Cars

There are hundreds, probably thousands, of books, Web sites, articles, magazines, and videos devoted to global issues surrounding the automobile, and especially the "car culture" in countries like the U.S.

So rather than attempt to condense all of that research and writing into this small section of Easy Breathers, this page is instead designed to answer four key questions, below.

How much pollution do cars produce?

Estimates vary, but the average gas-powered car, in a year of average use, emits roughly:

• 77.1 pounds of hydrocarbons,
• 575 pounds of carbon monoxide,
• 38.2 pounds nitrogen oxides,
• 11450 pounds carbon dioxide,

... and uses 581 gallons of gasoline.

There are more than a billion vehicles on this planet, and more than half of them are passenger cars. So if you multiply that by the pollution described above from one car... well, you can see that there's a problem. Over 200 million of those vehicles are in the United States alone. Many other countries rely on other types of transportation besides the automobile, but the U.S. "car culture" is spreading abroad, as is the pollution.

The cars themselves do keep getting cleaner, but there are MORE of them every year, and people are driving more miles each year too. This basically cancels out the benefits of fewer emissions per car. And most cars on the road are NOT brand new.

The impact of that pollution? Check out the Easy Breathers Air Pollution - Impacts section.

How do cars produce pollution?

Pollution from cars is measured by the vehicle's tailpipe emissions. Most cars today burn gasoline or diesel, which are hydrocarbon-based fuels. The ideal combustion products of gasoline, IF the process is 100 percent efficient, are carbon dioxide (CO2) and water (H2O). However, combustion of these fuels in cars today is far from 100 percent efficient. In fact, recent calculations show that today's cars are only about 20 percent efficient. If that's the case, then roughly 80 percent of the fuel is being converted into other types of byproducts, like nitrogen oxides, particulate matter, carbon monoxide, and other pollutants. What a waste.

Unfortunately, combustion of fuel isn't the only polluting process associated with the automobile. You also have:

• mining for raw materials to build the car
• manufacturing plastics to build the car
• building roads and parking facilities for the car to use (the U.S. has spent well over $100 billion on its Interstate system, and that doesn't include all the other roads that are not part of the Interstate system).
• building and maintaining gas stations, and cleaning up spills and leaks that frequently occur
• disposal of the car at the end of its "life"

It all adds up.

Are there laws regulating this pollution? Yes, especially the Clean Air Act. To learn more about air quality regulations, check out http://www.easybreathers.org/explore/airpollution/basic.html.

How could cars be made to produce less pollution?

AT THE FACTORY
One significant way to reduce auto emissions is to improve the efficiency of the vehicle. There are two measures of efficiency - one looks at how much fuel a vehicle uses (miles per gallon ratings, a.k.a. fuel economy), and the other looks at how much pollution is produced by the vehicle as it burns the fuel. So if you improve a vehicle's gas mileage, and/or you install more effective pollution control equipment (i.e., a catalytic converter), then you make that vehicle more efficient and reduce the pollution it produces. These types of improvements have to be made by the manufacturer. Consumers can encourage companies to produce more efficient vehicles by asking for them, and then buying them when they arrive on the market.

AT HOME
Vehicle owners are responsible for maintaining their car's efficiency once it leaves the dealership. Buying a low emissions vehicle with a high miles-per-gallon rating (perhaps even buying a hybrid or electric vehicle), taking the car in regularly for servicing, and performing simple maintenance tasks can all reduce the amount of pollution your car produces.

Different fuels can also reduce auto emissions - for information, check out the Easy Breathers Fuels section.

And, of course, you can decide to walk, bike, bus or carpool occasionally to reduce the amount of time you spend driving.

More information

To learn how your car engine works, visit http://www.howstuffworks.com/category-engines.htm.

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Office of Transportation and Air Quality: Highway Vehicles - Emissions, Transportation Choices & Fuel Issues: http://www.epa.gov/otaq/hwy.htm

U.S. Department of Energy/ U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Fuel Economy Web site: http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/index.htm