Petrol Cars

Still the standard of the automobile industry although alternative fuel cars are rapidly increasing in number, petrol cars have an internal combustion engine that runs on petroleum-based gasoline, or petrol. The petrol cars are the least energy efficient of all vehicles, but are comparably less expensive than most alternative fuel cars making them still the most popular of all vehicles on the road. Some petrol car manufacturers are working hard to develop a green version of petrol cars that have fewer emissions and greater fuel efficiency.

Driving Petrol Cars

Easily the most common car available to buy, there are still fuel efficient petrol cars that can be considered "green" by most standards. Petrol cars are less expensive than even diesel vehicles but petrol-powered cars release carbon dioxide into the air and burn up fossil fuels. Using petrol for vehicles also supports the already complicated dependence on oil on politically unstable countries.

An energy efficient petrol car has high fuel economy and produces fewer carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions than the average petrol car. Often fuel efficient petrol cars are very small or "super mini" as the light frame weight of the car and the smaller engine are much lighter and require less energy to run. As combustion engines in petrol vehicles convert petroleum to energy, the lighter the car the less energy or petrol it takes to start is up, push it along and run.

The mini petrol cars are the least expensive of all green cars, but they might also be the smallest. These are excellent options, however, for those looking for an easy way to scale back their contribution to the environmental problems and save considerable amounts on fuel costs as well.

Petrol Cars and Efficiency

An internal combustion engine works the same way in all petrol vehicles. The reciprocating internal combustion engine takes small amounts of petrol into an enclosed space and ignites it. The petrol explodes in a small controlled explosion releasing a great deal of energy that can be used to move the petrol car along. In a petrol engine, there are hundreds of small controlled explosions every minute. Unfortunately, the explosion of energy is only 20% effective producing only about 20% energy to power the car with the remaining 80% of the explosion released as heat and pollutants. Only by replacing the petrol in the engines can significant differences be made in how efficient petrol cars are overall and how much pollution is created by these engines.