Natural Environment Blog

Plus: how companies can monitor online perceptions of the green credentials of their products

The Nissan Leaf: photo by Tom Rafferty

Which company is currently winning the race to fill our highways and byways with clean green cars?

Car manufacturers are attempting to clean up their act (and clean up the market) when it comes to being seen as green. More and more eco-friendly cars are rolling off production lines to satisfy drivers’ demand for cars which drive down carbon emissions without compromising style and efficiency.

The battle for drivers’ green pounds isn’t just fought on the road – it’s also being fought online. Advanced auditing software can find out the sentiment regarding eco-cars by monitoring conversations on social media sites such as motoring forums, Twitter, blogs and news channels.

Brandwatch recently used social media monitoring to see where conversations about Ford eco cars were taking place – a report which could inform marketing decisions and strategy regarding the forthcoming Ford Focus Electric.

Brandwatch Chart: Conversations about Ford eco cars

The Brandwatch Eco Car report also identified when these conversations were taking place – by finding out the peaks and troughs of conversation ‘volume’ it is possible to identify what events trigger interest in the car.

Brandwatch Graph: When conversations were taking place

Such insights could determine the pecking order in the race to be seen as the greenest car manufacturer.

Here is a look at five of the greenest car manufacturers; these companies’ continued success could depend on how well they engage the people who talk about them online.

1. Nissan

When the Nissan LEAF car started to be delivered to UK homes in March 2011, the car’s 109-mile range and 8-hour charging time attracted plenty of interest. Nissan promises that the car’s availability will rocket when production starts in Sunderland in 2013 and when the £25,000 price of the car goes down, it will interesting to see whether more motorists can be tempted into purchasing an electric car.

2. Mitsubishi

Mitsubishi’s electric car expertise has had a profound influence on car manufacturing in Europe. Citroen and Peugeot have both clubbed together with the Japanese company to produce electric cars; the iON and the C-Zero respectively. Both these electric cars have a respectable range of 93 miles and a charge time of seven hours.

3. Toyota

Toyota seems to have cornered the family hybrid electric car market with its Prius model; the 2012 model of which will go on sale in the UK in March 2012 with a price sticker of £21,350 on its windscreen.

Toyota has four hybrid vehicles in its fleet: the Prius, Auris, Highlander and Camry. There should soon be many more; Toyota’s CEO has revealed the company’s ambition to make a hybrid-electric system available on every vehicle it sells sometime during this decade.

4. Smart

The first smart car raised many eyebrows when it first appeared on the UK roads in 2000; now it is so common that no one blinks an eye to see one weaving through the traffic in city centres. The third generation Smart Fortwo electric drive is coming to a tiny parking space near you from September 2012.

5. Ford

Ford released its Focus Electric five-door hatchback car in America in December 2011 and this super-silent vehicle is expected to cross the pond to Europe by late 2012. Ford is a late arrival at the electric car party – Nissan and General Motors released their first electric passenger cars in 2010. However, the company has indicated that the Electric is not a one-off vehicle and that other Ford green cars will follow in the wake of 2004’s Ford Escape hybrid, 2006’s Mercury Mariner and 2009’s Ford Fusion Hybrid. Watch this space.

Photo Credit: Richard Masoner/Cycleicious

September is a busy month with kids going back to school, but make sure to mark your calendars because September 22 is World Carfree Day! This day was actually first organized in the 1970s during the oil crisis and then again cropped up in Europe in the 1990s.

For the past few years, it has been a staple day to celebrate the world we live in by doing our best not to pollute it further. The goal of World Carfree Day is to get people thinking about the environment and show them that we can in fact, make do without a vehicle, at least in some areas.

While World Carfree Day is only one day a year, the message that is being spread is to promote to people to consider other ways of living and to change their lifestyles. The goal of this day is not to take part and then turn around and go back to your ‘normal’ life the next day, but to make a continued difference.

We all know that cars are pollution causing, money draining, environmental pests. However, almost all of us own one or drive one on a regular basis. What many people don’t realize are that the benefits of not driving aren’t limited to just your wallet and the environment. It is also healthier for you when you choose to walk or ride your bike instead of drive. You get fresh air, exercise, and sunshine and it can be a great way to start your day.

While not all of us are able to make it to the office via bike, there are other options to go carfree. You can take public transit, which can sometimes even shorten your journey. Another option is to carpool which cuts your carbon footprint for that activity in half.

With the ever growing threat of global warming and the constant environmental damage, September 22, 2011 is the perfect day to give Mother Nature a break and to consider a lifestyle change. We need to start looking towards a more sustainable living attitude now in order to protect this planet for future generations.

This article was contributed by Amy Lizee from Environment911.org.

Environment911.org is an interactive website for individuals to come and discuss the environment from green business to natural disasters. We feel it is important for people to come together and share their thoughts, ideas and visions for the future.