New, cleaner cars have saved five million ton of CO2 over the last decade
It's not all bad, after all. Yes, global warming is getting noticeably worse (dunno if it's related, but I've been caught twice in the last two days with my windows and sunroof open when random torrential downpours came out of nowhere... I hate Chicago). Yes, there are more and more cars on roads worldwide every day that pollute the earth. Yes, the feds are making demands of fuel efficiency that some automakers may not be able to meet, with dire consequences. But actually, in the last ten years, cars have only become cleaner. In fact, according to the SMMT Annual CO2 Report, we've saved an increasing amount of carbon emissions each year, and the cumulative savings broke over five million tons last year. With vehicles getting LEV, ULEV and SULEV emissions ratings these days, it really shouldn't be that surprising, but it's just nice to have some good news once in a while.
[Source: SMMT]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
susan.kraemer 12:49PM (6/28/2007)
That is a UK autosite saying this. I would be interested in a US version of this, looking at CO2 emissions. That is what needs to be reduced.
Although after all the thouroughly infiltrated corruption and incompetence we are stuck with now from our govt agencies - (EPA (now their CO2 lawyers are asking "what does endanger mean?") the FDA, (melamine, anyone?) DOE, DOJ, and etc...)- I am not sure I'd believe a US agency figures.
Seems BushCo hires only people who'll say the sky is pink.
But our US vehicles have actually been getting more unsafe (per fatality rate) than ECE regulated vehicles over the last 20 years, we are now in tenth place behind most industrialised countries.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Highway_Traffic_Safety_Administration
"The results of this regulatory philosophy and practice do not support a safety-related basis for the prohibition on ECE vehicles: despite the sizeable auto safety lead enjoyed by the USA in the 1960s, by 2002 the US had sunk to 16th place(behind Australia, Austria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Great Britain, Iceland, Japan, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland) in terms of deaths per thousand vehicles. In terms of deaths per 100 million miles, the USA had dropped from first place to tenth place. With the partial exception of Canada, all of the countries achieving better safety results either require or permit vehicles built to comply with the ECE regulations, not the US regulations.
Traffic death totals, all from government-published data (FARS for US), show the safety performance of three comparison countries that are otherwise similar to the US."
Suspect the same with CO2 emissions.
Reply
Joseph 3:02PM (6/28/2007)
"we've saved an increasing amount of carbon emissions each year"
Sorta. Not really.
Let me explain my reasoning: Let's say Car X is 100hp and does 30mpg. Well, the next generation of Car X has 130hp, and does 30mpg.
Well, you haven't save any CO2 b/w these to generations of Car X, have you? No, because mpg is still the same.
What you have saved, in terms of CO2, is how much worse the mpg would be if you still went along with the 30hp increase.
Reply
Jimmy 2:21PM (6/28/2007)
You should be more careful with the word "clean" when discussing auto emissions. A Californian Toyota Sequoia is rated as ULEV II, so it is "clean" from a smog standpoint but it still guzzles gasoline at 15 mpg and emits almost 10 tons of CO2 a year based on average driving.
Reply
Joseph 4:15PM (6/28/2007)
without the increase of technology
Reply
John Rowell 8:41PM (6/28/2007)
"Yes, the feds are making demands of fuel efficiency that some automakers may not be able to meet, with dire consequences."
This coming from an Autobloggreen editor??? The standards being proposed are wimpy - yes, wimpy - and can be met easily using existing technology. I won't go into detail here, but a little research into earlier posts on this here blog will clear the matter up.
Reply
Mack 1:43AM (7/01/2007)
"Yes, the feds are making demands of fuel efficiency that some automakers may not be able to meet, with dire consequences."
What a farse. The car companies can easily make these figures. It is the top brass that just don't get it. The companies scream that they can't make money selling little cars. What a joke.
If the companies don't know how to make a profit selling fuel efficient vehicles then they deserve to die. Either that or they could hire people in advertising that know how to sell efficiency.
Either way the companies need to look forward and see if mass transportation with automobiles makes sense. It doesn't too me..
Then again I am all for Victory Gardens.
I haven't seen an American made vehicle that was available for sale that achieved 45 mpg. How about that. America imports almost all of its oil and these guys just keep prodoucing the same. It is high time for change. A grass roots effort by the big three would work wonders.
Reply