can be covered in one magazine.

Note: The GMG has an error on page 6 regarding the energy content of ethanol fuel. Pure ethanol contains approximately 65% of the energy of unleaded petrol, or about 21 MJ/L (the exact content varies depending on the production source and process). E10, which is 10 per cent ethanol and 90 per cent unleaded petrol, has a proportionally higher energy content - about 3% less than standard RON 91 unleaded.