The definitive 2008 green car ratings from the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) are out, and you can read the painful truth at greenercars.org. Why painful? Well, in the list of "Greenest Vehicles of 2008," only one is from an American manufacturer, the Ford Focus (#9 on a list of 12).
If you want to go green this year, your two top choices remain as they have for several years: The Toyota Prius (48/45 mpg) and the Honda Civic Hybrid (40/45 mpg). (And if you've got natural gas stations near you, the Honda Civic GX, 24/36 mpg). New to the list this year is the fourth-place finisher, the Smart Fortwo in convertible or coupe form (33/41 mpg).
The ratings weigh more than just fuel economy; also evaluated are tailpipe emissions and pollution from manufacturing (estimated by necessity). The result is a "Green Score" (53 for the Prius, 44 for the Focus, for instance).
The list gets interesting when you look at the "Greener Choices" ranking, because that rates vehicles that simply scored well in different classes. Such heavyweights as the Chevy Tahoe Hybrid (21/22 mpg, green score 28) show up on that list. Even the sizable and notably macho Nissan Frontier pickup (14/19 mpg, green score 27) makes an appearance.
U.S. companies should be denting the list soon, especially the forthcoming Chevrolet Malibu and Saturn Vue two-mode hybrids. But there's still an attitude problem in Detroit. One of my perennial whipping boys, GM Vice Chairman Bob Lutz, keeps putting his foot in his mouth to journalists. He said that "global warming is a total crock of ****," and added for good measure that hybrids "make no economic sense."
He later appeared on a GM blog with an apparent mea culpa, stating, "General Motors is dedicated to the removal of cars and trucks from the environmental equation, period. And, believe it or don't: So am I! It's the right thing to do, for us, for you and, yes, for the planet."
But the Big Three want it both ways. As Business Week reports, GM and Chrysler are both card-carrying members of the U.S. Climate Action Partnership (USCAP), a laudable effort to reduce corporate greenhouse gas emissions. But they're also supporting the ultra-conservative Heartland Institute, which would agree with Senator James Inhofe (R-OK) that climate change is a "hoax." The Institute's New York conference this week is dedicated to "explain[ing] the often-neglected 'other side' of the climate change debate."
