My V8 is a bigger tree hugger than your hybrid

Following on from this morning’s discussion about getting a performance car now before it’s too late, there is however a way you can have your performance car and eat it too. Well, you really shouldn’t eat it as such, but you can certainly drive it without helping to stuff the planet.

This morning, I signed my car up with Greenfleet. They calculated that, given my level of fuel consumption and the distance I drive, my car will produce 6.78 tonnes of greenhouse gases this year, more or less. 26 trees will sort that out, and for the non-that-expensive sum of $61.17 (which would only buy me three quarters of a tank of petrol, after all), they will plant 26 trees on my behalf – which is nice. It will probably cost you less, because chances are your car is more environmentally friendly than mine. But, until you sign up, my car is now more environmentally friendly than yours, and more environmentally friendly than a hybrid car that hasn’t been signed up, which also appeals to my well-developed sense of irony.

I don’t know if the scheme will keep working if everyone signs up – we could possibly run out of space to plant trees in, or if last night’s news is anything to go by, we will certainly run out of water to grow them with – but this sort of carbon trading model certainly is a good way to enjoy guilt-free V8 performance.