Going green is a bit of a mug’s game

In spite of being powered entirely by electricity — 6,831 laptop batteries, to be precise — it can go from 0-60 in 3.9 seconds and has a top speed of 125mph.

The test-drive was part of a publicity stunt to promote Intelligence Squared's forthcoming Green Festival, a series of debates about climate change.

I wish the organisers every success but I suspect the credit crunch is going to put the kybosh on the environmentalist movement for the time being.

Last year, I intended to buy an electric car — and had a power point fitted to the outside of my house. However, buying another car seems like a needless extravagance in the current economic climate. With four children to feed and a mortgage to pay, protecting my family has to take priority over saving the planet.

Another thing I was considering until recently was making my home more eco-friendly, but I'm glad I didn't. My next-door neighbour made the mistake of fitting extra insulation in the roof space of his garden office last year and as a result his pipes burst during the recent cold snap. In previous winters, the pipes in his roof were kept warm by the heat escaping from the room below, but the extra insulation meant they froze. He is now having to replace them at considerable expense.

This is no isolated incident. According to NFU Mutual, the large rural insurer, there has been a marked increase in water damage claims across the country thanks to people's misguided efforts to make their homes eco-friendly.

"We are finding that people who have gone green' and fitted extra insulation in their lofts are particularly vulnerable," says claims manager Richard Pilkington.

The only green trend to survive, I suspect, will be the disappearance of free plastic bags in supermarkets. In my local branch of Tesco Metro they've stopped giving away normal-sized carrier bags, replacing them with ones so small they can barely contain a single packet of fish fingers.

Customers who request a larger bag are advised to buy a "Natural Green Bag" for £1. Since this practice saves the supermarket money, and passes on the cost of "going green" to the consumer, I've no doubt it will continue.

The Tesla Roadster was a lot of fun, by the way, but at £90,000 a pop I'm not going to be buying one anytime soon.