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Best and worst cars for global warming
With all the newfound concern over how the cars
we drive affect the environment, you may wonder
which new cars actually are the most planet-friendly
-- and which are the worst.
For the answers we looked to
the American Council for an Energy-Efficient
Economy, or ACEEE, which has published its
rankings of all 2007 cars and passenger trucks
-- including the "greenest" and
the "meanest" -- based on fuel economy,
emissions and the impact of the emissions
on health and global warming.
Here are the ACEEE's rankings of the greenest and meanest vehicles on the U.S. market:
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| Greenest and meanest vehicles on the U.S. market |
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The vehicle scores are part of "ACEEE's Green Book Online," ACEEE's environmental guide to cars and trucks, available at GreenerCars.com.
Interestingly, it's not a hybrid
that topped the list of the most environmental
friendly. That award went to Honda's natural
gas-powered Civic GX. The Toyota Prius and
Honda Civic Hybrid came in second and third,
while two newcomers to the U.S. market --
the Nissan Altima Hybrid and Toyota Yaris
-- rounded out the top five.
No domestic cars made the "greenest" top 12. But the "meanest" list -- long dominated by large U.S.-made SUVs and pickups -- this year saw European imports shove their way to the top of the list with the arrival of new diesel models that, the ACEEE says, "meet some of the dirtiest tailpipe emissions standards allowable in the United States."
Widely respected as the premier
consumer guide to environment-friendly passenger
cars, trucks and sport utility vahicles, GreenerCars.com
analyzes data such as tailpipe emissions,
fuel consumption and harmful gas emissions
to produce a comparative "Green Score"
for each vehicle.
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