Thirty years ago we were promised hover cars, space tourism and monorails – but today we are struggling to make our archaic combustion engines cheaper, cleaner and more efficient. For this month’s Let’s Do It campaign, Sarah Lewis investigates how to green our transport.

Here’s the thing: we can fix our energy problems by using the wind, the sun and the waves. We can fix our food shortages with a little bit of lateral thinking.

And even our social problems are all part of the great ebb and flow of the universe. But transport is a real puzzler.

Cruise liners can expel up to three times the carbon dioxide per person as aeroplanes, biofuels are a potential disaster and people-power only really works for short distances.

Also, transport issues are much greater than how we get to our holiday destinations and back. Our entire society is built on the ability to move people and things around easily: our food and other goods are flown or shipped in from other countries and distributed on the roads and many of us work far from where we live.

A collapse in our transport infrastructure – if the price of oil suddenly sky rockets, for example – will lead to a collapse in our food distribution network.

So what next, now our planes and cars come laden with liberal, guilty doses of environmental badness?

As ever, there is plenty to be inspired by. As fuel prices are rising, low-carbon technologies are popping up thick and fast. The air-powered car is a great example. It works by using compressed air to drive the pistons in an internal combustion engine, as opposed to the gas and oxygen explosions in a traditional fossil-fuel mix.

The City Cat, developed by India’s Tata Motors, can go at about 70mph and travel roughly 120 miles on one tank of air – which costs about £2 to fill up. Of course, you need electricity to drive the air-compressors, but there is a vast array of clean sources that can come from.

Then there are solar cars in development and a new generation of two-wheeled technologies and ideas, from electric bikes, to airpowered bikes, to normal push bikes with trailers for carrying loads.

And if all else fails, horseback sounds like quite a pleasant option.

So far so good for personal transport – but those complex distribution networks are still a problem.

The simplest solution seems to be to start getting more stuff from closer to home, but that isn’t possible for everything. For those other things, rail freight is currently seeing a massive revival in the UK, with 6.4 billion lorry kilometres replaced by goods travelling by train over the past six years.

Getting things across the seas, however, still remains problematic.

Newer aeroplanes are much more fuel efficient than their predecessors but the average life expectancy of a Boeing 747 is between 25 and 30 years, so fleets do not get upgraded that often.

Slow boats are more eco-friendly than planes but take a lot longer.

So what’s the answer?

Do what you can for your personal transport and wait out a solution – or get inventing!

Ten things to green up your transport:

1 Webinars
Web-based meetings, seminars and conferences provide the opportunity to save tonnes and tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions by not driving or flying to a meeting. It is also by far the most economic option and, for those of us old enough to remember a time before mobile phones and the internet, it will be just like being in the future.

2 Go public
Public transport gets a bad rap, but is it really so bad? Or is it just we’re all accustomed to being a bit grumpy and complainy and antisocial? Sure, it can be expensive, but long train journeys booked early can receive a hefty discount, and in Brighton & Hove our bus service is second to none.

3 Human power
Walking and cycling are really very good, not only for the environment but your body as well. Want something a bit more imaginative? Try rollerblading, skateboarding or even powerisers (super springy leg extensions which allow you to take running strides of up to nine feet).

4 Biofuels – the good kind
Biofuels have gone from ecosaviour to sinner in a very short period of time, with fears demand for fuel crops are damaging supplies of food crops. But there is another option – used oil from restaurants, chip shops, even your cooking can be turned into an ecogood version of the biofuel. Have the time, space and inclination? Get a backyard biofuel maker.

5 Drive smart
The AA says a saving of 10% is achievable on fuel bills by following a few tips on driving more economically – with the knock-on effect of reducing emissions from your car. Simple things such as checking your tyre pressure, driving smoothly and sticking to the speed limit can up your fuel efficiency. See www.theaa.com for details.

6 Walking buses
Many children live close enough to school to walk but don’t do it. It can be difficult for parents who need to go on to work and many won’t want their children walking on their own. Organising a walking bus – a group of children led by one grown-up – can be a great way to get around these obstacles.

7 Complain
If you want to use public transport, cycle lanes or other forms of low-carbon transport but the facilities aren’t there or you think it’s unreasonably expensive – complain. Write to your council or the companies which set the prices and let them know you think it is unacceptable they are stopping people from making alternative transport choices.

8 Transport planning
If your Company has a lot of employees who travel to work by car, you can contact Brighton and Hove City Council to ask for help with creating a travel plan. Not only will this help reduce congestion in the city, but pollution as well. For info, email travel.planning@brightonhove.gov.uk or call 01273 292233.

9 Journey On
Another council initiative, but for the individual, this website allows you to check bus and cycle routes through the city, check traffic information and plan your journey for whatever method of transport you are using. It also has news of relevant events, such as walk-toschool week and car-free day.

10 Get inventive
Who says you have to do what other people are doing? How about going to work in a home-made go-cart? Or maybe you have your own ideas for some compressed air-powered jet roller blades? Whatever it is, give it a go – the one great thing about climate change is it is open season for imagination and inventiveness.