If you own a car it can’t have escaped your notice that the car is regarded as one of the worst forms of transport in terms of its environmental impact - perhaps not as bad as planes, but nevertheless a significant contributor to global warming.

Many would say that the answer is to persuade people to leave their cars at home and use another form of transport. Twenty-five percent of all car journeys are less than two miles in length and thus it should be easy to use another form of transport. In terms of the environment, travelling on foot or by bicycle is the optimal form of transport because no fossil fuels have to be burnt. Using these forms of transport is possible if the journey is fairly short and you don’t have much to carry. However, provision for bicycles is still fairly patchy in this country and this puts many people off using them. Train operators also do not provide enough spaces for bicycles and with the demise of the guard’s van often the only bicycle that can be taken on public transport is a folding one.

'Wrong kind of train. Thanks for trying. Next!'

Trains, buses and coaches are all better choices than the car as it is not only necessary to consider how much carbon each form of transport produces, but also how much per person in the vehicle. Thirty-eight percent of car journeys are made with a single occupant. Of course, given the current problems that one frequently hears on the news, particularly for those who commute into London, it may be that if everyone were to switch to using the train or the bus the system would be unable to cope. At peak periods it is not unusual for especially busy tube stations in London such as Victoria to have to close because of the sheer number of people on the platforms. Could we all switch to using public transport? There are a number of possible problems. Capacity is one, but also there is the problem that public transport may not take people to where they want to go or it may be inconvenient. For example, it is not unusual that if a person’s home location is not on a direct train line they will have to change trains several times to get to their place of work or travel into a city only to come out again to complete their journey. Carrying around tools or heavy loads on public transport is also not ideal. For years the government has allowed companies and supermarkets to build their premises on large industrial estates outside towns and they all generally have large car parks. Often the easiest way to visit these parks is by car.

The question is if we are to keep our cars what can we do to reduce our impact on the environment? The first thing that people should think about is whether they really need to use a car for their journey. For single people, travelling by train or coach can often be cheaper than using the car. If the journey is short then walking or cycling are reasonable alternatives.

For commuters, think about whether you could share a car with a colleague who lives near you. Employers could also help by permitting more workers to work from home where possible. For those who only need a car occasionally, using taxis or using a car from a car pool may not only be environmentally friendly but also make more financial sense than buying a car.

Routemaster proved an ironic name.

When you purchase a car, think about the carbon emissions. Many car manufacturers are designing and producing cars that use less fuel as well as introducing innovations such as regenerative braking systems. Such systems reduce the speed of the car by converting some of the kinetic energy into a form that can be stored and re-used rather than dissipating it as heat. Selecting a small car or a hybrid with a good environmental rating will reduce your impact on the environment.

Finally, think about the way you drive. There are a number of websites which give advice on how to drive in order to reduce your fuel consumption. Simply changing the way you drive by eliminating harsh braking or rapid acceleration can have a significant affect on fuel consumption.  Reducing your speed on the motorway from 70 mph to 50 mph would reduce CO2 emissions by up to 25%. Servicing your car regularly and ensuring that the tyre pressures are correct also helps.

What about the future? Will it be possible to produce cars that don’t damage the environment? There are a number of technologies that are being considered.

Biodiesel was once hailed as the new green fuel. However, recently its image has been sullied as the growing of crops for bio fuel has resulted in a reduction in food production in certain parts of the world. Even worse, if peat bogs are drained or virgin forest is cut down to grow the crops, the emissions saved by using the fuel to power cars is more than offset by the emissions created by the destruction of the forests and peat bogs. Some scientists are now looking at algae which could be used to synthesise bio fuel without any loss of agricultural land.

Electric cars have been around for a while. Long considered to be little more than glorified milk floats, the electric car has been improving. Tesla have produced an electric sports car and in 2009 EV Innovations introduced a new electric sports car that they claimed could do 0 to 60 mph in five seconds. However, the problem with electric cars is that the infrastructure does not exist. Electric cars have a limited range and so they are good for around town, but less suitable for long journeys. Petrol stations are located all over the country, but there are few recharging points. This will need to change if electric cars are to become accepted by the general public. The other problem with electric cars is that although their emissions are low they can’t really be described as green if the energy used to power them is obtained from fossil fuels.

The Tesla. Sweet!

Hydrogen powered cars have also been around a while. The technology has always promised much but delivered little. Hydrogen is an attractive fuel as a single tank of hydrogen would allow a car to complete a journey far longer than any possible with an electric car. The waste from hydrogen powered cars is simply water vapour so it is a truly green fuel. The main problem with hydrogen is storing it and this has limited developments in this area. To be safe hydrogen has to be stored at low temperatures and high pressure. Also the production of hydrogen takes a lot of energy and if this energy is produced by fossil fuels then nothing has really been gained. As for electric cars there is also the problem of a lack of infrastructure.

An alternative to cars in some areas could be the Personal Rapid Transport (PRT) pod, which is already used at Heathrow for transporting passengers between Terminal 5 and the car park. No driver is required as the pods are guided by lasers that follow a guide-way. They are powered by battery packs and thus have no emissions. Obviously these could not be used for all journeys, but Daventry in Northamptonshire is investigating the possibility of using pods to ferry people around the town.

Even if we do manage to develop cars with zero emissions, this will do nothing to solve the problem of congestion. In 1996 there were 27 million cars on the road, but by 2007 the number had risen to 33 million. In the future we may see many more congestion zones and road pricing.