Читать книгу Kevin McCloud’s 43 Principles of Home: Enjoying Life in the 21st Century - Kevin McCloud - Страница 8

A Toyota Prius

A 1937 Alfa Romeo tourer

A Ferrari

A 37-year-old Bond 875 (my first car)

The Innocent Smoothie van

An Aston Martin DB9

A Range Rover

You might plump for the Prius as the angel of the pack and the Range Rover as the devil.

Let me ask you another question: if you had the money, would you commission a small firm of English cabinet-makers to make you a bespoke, crafted piece of furniture? Or buy a cheap copy from the Far East? Well, the more ethical solution has to be the former: it’s a local transaction, it involves much less shipping, it creates relationships between the makers and the owner. The automotive equivalent is buying an Aston Martin over a Toyota Prius.

Surely this is rubbish. The Prius emits 145 grams of carbon per kilometre while the Aston emits nearly 500. But even these figures are meaningless. Who is the biggest environmental sinner? The man who drives his Prius 20 miles to and from work each day? Or the man who travels 50 miles on the train? Or the man who owns an Aston Martin and walks across his yard to his office and drives his car at weekends only? It’s probably the Prius driver.

This is just an exercise to point out that whatever you think of executive SUVs, hybrid cars and GT sports cars, calculating the environmental impact of these vehicles is very complex and ultimately dependent much more on how we use our vehicles than how big their engines are or where they were built.

So here’s another little test.