| What is the Green Rating? The Green Rating measures a vehicle's environmental friendliness on a scale of 1 to 100. The higher a vehicle's Green Rating, the "greener" it is and the lower its harm to both human health and the health of the planet. The Green Rating covers all the major environmental costs of a motor vehicle, including: - Unhealthy smog from the exhaust - Emissions of greenhouse gases that cause global warming - The fuel a vehicle consumes - Pollution from manufacturing the vehicle and its components Yahoo Cars Green science: We’ve given each car a green rating to help give you a quick indication of just how ‘green’ a car is. The information below will show you how we have calculated this. The data we have on each make and model is supplied by JATO dynamics*. Definitions & Unity:
 More and more car buyers care about how their choices affect the planet. Yahoo! Car’s Green Rating makes it easy for anyone to comparison shop with the environment in mind. You might already look at fuel efficiency when you compare vehicles. But since the Green Rating also reflects exhaust emissions and other factors, it simplifies the task of weighing the many aspects of a car's environmental friendliness. Some car shoppers think that they need to buy a hybrid, use an alternative fuel or buy a small car in order to buy green. While such vehicles can indeed tread more lightly on the planet, the Green Ratings can help you make a greener choice no matter what kind of car you choose. How are the Green Ratings derived? Cars degrade the environment in many ways. Because vehicles stay on the road a long time, the largest effects occur during driving. Car pollution includes greenhouse gases, which cause global warming, and smog-related emissions, which trigger asthma attacks and raise the risks of heart and lung disease. Pollution also occurs when vehicles and their parts are manufactured, and again when a vehicle is scrapped at the end of its life. A vehicle's total environmental impact A scientific method for adding up all of the environmental damages associated with a product is known as lifecycle assessment. The Green Ratings were developed following principles of lifecycle assessment, using publicly available information to evaluate all vehicles uniformly. Thus, the ratings represent "apples-to-apples" comparisons between different makes and models. Major pollutants covered in the ratings include: Greenhouse gases, primarily carbon dioxide (CO2) Fine particles (particulate matter, PM) Nitrogen oxides (NOx) Hydrocarbons (HC) Carbon monoxide (CO) Scientists evaluate car pollution in two broad categories: greenhouse gases that cause global warming (such as CO2) and emissions that directly harm human health (such as PM, NOx, HC and CO). The Green Rating gives equal importance to these two categories. A vehicle's global warming pollution depends largely on fuel consumption, so it is calculated from fuel economy data. A vehicle's health-harming pollution depends largely on the emissions standard that it meets, which forms the basis for that part of the calculation. In others words, a "green" vehicle is one that is both clean and fuel-efficient. * JATO Dynamics is the leading supplier of automotive market intelligence, providing the world's most complete, accurate and up-to-date databases of vehicle prices and specifications, industry news including incentives information, sales and registration data. |
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