Getting from A to B is quite likely to form a large part of your carbon footprint. 

So what might be the best and least best modes of transport from the point of view the environmental impact of travel? Here they are, from best to worst:

1. Avoid motorised transport completely;
2. Use public transport;
3. Use a car share powered by renewable energy;
4. Use a car share powered by petrol;
5. Use a car share powered by diesel;
6. Have your own small car;
7. Have your own larger vehicle and use it for every trip.
8. Be a frequent flyer.

If you're going to have a powered vehicle, the low carbon fuel choice is down to either biofuels or electric. To be truly low carbon, the latter must be run on renewable electricity purchased from the grid or generated on-site.

If you are generating a sufficient amount of your own renewable electricity, the advantage of electric vehicles is that the batteries can store the power generated when you don’t need it for other purposes. All electric vehicles are also exempt from vehicle tax. Therefore they are very cheap to run.

Electric vehicles, unlike ones running on biofuels, also don’t pollute the air where they are used and are quiet. Since there may have been fossil fuels used in the production of biofuels, electric vehicles running on renewable electricity would also, on balance, be associated with fewer carbon emissions over their lifetime.

Sharing cars

Sharing is a great way to reduce car ownership. There are various ways to share vehicles. If you have a vehicle always try to offer somebody a lift if you can. There are various lift share websites that aid in this such as Liftshare.com. Up a level is car pooling and a level above that is a community-owned car scheme.

Car pools work by members agreeing to let other people use their cars for a fee, usually a payment by the hour. There may be one in your area: check carplus.org.uk. There are instructions on how to set up a carpool on this website.

Community car-owning schemes work by clubbing together to collectively purchase, tax and insure one or more vehicles. Members either pay a share of the overall cost in order to finance the purchase, or take out a loan and repay it with a proportion of the hourly hire fee, which should also cover running and maintenance costs. A booking system (such as Google calendar) is also required. The following additional advice comes from Llanidloes car club:

• Store the key in a secure box with a code lock;
• Evaluate the per mile charge every three months;
• You will need a bank account, three signatories and an organiser to keep copies of members' driving licences;
• Have a log book in the car to record mileages general notes such as phone numbers;
• Have a system for undertaking routine maintenance each month.

LPG and diesel

Compared to petrol, diesel vehicles have around 10% lower CO₂ emissions per kilometre travelled because the engines are more efficient. Diesel vehicles also emit lower levels of carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons than equivalent new petrol vehicles but greater levels of NOx. LPG or liquid petroleum gas is a blend of propane and butane, produced as a by-product of oil refining or from natural gas fields. It has broadly the same carbon emissions as diesel but is around half the price. Vehicles can be bought or converted to run on LPG. It costs about £1500 to convert a vehicle. LPG refuelling sites are now common around the country.

Biofuels

Biodiesel can be used at a 5% blend in existing diesel engines with no need for modification; the same applies to bioethanol in petrol engines. But there have been many concerns about the sustainability of first-generation biofuels, as well as questions about the life-cycle greenhouse gas emissions of all biofuels. These emissions can be reduced in any of these six ways:

1. By growing dedicated energy crops which that do not require prime agricultural land;
2. Growing crops which require limited use of fertiliser and other inputs;
3. Growing crops which require less intensive or energy-hungry processing;
4. Growing crops which help to increase soil carbon sequestration on marginal land;
5. Developing more integrated production systems for food and fuel, such as through agro-forestry and the greater use of co-products;
6. Reusing cooking fuels.

Infographic by David Thorpe