Green machines

Natural Health, May, 2004

Two-thirds of the carbon monoxide in our atmosphere comes from vehicles. To spread the word about the most eco-friendly options on the road, the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy offers environmental scorings for all 2004 cars and passenger trucks, factored on a scale of zero-to-100 using fuel economy and emissions data. Uppermost on the list are natural-gas and hybrid models from Honda and Toyota, while gas-guzzling SUVs rank at the bottom. If your car didn't make the top 12, you can still help cut back on pollution:

* Lighten your lead foot. One second of high-powered driving produces nearly the same volume of carbon monoxide as a half-hour of normal driving.

* Drive smoothly. Accelerating and braking hard wastes gas, wears down your brakes and increases emissions.

* Take it slow. Driving 75 miles per hour instead of 65 lowers your fuel economy by about 10 percent.

The Greenest Cars of the Year

MAKE &               MPG:   MPG:   GREEN
MODEL                CITY   HWY    SCORE

HONDA CIVIC CX       30     34     57
HONDA INSIGHT        57     56     56
TOYOTA PRIUS         60     51     53
HONDA CIVIC HYBRID   47     48     51
TOYOTA ECHO          35     43     43
NISSAN SENTRA        28     35     42
HONDA CIVIC HX       36     44     42
MAZDA 3              28     35     41
TOYOTA COROLLA       32     40     40
HYUNDAI ELANTRA      27     34     40
SCION xA             32     38     40
HONDA CIVIC          32     38     40